Cellphones in the sky

TURNING YOUR CELLPHONE off during a flight across the USA may soon be a thing of the past, according to airborne systems supplier, AirCell.

The company has just started a trial of its 'upward looking' cellular telephone system with equipment installed onboard an Airbus A319 aircraft operated by Denver-based Frontier Airlines Inc in the USA.

AirCell claims the technology would also dramatically reduce the price of air-to-ground calls by as much as $5 a minute, with no connection charges. At present, calls from the air are prohibitively expensive at up to $7 a minute and, according to leading flight operator - American Airlines, in-flight phones (which use satellite technology) are seldom used.

Aircell's system - which appears to be AMPS based - is being evaluated by Frontier for fleet-wide implementation and is currently the only FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and FCC (Federal Communication Commission) certified airborne cellular telecommunications system.

Together with Verizon Airfone, AirCell is reported to be working on a further solution that will enable passengers to use their own phones without disrupting aircraft operation. According to Dave Pote, a British Airways pilot, if passengers leave their mobile phones switched on they can and do cause serious interference to aircraft avionics, so the danger they pose to aircraft safety is not necessarily exaggerated.

At present, passengers are required to turn their phones off once aircraft doors have been closed. Passengers did, of course, use their cell phones to call love ones on 9-11-01. µ

Hilda Breakspear is the research editor of 3G Insight