Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Cellphones on Airplanes

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

Are we finally at the place where we can make cell phone calls on airplanes? PLEASE NO! Listen in to find out. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and there's

guest producer Jerry sitting in for Dave C. Yeah. And this is short stuff, giddy up. No time to explain any of the Jerry, Dave thing. No, not at all because we're on an airplane and there's a jerk in first class yammering on his cell phone because it's now okay to talk on, take cell phone calls on planes. Why would you do that to me? Why would you even create that little situation, that sketch of a horrible day? Just to drive fear into people because it's not really true. It's been a while since I've flown on a plane, exactly one year actually. Oh yeah, to the day? Not to the day, but about a year. We can hardly say exactly then. About a year and a week, you jerk. 54 weeks.

But yes, you cannot make cell phone calls because there are a couple of bodies in the United States that make sure you can't, the FAA and the FCC. Oh, I thought you were going to say Rob Lowe and Tom Selleck. Just a couple of bodies. Yeah, Rob Lowe. So yeah, there's actually two federal agencies that ban the use of cell phones because everybody hates it so much that everyone wanted to get in on banning it. The FAA says, well, the reason we ban it is because we're pretty sure that that could conceivably interfere with the plane's instrumentation and you don't want to do that because you could make a plane drop out of the sky probably. And the FCC says, yeah, yeah, plus also it'll totally mess with calls on the ground because

those ones up in the air will be jumping from tower to tower and it'll just be a big problem. Yeah, and I think pre-2013, didn't you even have to power down your cell phone? Yes, they were like, just take your cell phone and throw it out the window. Like Mitt Romney says, roll down your airplane's window and just throw it out mid-flight. We don't even want them on here. They were basically like, just do not do anything with your cell phone. And then finally, somebody told them about airplane mode, appropriately called airplane mode, because it cuts off the cellular service on your phone, but it keeps the Wi-Fi intact if you have it turned on. Right. And ever since then, you could at least go through and spend a couple

of hours deleting pictures that you don't need clogging up your storage space. That's right. I like to just, like that was one of the things that was always great about a flight is you were just disconnected for an hour or five hours or something. You were just, just like you could bring an actual printed book with you and like read it, you know? But with the advent of Wi-Fi on planes and everything, it's like, you know, now it's connected and you can communicate and it's just, you can do other stuff that you do under normal circumstances and it's ruined everything. Yeah. I will still, unless I really legitimately have stuff I have to get done for work, I will still not get my laptop out and get online just to surf the web.

I'm like, I give myself that break. Yeah. No, it's good to do. It's just, you know, it's so easy to be addicted to computers and the internet and everything that sometimes it's hard. It is. The deal with whether or not it could really interfere with communication systems or the plane's flight systems, that is probably not the case because planes are hardened, meaning all of those electronics that are important on a plane like the flight control system are covered or, you know, boxed in this electrically conducted material that prevents any kind of electromagnetic interference. So they've kind of taken care of that for the most part, but they still err on the side of caution and are like, but let's just not do it still. Yeah, they do know that electromagnetic

interference can affect planes, things like lightning and solar flares have affected instrumentation on planes, and especially with GPS, which is critical in takeoff, but especially landing. It's really sensitive to electromagnetic radiation interference. So you don't want anything messing with that. Least of all, somebody who just has to talk on the phone, that's the worst reason to allow it, right? Yes. So they know that it can happen, but they couldn't find in this one study in the 2000 Aughts, any smoking gun that said, yes, this plane fell out of the sky because somebody was talking on a cell phone. It was just they knew it was conceivably possible, even though they shielded or hardened the stuff. To prevent that, they still said it's just not worth it. Everybody

hates people talking on cell phones anyway. So why would we make it an exception when it could also conceivably mess with the plane's instrumentation? Agreed. Should we take a break? Yes. All right, we'll take a break and finish up with this stuff right after this. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Ah, okay, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. This, I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there

for you. Oh, man. And so my husband, Michael, um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that Michael and a different hot sexy teen crush boy band are each week to guide you through life step by step. Not another one. Kids relationships life in general can get messy. You may be thinking this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never ever have to say bye bye bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikulur and to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life in India. It's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get second

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All right. So here's what they don't have on planes is any kind of alert to a flight attendant that says, hey, there's a jerk on row 15 in the middle seat that's hunched down and using their cell phone. Go back there and stop him. They don't have that stuff. Totally. They bring that pot of coffee. They should stop. They should have that stuff, but they don't. But generally, I think anybody, if they saw their seatmate next to them trying to make a phone call or calling somebody would be smart enough to alert the flight attendant and say, hey, you can't do this, get this jerk off of here. My hand would shoot up like a third grader with the right answer to the question the teacher just asked. I'd be like, oh, oh, oh, they're on their phone. I would tell

on somebody so fast and so loud. Yes. That would be fun. Yeah. And I wouldn't even care if they gave me stitches for snitches. That's right. At 36,000 feet, though, you're not going to be connecting with the cell tower anyway. I think we have all been in situations where we may not have realized that our phone wasn't on airplane mode and you'll hear your like when you start to land, you'll hear your phone ding, like a message just come through and you're like, oh boy, I didn't know that that could even happen. They must really mean it when they say put your phone on airplane mode. Yeah, that's what the FCC's whole position was, is that air traffic would mess with ground traffic and that cell phone towers are basically designed to hand off from one tower to the next

in a cell as you're walking by, driving by tops, not flying a couple hundred miles an hour at 10,000 feet as you're coming in for a landing. Yeah, hundreds of people. Yeah, exactly. A bunch of people on a plane all doing it at the same time because you're going to tax the capacity of each tower. They're not designed to register and hand off calls like that, that fast. And so the FCC's like that could really interrupt ground communication. So that's another reason not to do it. Yeah, but generally those, they're not looking up anyway, which is why you can't get that signal at 36,000 feet. But like I said, anything less than 10,000 feet and it might be possible. So you just shouldn't try still. Yeah, and Richard Branson said, what is one way that I can fully ruin the

experience of flying for people? And in 2010, I believe around then, he came up with the answer and that was to offer a cell phone service via little, what are they called? Pico? Yeah, Pico cells. Pico cells, little tiny cell towers that use the plane's Wi-Fi to transmit cell phone calls. So on Virgin, some Virgin flights that are not in the United States or within 250 miles of the United States, you can make cell phone calls aboard the plane. Yeah, I think he probably thought that would enhance the experience because he's all about, I mean, we've both flown Virgin. It's the best, it's awesome. Oh yeah, there's that pantry you can stand up and just go get candy from anytime you want. I love it. That Australian flight was like one of the nicest

experiences I've ever had in the air. For sure. I suspect he's promoting his Virgin mobile business though by offering that, you know? Well, maybe. But it is weird that someone that has taken such great care to make the flight such a great experience then ruins it by saying everyone can talk on their cell phones now, mate. Yeah, nice chill lights, lavender aroma therapy. It's so good. It is such a nice experience for sure. It really is. We're in the wrong country. Hey, while we're here, I just want to say, I want to take a second when we're talking about Virgin. My niece, Mila, just recently flew to New Zealand for 11 weeks because she's co-starring in a major motion picture and that's where

they're shooting. Are you serious? I am dead serious, man. She and her parents are there right now for 11 weeks. How old is she? She is 10. Oh, wow. She is, yeah. She's one of the co-lead. She's one of the main characters. I think her hands are going to be on the poster. That's amazing. Isn't it? Yes, huge congratulations. It's really exciting. I'll keep you posted as I can. To be honest, I'm not entirely certain I can include this, so we may end up editing it out. But at the very least, you know now. Well, and when the time comes, we can promote it on Movie Crush for sure. Oh, nice. Thanks, man. That's very kind of you. Of course. The FCC basically spent many years saying,

like, okay, is this really a problem? Should we allow, like Richard Branson's making us look like total jerks, should we allow this? And after several years of study, they concluded. They said no. Not to Richard Branson. Exactly. They said the flight attendants, you know, they asked a lot of people. They didn't just do the studies about safety. They asked actual people who work on planes. And the flight attendants were all like, no, no, no, no. They need to be listening to us, especially in the case of an emergency. The first thing everyone would do would be to get out their phone and try and call their loved ones. And that's when they most need to be listening to things. Right. That's a big one. But then there's also the

annoyance factor. And this to me is where it just becomes like the most important thing. Just everything else. Forget it. It's so obnoxious. Yes. To even while you're on the tarmac waiting for them to shut the door. Agreed. And there's people sitting there talking on the phone. That's obnoxious enough. With your big plate of food from the food court? Even that, I'm like, okay, at least they're providing their bodies sustenance and nourishment. I can live with it. The phone is like, and you can tell from the conversation, there's just no point in this transpiring. And yet it is. And there's another one, another one, another one. Being on a plane like that for many, many hours is awful. It's an awful idea.

Yeah. It's that situation where John Hodgman always talks about being aware of the impact that you have on others. And I've always subscribed to that. But the person that has their shoes off, and they got their Panda Express piping hot meal in their lap, and they're talking on their cell phone before the flight takes off, that's the person that's like, I paid for the seat. I can do what I want in it. I paid for the seat. Don't be that person. I know, yeah, because you have an effect on everybody. No, be kinder. Think about other people. Yeah. But hey, enjoy your Panda Express because you're providing, there's got to be some nourishing nutrients somewhere. Sure. Yeah, those green peppers or something. Okay, you got anything else?

I got nothing else. Okay, well, then that means short stuff says stay off your phone. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts on my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.