BA flight turned back.....

[spiv]

Last night a BA flight was reported as having turned back because a mobile phone on board rang. In the "breaking news" it was reported that it rang 1 1/2 hours into the flight, but this morning, according to the BBC website, it is being reported that it rang on take off of the plane.

So I am unsure when it actually rang, but I'm confused here. If it rang when the plane took off, why did it continue to fly for 1 1/2 hours before it was decided to turn back? Can't have been considered much of a threat, can it?

If it rang 1/1/2 hours into the flight, can anyone tell me approximately where the plane would have been at that time? The reason I ask is that, at an altitude of some 40,000 feet and, I would assume, out over the Atlantic Ocean, which network would the phone have been connected to?

Or is it more likely this is the continued 'drip drip' of nonsense designed to keep 'the great unwashed' feeling that there are more dangerous 'Baby Milk' terrorists in this cunning plot still running around loose. What next, a bottle of lemonade found in the toilets of a plane, or worse still and horror of all horrors, a bottle of baby milk!!!

[Snowygrouch]

Hi,
I`m not sure if this is the same story but in the last couple of days I had head a flight turned back after being radioed that there was a possible terrorist on board.

Apparently the police/authorities told the captain to go on to Boston but the Pilot refused and turned back for Blighty where a bloke was arrested at the airport.

It sounds like the ususal Bliar BS.

If they knew this guy was a threat why did they wait till the plane was halfway over the Atlantic??!?!

Typical Neo-Labour criminal nonsense.

[UnKnownDemon]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but phone's simply don't work at those heights do they? They can't connect to the networks. I'm talking about mobile phones not plane phones.

[Snowygrouch]

Hi Unknown,
I belive that in the recent 3 years or so various airlines have installed
"routers" in their planes to allow cell phones to work in planes.

Basically the cellphone masts point across and down so cant really operate upwards to much above 8000 feet at the very most.

The routers work by channeling the cell calls through the planes own Satellite comms system hence allowing them to work.

However I have no idea how many airlines have actually installed such systems.

I`m no expert on telecommunications but that is roughly how my Telecoms lecturer at uni explained it to me.

Cheerio

Calum

[Wokeman]

Yes, I believe the technology is there now to allow passengers to use phones from flights. I hasten to add that that technology was not available in September 2001

[Banish]

Callum.

...if the mobile phone has a pico ariel/antenna. These phones are not available yet. Another bs story.

[spiv]

If this router system is in place (and I don't know enough about this subject, maybe there are telecoms experts amongst the Truth Movement), and knowing that all mobile phones were prohibited from the aircraft cabin (they had to be stowed in the bags in the hold), then why, even on the assumption that the BA flight had this router system, was it not switched off as a precautionary measure?

On another matter regarding this 'drip drip' of scare stories for the 'sheeple', this morning (Wednesday) it was reported on the BBC news that a 12 year old boy got on a Monarch flight at Gatwick bound for Spain, without any papers, tickets, passports etc etc. It was only when the cabin crew gave him drinks and sweets that they started to be suspicious and called in security. Now my question is, has anyone ever flown on an aircraft where the drinks and eats are handed out prior to take-off? I certainly have not, and indeed, the cabin crew are usually busy getting everyone in, settled down and buckled up!!!

[Banish]

Ah, found it.

http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2004/040715_aa_testflight.html

[spiv]

Thank you Banish.

That article is dated 15th July 2004, nearly three years after the (alleged) passengers aboard some of the planes during 9/11 made their (alleged) mobile phone calls. So do we assume that the technology to make these calls was not available towards the latter part of 2001? Or is it just Qualcomm trailing three years behind other technologists??

Beggars belief how the mainstream media has not picked up on this quite important discrepancy, doesn't it??

[Banish]

The article claims they are pioneers in this sort of technology.