Pilot explains the real reason you have to turn on airplane mode during a flight

There’s a very specific reason you should turn on airplane mode during a flight.

A pilot has explained why flight attendants ask for it to be activated before takeoff when travelling. It comes as some people forget, or strangely refuse, to turn it on, even though the feature often comes in handy, even when you’re not flying (because sometimes you just don’t want to be inundated with notifications).

TikToker and pilot @perchpoint shared a video about airplane mode which has been viewed over 400,000 times. “This is just a friendly PSA that the airplane mode button on your phone is not a conspiracy,” the pilot says at the start of the viral social media clip.

He says that despite the conspiracy theories about planes falling out of the sky if mobile phone signals interfere, this is not the case. “It’s not the end of the world. The plane will not fall out of the sky. And it won’t even mess with the systems on board.”

However, there is a very important reason why you should still switch on airplane mode during your flight. “It does have the potential to mess with the headsets,” the pilot explained, referencing the headsets pilots wear.

He says that even if a handful of passengers on board don’t turn on airplane mode, their phones can attempt to connect to a radio tower for something such as an incoming phone call.

“There’s a potential that those radio waves can interfere with the radio waves of the headsets that the pilots are using,” he adds.

The pilot gave an example from a recent flight where he was using a headset for ‘clearance on which way’ they had to go.

“As soon as we started getting directions, there’s this, like, really annoying buzz going through the headset. Like I said, it’s not the end of the world, but it is definitely annoying when you’re trying to copy down instructions.”

Viewers expressed their shock in the comments. “Thank you for this insight,” said one TikTok user.

Another viewer wrote: “I think y’all should normalise getting on speaker and saying exactly this, ‘I can hear in my headset some of y’all don’t have airplane mode on’. It’ll freak people out, they’ll turn it on.”

A third shared: “Thank you for sharing this. I really didn’t think it actually mattered.”

And a fourth viewer commented: “I don’t get why people don’t turn on airplane mode… I don’t want to pose ANY risk to anyone’s life no matter how big or small especially in mid-air.”

At the time of writing no plane crash has been linked to mobile phone usage, but instead they can interfere with aircraft navigational and landing guidance systems, making the job more difficult for pilots and air traffic controllers.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), cell phones are banned ‘for airborne use because its signals could interfere with critical aircraft instruments. Devices must be used in airplane mode or with the cellular connection disabled. You may use the WiFi connection on your device if the plane has an installed WiFi system and the airline allows its use.'