the truth behind airplane mode

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Airplane mode. Do we really need it? How is it possible that my little ol' iPhone could actually affect the big ol' plane. In this video, Taha explores the history of Airplane Mode, why we still have it today and uncovers an unexpected reason why we need it.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Sabrina
Twitter: / nerdyandquirky
Instagram: / nerdyandquirky
Melissa
Twitter: / mehlizfern
Instagram: / mehlizfern
Taha
Twitter: / khanstopme
Instagram: / khanstopme
CREDITS
Produced by Taha Khan
Video Editing by Joe Trickey and Taha Khan
Motion Design by Sabrina Cruz
Sound Design by Joe Trickey
MUSIC
Epidemic Sound. Get started today using our affiliate link. share.epidemicsound.com/answer...
RECOMMENDED READING - [PENDING]
TIMESTAMPS - [PENDING]
00:00 - seinfeld voice what's the deal with airplane mode
01:09 - in the beginning, there was radio
02:43 - according to all known laws of aviation
03:41 - conclusion, nothing more to see here
04:09 - travel light, keep a light hard drive too w/ clean my mac :)
06:20 - CALCULATORS??? IT'S THE WILD WEST FOR RULES
08:58 - FAA pls tell me what the rules are pls i beg u
10:03 - IS THERE EVEN ANY EVIDENCE?
11:52 - in conclusion, idk? but kinda i do?
12:25 - it was never about the planes all along
12:59 - oop u made a radio jammer
14:12 - we could have signal in the sky (in the future maybe)
14:36 - how WIFI works on an airplane
15:58 - what have we learnt today class
CORRECTIONS:
10:55 Missing Citation in the Description - www.taic.org.nz/sites/default...
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Welcome to the joke under the fold!
I would try to write a joke about flying but none of them would land.
Leave a comment with the word LAND to let me know you were here ;-)

[@jedisalsohere]

taha back for his annual video

[@answerinprogress]

LOL i deserve this roast

[@DangerAngelous]

That’s a bit rude he does at least…. 2 videos… a year

[@jedisalsohere]

@@answerinprogress they're always top tier so honestly it doesn't even matter

[@MysteriousObjectsOfficial]

@@answerinprogresstaha you are the best i only watch your vids

[@catedoge3206]

@@answerinprogress lololo

[@Ollie12418]

“I look like this, and that means being your best behavior when you get on a flight” 💀

[@diegogo3313]

when?

[@CrispyFella]

Fr like thats crazy

[@Adam-326]

@@CrispyFellaI mean… I think that the chances of one of them attempting something stupid like that on a plane are low enough today that the security measures that are in place would be enough to deter and prevent any such things. We aren’t in the 2000s anymore.

[@I_Love_Learning]

Would he do it if he didn't look like that?

[@enterr4436]

@@diegogo3313 0:15

[@Glaices]

My first thought was "of course I need that, how else do I play mobile games?"

[@FunTimeWithLeo]

WAIT ACTUALLY CAN U RECOMMEND ME SOME GAMES TO DOWNLOAD

[@weirdscience369]

SAME

[@Drag0nmaster]

Or just turn off wifi and cellular (as to keep bluetooth on)

[@keco185]

@@Drag0nmaster You can turn bluetooth on while airplane mode is enabled

[@devforfun5618]

@@Drag0nmaster turning celular off is airplane mode, since all i use is wifi, my phone is always on airplane mode to save batery

[@Funkteon]

The main reason you should turn on airplane mode is that once you're above 10,000ft, you'll have effectively zero signal anyway, and your phone will start busting its ass looking for one which drains the battery faster than usual.

[@savagesarethebest7251]

I heard that it is because of the height your phone is in line of sight with more of the ground and it will disturb the available channels in a wider area than the mobile network is designed for

[@savagesarethebest7251]

Yeah, we should both have looked at the video before commenting 😅👌

[@aiocafea]

@@savagesarethebest7251i was reading your comments like 'yeah, didn't he address it in the video??? that's also what i knew' wellwellwell

[@MrKata55]

Oh well, that explains my 2G-only Nokia draining battery like crazy in Tokyo when it couldn't find any (they switched off 2G networks some time ago). Didn't know that, thanks!

[@Anolaana]

@@savagesarethebest7251 Isn't that every youtube comment section though lol, responses to the title while the user loaded the video? You're right tho, Taha did address it around 12:30, about 70% of the way through the vid!

[@TinyTroglodyte]

As cabin crew, it really doesn't make a difference, we tell people to put planes on airplane mode mostly so people pay more attention to PA's and our instructions, also it saves your phone battery. I've had a couple of times where I've left airplane mode off accidentally and it drains battery SO fast

[@TinyTroglodyte]

but on an auto take off/landing where there is low visibility, we do ask people to fully turn off all devices (including ours) due to the reasons mentioned in the video, above 10,000 feet they can be switched on again. This is also to make people pay more attention during takeoff and landing just in case of an incident where the plane has to be evactuated fast.

[@EwanMarshall]

yep, trying to connect to cellular base stations you can barely reach constantly is a nightmare, it also takes up a phone slot and available bandwidth of those base stations from users on the ground trying to use their phones.

[@EwanMarshall]

@@TinyTroglodyte and if the systems don't have band pass filters they wouldn't work at all anyway as all the signals would be being received for the whole of the spectrum. I don't care if it is digital (Fast Fourier Transform and discard what you don't want) or analogue (actual filtering electronics that date back before ww2) one filters what the antenna receives.

[@VonOzbourne]

"...we tell people to put planes on airplane mode..." I for one hope you as crew, do put the plane into airplane mode. [I'm sorry I had to] Although now I'm imagining an airplane with a red button labelled "Boat mode", with a big sign reading "Do not press while in flight" and a pair of pilots commenting to each other about how it's not the worst design decision Boeing has come up with.

[@Siberius-]

If it was more important, it would be properly regulated by the staff, rather than it just being on the honour system lol (not that it isn't important at all).

[@beans9647]

Level 2 tech support agent at a mobile carrier here. It is still a really good tool for trying to re-establish the best connection to a nearby tower without powering your phone off and on entirely if you're in a weaker coverage area, and it's also great for testing technologies such as Wi-Fi Calling by making sure those calls aren't actually going over the cellular network. There's a few other cases too, such as when we update settings on your phone line internally and need you to force a reconnect that way to see if it corrected the issue. Troubleshooting could absolutely still be done without it, but having this setting on phones does make things quite a bit easier.

[@nicolaplays1134]

I play GPS-based games, and sometimes the GPS gets confused. Quickest way to fix it is to turn airplane mode on and off.

[@biosparkles9442]

My phone has the option for me to turn off my cellular network without going into airplane mode, would that not have the same effect? Come to think of it, I have no idea what the difference is between putting my phone in airplane mode and just turning off the mobile network.

[@milkflys]

@@biosparkles9442turning off cellular only turns off cellular data, while airplane mode turns off cellular radio entirely (which means it also disrupts calls and sms)

[@supernanny8375]

Wifi-Calling is nonsense. It is a potential security flaw plus it drains the battery faster. Just saying.

[@TheRealScooterGuy]

@@biosparkles9442 -- As a technicality, true airplane mode allows nothing to emit from the phone. You are describing a modified version that allows WiFi to operate. It's just a different manufacturer's terminology.

[@kylereis3639]

If you look at the current FAA regulation about airplane mode it basically says “enforce this because the FCC said to.” It has absolutely nothing to do with airplane safety and is completely because the FCC is worried about the impact on the cell network

[@nikostalk5730]

the less jam in air - the less possible problems can be achieved. This is the same way as driver's notice - DON'T USE YOUR PHONE WITHOUT HANDSFREE

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

Yep, as pilots in private aircraft on VFR flights, we don't actually need anything electronic in the plane that could be disrupted in any way...but we'd still be breaking the law if we used our phones while flying due to FCC rules. Not even talking about the distraction aspect, just having them in our pocket without using airplane mode is actually illegal. Unenforceable really, but still illegal. Even I used it to call the tower in an emergency because my radio died.

[@bootmii98]

@@Skinflaps_Meatslapper How often do air traffic controllers tell you to break this law?

[@johnconner4695]

@@Skinflaps_Meatslapper So many pilots fly with phones and they are turned on and in fact have saved learned when coms goes out. The FCC is a joke and forgotten organization.

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

@@bootmii98 I've been asked to once when my radio quit on me while I was in Class D airspace. I could hear, just couldn't transmit. Still used light signals from the tower but the comms from the cell phone made things a lot less confusing.

[@theletters9623]

See what I was always told was that leaving airplane mode off will just absolutely kill your battery because your phone is using so much electricity just screaming for a tower

[@tdrg_]

Battery will fly away

[@Funkteon]

This is accurate... I've had 16hr flights and watched two full movies from my phone's SD card while on airplane mode and it only used about 20% of my battery. If I'd left the network connections turned on, it would have hammered through the battery looking for a tower the entire flight.

[@MaddJakd]

That part is very true. Don't even need to be on a plane to see that. Just find a poor coverage area and watch the thing drain itself trying to find or maintain a really weak connection to a tower

[@mstrikesback168]

And the FCC loses sleep over the thought of us having low batteries in our phones, right? There's always an ulterior motive. Keep digging. If you really want to know why, you'll find it.

[@dogpixels]

"screaming for a tower" is the perfect way to put it.

[@badrequest5596]

the most wild thing about this video is that at some point a small simple calculator was $345. and this isn't even accounting for inflation. i wonder how much those $345 would be today

[@pleasedontgetscurvy8154]

Right? Had the pause the video for a sec at that haha

[@thekueken]

Usinflationcalculator tells me that 345 USD in 1970 would equal 2,777.18 USD in 2024.

[@badrequest5596]

@@thekueken jeeeesus christ. I would just train yo become a mentat

[@izzy-wt9sr]

@@thekueken DAMN the slogan was also "and a price tag to match" referring to the small size of the calculator

[@thekueken]

@@izzy-wt9sr well, as a "computer" that was the top of its time and competition and abilities, maybe the comparison would be a modern high end gaming PC, and therefore the relative price "small"?

[@SoldierXXL]

Ex Flight Attendant here and let me tell you this even the crew (pilots included) have forgotten to put their devices on Flight/Airplane mode ! its NOT a big deal with modern aircraft and modern devices. The issue with Aviation is that new rules and regulations can be put into place very fast but they take MUCH longer to be undone even if technology has moved on. The same is true about LAGS (Liquid Aerosols and Gels) and the restrictions around these post 9/11 there have been scanners that are able to reliably and accurately identify dangerous substances in liquids for years but the rules are only changing now (and it will be very slow to be widely deployed).

[@CineSoar]

Complicating things is the fact that, every so often an anecdote (or even just a rumor) will circulate about the coincidental weirdness that was 'fixed' by turning off a passenger's electronic device. For years, people would point to a flight landing in Mexico that was experiencing "navigational interference" which "cleared up" when the cabin attendant asked a passenger to turn off their camcorder.

[@DrBovdin]

And this bureaucracy ends up giving the impression that any rules that are annoying or restrictive for a pax are entirely arbitrarily concocted and never ever repealed (even if some eventually are). The one, more or less globally present, that annoys me the most is the “no more than 100 ml liquid allowed”. A full 100 ml shampoo bottle is fine, but a half full 125 ml toothpaste tube is treated like a potential bomb making implement and absolutely forbidden to bring along. There may have been a genuine and valid concern at one time, but the extreme rejection of common sense in favour of rule adherence can be extremely grating. It can give the impression that safety measures are nothing more than theatre and that those who enforce the policies somehow get off on having the power over people. This could in the end ironically lead to _less_ safe flights as more and more people get fed up with seemingly (and often also factually) nonsensical rules. Due to human psychology, some rules might end up being broken just to spite someone (the airline) or to prove a point. The whole industry would benefit from reviewing the entire customer experience.

[@bbgun061]

I'm a pilot and I've forgotten to put my phone in airplane mode countless times. Never caused an issue with the airplane. If it's close enough (within about a foot) of my headset it will cause a low buzzing noise to be heard. Not enough to cause a problem, just annoying.

[@DrBovdin]

@@bbgun061 Modern modulation schemes are far gentler with regards to such interference than the older ones. Especially GSM transmits in particularly problematic burst. That would definitely be annoying if it started to transmit near your headphones, its cable, or amplifier (depending on how shielded it is). I remember building a sensitive scientific instrument once and it had little shielding. I could not use the instrument with a GSM phone in the same room. Modern modulation looks and sounds more like noise.

[@milkflys]

@@DrBovdintbh, tsa as a whole IS just theatre. they failed to find like 90% of weapons (during a test)😭

[@HeisenbergFam]

We truly need airplane mode so that we can throw our phone and watch it fly

[@VolumeCheese]

i didn’t know you commented on non shorts

[@Peter-iq9yy]

i mean alternatively just yeet your phone across the room

[@shuu.wasseo]

new answerinprogress video!

[@anarchysammich]

"flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss"

[@vaisakhkm783]

ho, are you still around? haven't seen you in a while...

[@alexbanks9510]

12:30am is my favourite upload time for uk viewers

[@answerinprogress]

12:30am is my favourite upload time for me (a uk uploader)

[@jedisalsohere]

uk viewer standing by

[@esgee3829]

the fact that he refers to the faa and fcc without specifying they're of the us&a, plus the upload time should tell you everything you need to know about the key audience;) cohosts are us&a based i know

[@Erisponsibility]

As someone who just worked on making subtitles for someone until 1:30am just now, I feel this ​@@answerinprogress

[@Karin-fj3eu]

​@@esgee3829oof

[@AaronStyles]

Taha flipping between router (router) and router (rooter) during the Wifi section is triggering a problem I didn't know I had.

[@boxtifer]

It's technically an access point which he could have just said instead.

[@CheesyDuk]

it’s techincally router (router) and router (rOWter) ehe

[@dumbuz]

Well now that you mentioned it...

[@darkshoxx]

To me it was actual relief because I never know which one to use. Him using both in quick succession is kinda helpful to know that actually, both are fine.

[@lukegordonharris]

I was just gonna shout out the animation in the video but then I see Sabrina’s name in the credits?? So yeah shoutout for the great animation but also pls rest, you’re a workaholic

[@ohzenn]

"clean my mac is safe, I promise" yeah, they have a really sketchy history and it's wild that they have to reassure people now

[@FaultyWirestv]

If only apple gave you more transparency and control of your own devices ...

[@keco185]

@@FaultyWirestv You have complete control over macOS

[@FaultyWirestv]

@@keco185 not without jumping through a lot of hoops and obfuscation. And you definitely don't with phones.

[@keco185]

@@FaultyWirestv macOS is pretty straightforward. It's freeBSD with a nice UI sprinkled on top. iOS is locked down but not the Mac.

[@thatonepossum5766]

Yeah when half the ad is “this is not a virus” it really makes me feel like it’s some kind of virus. Lol

[@intelligentdonut]

Not to mention roaming uses a TON of battery and so it would probably be a bad idea to connect to conventional cellular from the air anyway. Also, I'm pretty sure (but not certain) that cell towers don't try to broadcast/recieve upwards because that would be a waste of power and money, so there's no guarantee of it working, especially at FL350.

[@permanentground]

Absolutely correct on that second point. I've done a bunch of private and military flying, typically with my phone on, and you're very unlikely to get service above ~5k' AGL, and all but guaranteed not to have it above 10k'. Just the other day I was flying with our XO and he goes "Hey man can you request down to like 3000' real quick, I'm supposed to be getting an important email" lmao

[@chewielewis4002]

He's definitely not an outdoorsy person that travels to remote locations. I turn on airplane mode in areas that I know cell reception will be weak so I don't drain the battery. Airplane mode isn't a useless feature.

[@petergerdes1094]

And if the towers do get the signal the fact that it is visible to so many towers and moving relatively fast uses up alot of network resources.

[@supernanny8375]

why should roaming using a ton of battery when this just means that your sim card is connected to a foreign mobile network (so its just a normal 2G/4G/5G connection as always) ??? Technicly speaking, during flights its just the absence of network coverage which drains your battery because your phone will ramp up TX power to the max to desperately find a mobile network connection

[@grayrabbit2211]

@@permanentground I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who will occasionally drop down to a lower altitude to get a quick hit of cell signal, then climb back to cruise.

[@joanaduarte1255]

would you believe me if I told you that when taha said "i definetely put my phone on airplane mode cause I look like this" my first thought was "a nerd! of course you turn on airplane mode" ?

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Must be nice, having that be the first think you think of.

[@joanaduarte1255]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 mind you I got it like half a second later! but "being on your best behaviour" is a phrase I associate with my english classes so much (english is my second language) that my first thought was that he's just a goody two-shoes 🤦 i'm not that naive i swear 😅

[@DarkMaguini]

If it helps, english is my first language and I also just thought he meant being a nerd and a goody two shoes 😂 did not occur to me until I read the comments x.x

[@fritzfahrmann4730]

i thought the same and looked at his glasses

[@ShirinRose]

I thought that too!

[@aidtim1350]

"And I look like this, so I have to be on my best behaviour" Nah thats wild

[@dynomar11]

It's true

[@romy8043]

hi answer in progress

[@romy8043]

hi taha

[@IbbiAhmed]

@@romy8043 Hi romy

[@RaphpowerSGSUModding]

@@IbbiAhmed hi Ibby

[@richardrude2819]

Wow your kinetic delivery and editing combined with that wide angle cinematography is really next level Taha. Love it. Great video

[@Nietzman]

Nobody and I can't stretch this enough noooooobody really needs Cleanmymac.

[@mtvphil]

fr

[@justinbchen]

Onyx is a free alternative and is better

[@DangerAngelous]

How lovely to have this come out at 9:30am Melbourne time, cheers!

[@KerrikkiLurgan]

Another good thing about airplane mode..roaming fees are $25 a hit. Airplanes sometimes fly over other countries and if you are not expecting roaming charges, you will not be prepared for them. It is like Canadians in Niagara Falls. The phones can connect with American towers instead and next thing you know, you have a $900 cellphone bill

[@tdrg_]

Crazy how American carriers charge roaming… in Europe and the EU (which is most of Europe), roaming is totally free, except for some data limits, and if you exceed those, then you get charged like you would at home

[@iWhacko]

wait, your carrier charges roaming costs for just connecting??? mine only charges costs when I actually make a call. You could be talking about data, but most phones have data roaming disabled by default, so you have to activate it yourself. Anyway, here in the EU, I can use my data anywhere :)

[@oxybrightdark8765]

@@iWhackoyou may get them for receiving texts

[@bootmii98]

AT&T basically turned off domestic roaming

[@rich-tp2dx]

@@tdrg_ America is way way way more spread out than Europe. So If you're living in NYC you have to go extremely far to get to another country. It s not so unreasonable to charge for roaming when you look at it from that perspective. Euros always forget that Los Angelos to NYC is similar to London to Athens.

[@bowmana614]

ooh also: those surprises that pilots have little time to react to at critical altitudes are the same ones where the cabin crews have little time to negotiate for attention to give safety instructions. if the plane is going up, so are the crew and passengers. if the plane is going down...

[@ethanstulberg8427]

But somehow the whole time smoking was not considered even somewhat dangerous on flights 😂

[@anonymes2884]

They had a curtain between sections ! Doesn't get safer than that.

[@CineSoar]

@@anonymes2884 I don't recall ever seeing a curtain between smoking and non. It was usually just an announcement telling people that if they wanted to smoke, they could do so in rows ## and higher (in other words, toward the back, beyond some arbitrary row number).

[@rx3dn]

Maybe ~30 years go..

[@CineSoar]

@@rx3dn The last flight I can recall was an American flight from MIA to SJU, sometime around 1997. Smoking was banned on 'domestic' flights at that point, but not yet on 'international (I'm using apostrophe quotes, because I know Puerto Rico is technically domestic to the US).

[@rx3dn]

@@CineSoar Just repeating what I said but more detailed for no reason

[@Erisponsibility]

Taha content let's goooo!!! (in a few hours when I actually have the time to sit down and watch this)

[@justus1995]

Fun Fact: 5G can mess with "Radio Altimeters" which are used for precise altitude measurement on landing, but mainly in NA due to their specific 5G frequencies. We're installing a bunch of filters on various aircraft right now that block that frequency.

[@bootmii98]

The consequences of the FCC and CRTC's own actions

[@nabagaca]

To be fair, only in radio altimeters that were being lazy about filtering their input. The manufacturers never should have relied on frequencies outside of the band they were allocated on being empty (and from what I heard the majority didn't, and its only a few brands of altimeters that are affected).

[@grayrabbit2211]

@@nabagaca No, when radio altimeters were designed in the 1940s, they were designed for the environment they were in, along with the knowledge that the now-FCC would have guard frequencies on either side to protect them. This one's 100% the FCC's fault for allowing it. The EU allowed use of these frequencies, BUT, further away from airports AND reduced power near airports. The process to certify equipment for an airliner is onerous, lengthy, and expensive. Basically, regulations make it very difficult to get newer/improved equipment into airplanes. It's why 747s still use 3.5" floppy disks.

[@ktaragorn]

The main reason I keep it on is for battery life. Transmitting at max power, drains the battery quicker and for no reason

[@antiquehealbot6543]

As a pilot myself, I can assure you that your phones and tablets has no impact what so ever.

[@Saminthea]

I was so confused for a second when you said the FAA banned FM radio. For a solid 2 minutes I thought you meant anywhere before realizing the ban was just what you could bring on planes.

[@terry2269]

You guys are my favorite KZbin channel. Answers to questions I’ve asked and also never thought to. My face lights up whenever I see one of your uploads

[@mayas3422]

love the old-time-y animations!! cant wait to think of this video next time im about to take off/land lol

[@xymaryai8283]

"malware free" hah, glad they clarified their version of the most often malwared type of app was safe... i know the history of these things...

[@dumbuz]

why else would they be paying youtubers. it's not worth the resources of legitimate developers

[@Sebboebbo]

DA KING IS BACK BABY HE NEVA MISS WE EATING GOOD TODAY Y'ALL

[@ArtsStuffs]

amazing editing as always, keep it up yall

[@derrydobbie8375]

I was in grad school and one of the professors worked on one of the FCC boards. He said cell phones are minimal risk but the policy exists because foreign made phones don't necessarily comply with FCC guidelines on power, noise levels, bleed over, etc (at least at the time, 2009). The main concern was many airports were still using a legacy protocol that was half duplex, meaning either the plane or the control tower could communicate but not at the same time. It also used a simplistic way to check if the channel was clear by simply listening to silence above the SNR floor. So if any signal came in that was above the SNR sufficiently, the radio would not transmit and wait for the other station to clear the frequency. Air traffic control towers used frequencies that were in the same spectrum as cell phones. FCC certified cell phones are smart and don't step on these frequencies but at the time I was learning about all this in 2009, cheap high wattage phones were coming in from overseas that would just search the entire spectrum. If it did on the same frequency as an approach or landing ATC channel, it would trick the plane into thinking the channel was busy and not transmit. The professor said there were a few cases of this documented by the FCC since they were radio frequency issues and I recall looking some up back then including one where the cell phone wasn't even on the plane but was active in a mountain the plane was flying over; he had a 10W cell phone from China he used while hiking and decided to make a call and muted the plane that was flying overhead. Not sure how much a problem this is now but that legacy radio may still be in use. A plane can fly from any country, even poor ones with outdated tech and need to communicate with air traffic control. Thus it turns into a least common denominator technology game and that's why such a dumb radio protocol was still in use in 2009 and may still be in use today. Because it would be ridiculous to have everyone pull out their phone for permission to use it without checking for FCC badges, the policy was just to shut off all electronic devices as you mentioned and evolved to having manufactures do some testing and ultimately leaving the risk management to the airlines. Only dumping all this because ATC communication risk wasn't mentioned and that's something else the FCC cares a lot about since they're the ultimate authority for the radios used on planes.

[@EwanMarshall]

Planes today still use half duplex AM for voice communications with ATC. Mostly because it is reliable in the case of minor interference,. There is still band pass filters on it those radios making it a non risk and if it isn't the radio sets in planes need to be fixed to reject out of band signals. 5G networks did have an issue with some radio altimeters and base stations in the flight path during take off and landing, but that was taken care of by telling airlines and aircraft manufacturers to fix their radio altimeter filters to better reject out of band signals on neighbouring frequencies/wavelengths before allowing those base stations near airports.

[@SamiJumppanen]

Great info, thank you!

[@xlogophile]

I enjoyed this a lot, especially given that I had to watch parts of it twice because my brain kept drifting and focusing on the background music, because it's Jet Lag The Game music to me xD

[@hendrikerz]

I'm a bit bewildered by this video; especially the latter part because some assertions are just plane wrong. First, an airplane cannot ever become a radio-jammer, even if you have 600 phones continuously emitting at maximum power. Commercial airplanes fly so high that the tiny emitters in the phones just cannot reach any cell tower on the ground. If that were the case, there would be no remote mountainous area on the planet without phone reception. I think probably everyone here at some point was in such a remote area with no cell phone towers and can confirm that having no reception is a thing. And you don't even need to be a kilometer away from the nearest tower. Second, airplanes are so fast (iirc around 600-800kph) that, even if phones could reach that far down unto the ground, they would be too slow to establish a connection to one tower before it would be out of reach again. The real answer thus is: (a) We need airplane mode because regulators and airlines say so, and (b) we need it because otherwise our phones are going to burn through their battery fast. Interference may have been an issue once, but is no longer, especially not between a plane and the ground. But that wouldn't make for 17 minutes of video, I guess ;)

[@xTerminatorAndy]

Hedrikerz. Just one counterpoint to your point. Planes take off and land, and sometimes fly at lower heights for various reasons?

[@hendrikerz]

@@xTerminatorAndy If it were a problem during take off and landing, it would also be a problem between the plane leaving the gate and the announcement to turn on airplane mode, which it isn’t. Also, I doubt that any commercial airliner with that many people will be allowed at a sufficiently low altitude for any phone to be able to connect to a cell tower and pose a problem.

[@sexy_koala_juice]

Thank you! I was searching for any other comment like this, this video especially at 13:00 seems wrong to me, which is a shame because their videos are usually decent (not great or even good, but still).

[@koloskantor]

Overall, great video, thanks for collating the research on this subject! Also, I don't mean to get too technical, but in your outro you mentioned "you could be disrupting someone trying to make an emergency phone call", which is incorrect. That would NEVER happen. Cell phone towers are extremely complicated, but suffice to say they maintain a certain bandwidth for handling emergency calls (calls to 911 etc.) which are ALWAYS prioritized over any other type of call. So it does not matter whether a million cell phones are trying to connect to a tower or just 1, an emergecy call will always go through.

[@BombastionSez]

This might be my favorite Taha video, and I'm conflicted about it. I normally love the chaos he brings, but this was so dang smooth and organized.

[@martiivanov]

The only benefit of Airplane Mode on your phone is to protect your battery. As said the phone's visibility of many more available cell towers will cause it to conenct to all of them and will drain your battery. Plus if phones were that dangerous on planes we would not have been allowed to bring them on planes with us in the cabin - given all those security checks we go through on the ground. Don't imagine my Nokia from 2007 will bring a Boeing down... An improperly designed/installed door might, but a tiny phone - ya right.

[@losttownstreet3409]

Nokia 6050: 8 watt of RF power! Motorola 3200 2W RF power! Orbitel 901 8W RF power! A Nokia from 2007: there were Nokia phones out with 4W transmit power, unlike today ... they were old in the years of 2007 but still useable. High-powered phones got banned some time after, and they weren't cheap to begin with. The brick had a higher transmit power as today's phones. There are still some professional 2G phones with GSM Power Class 2 of 8 watt. ( 20 watt is Power Class 1).

[@pjschmid2251]

Are used to travel for work, and airplane mode was a blessing they couldn’t reach me and I was so glad.

[@dragonick2947]

As usual, I think you've knocked it out of the park with your editing :D

[@alifpr]

This is the first video of yours that I watched, instantly subbed for the great quality!

[@mattfrances3747]

I would love to hear you dive into more of the human factors (maybe over on patreon? :P). Two reasons I've heard: 1) most people don't know that cell phones transmit with more power when trying to reach cell towers. Airlines want you to be able to text whoever's picking you up once you land, so rather than explain how cell service works and that it'll save you battery, it's easier for airlines to keep the airplane mode mandate. 2) As you mentioned, mechanical emergencies that occur during takeoff & landing (the most likely time for these emergencies to occur) progress quickly and the flight crew have less time to prepare passengers. Using your cell phone during this time could distract passengers from the flight attendants. Requiring airplane mode and disabling the in-flight wifi gives passengers less stuff to do on their phones, so the flight crew could more easily get their attention during an emergency.

[@marcellastname6862]

Yo I'm literally going on a plane tomorrow this is great timing!

[@fireram360]

This was an extremely well edited video. It reminded me of the layout of Vox and Johnny Harris documentary videos. Good job everyone who worked on this video!

[@barelyfamimation]

taha's back for a video on aiplane mode before bed something I didn't know I needed, but now I have

[@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus]

Can you imagine the HELL that would result from 500 people on an airplane shouting into their phones? Long live Airplane mode!

[@teheaddict]

YOU’RE BACK

[@Arcticwhir]

we have the technology (EMC test chambers) to conclusively test for interference and immunity - this is done on 100s of your car parts, Im 100% its done on airplane electronic parts with even stricter testing. I never turned airplane mode on.

[@wileysneak]

yeah i have no idea why this whole video is like "wow EM is such a mystery"

[@MarcusTheDorkus]

The battery life aspect is a reason to use airplane mode on the ground too. If you're somewhere that the signal is far too weak, you'll find your battery drains absurdly fast. I lived in a house that managed to sit right in a cellular dead spot so I made it routine to turn airplane mode on at home. Wifi calling capability on the phone meant I didn't lose any calling functionality in airplane mode.

[@jurjenbos228]

The statement that an FM radio transmits a signal is like claiming your eyes produce beams of light.

[@Magmafrost13]

"if the device is in working order" seems like an EXTREMELY important caveat here. It's obviously not feasible for an airline to check that every passenger's devices are in full working order, not is it possible for them to predict every possible mode of failure for every personal electronic device.

[@Kombivar]

Well done! Good research and delivery. As not American (both south and north), I'd like to add one issue affecting customers. Some countries like Turkey charge massively for roaming due to large number of flight-overs like the link between Europe and Dubai which is above Turkish airspace - therefore in addition to those greatly mentioned in your video, Airlines would like to avoid silly customers, who tend to don't understand data roaming charges and being presented with the bill (can be in $100s) for just handshake with foreign networks and the welcoming message.(CN) I'm always smiling when seeing another video of your gang, keep it up, and say "Hello" to Tom Scott when you revisit the Lateral.

[@DOENERUSCHI]

Little fun fact about Android, Bluetooth and airplane mode: Android won't shut off Bluetooth completely, unless airplane mode is turned on. Bluetooth LE will continue to work, even if BT is turned off. It will only turn off the BT chip completely when airplane mode is turned on.

[@azilbean]

Is no one going to mention the swatch of blue paint on the wall? Oh, and great vid!

[@kripashah4286]

I was literally looking for this comment lmao

[@InventorZahran]

The real reason to use airplane mode is because cell phones have a really hard time connecting to the cellular network while at high altitude and moving extremely fast. Most cell towers lack the necessary upward range, and even if they could reach that high, your phone would be moving into and out of each cell faster than it can establish a connection. This results in a very unreliable and inconsistant user experience, and drains the phone's battery faster as it expends so much energy scanning for and attempting to connect to cell towers. So airplane mode, at least today, exists more for the benefit of your phone than for the safety of the plane.

[@losttownstreet3409]

Next time try to pull a Orbitel 901 out of your bag. This phone is build for 15nm or 20nm of range. Imagine 400 people to pull out a Orbitel 901, Motorola 6050, ... (these phone with 8W transmit power in a can: this is 3200W of combined RF power in the RF cage)

[@elinevergniol4754]

Great video, I learnt a lot thank you !

[@Dogo.R]

I have seen two videos from this channel. I am truely baffled by how easy "you"(the video script) seems to think understanding the world is. As if you look for a bit and you will understand. The world is so so complex. And its getting more complex by the day. The conclusions and statements you make hit me like a freight train. It truely makes me stunned and speechless. The analysis is so surface level... its like a childs early explainations to their freinds.

[@moiseguran737]

Como Sci student here. This video is amazing and has very good research and explanations. There is one more point to be made. Your phone connecting to a signal tower does produce wear on its components and battery. It is not a lot of wear but during a singel flight it will connect and reconnect to so many towers (because it is confused by the absurd range it has from being up in the sky) it will add up a lot. Depending on the length of your flight it might be as much wear as your phone could gather from a year of use [citation needed]. So here you go. A selfish reason to use airplane mode. It extends your phone's life and its battery life by probably quite a lot. A lot a lot. Deffinetely more than downloading a bunch of stuff beforehand and being on airplane mode during the flight

[@damowdotnet]

Wear? You mean battery discharge? What component exactly is “wearing” here?

[@MrKata55]

@@damowdotnet He means just the battery, the only other you could stretch being early OLED screens which are prone to burn-in/ghosting, or so I heard. It's ridiculous that user-replaceable batteries in mobile phones are a rarity these days; My LG G4 keeps going strong in spite of being an 8yr-old flagship, exactly because I replace the battery every 2 yrs or so (I also keep a set of 3 spares, so I can go 0 to 100% battery in like 30 seconds by just swapping the battery... last for a whole day of filming in 4K)

[@darkguardian1314]

Navigation interference started when someone placed a magnet near a compass causing it to deviate from North....😂

[@carultch]

You mean like the student of Hans Christian Oersted, who played around with Oersted's experiment at break time, and discovered the link between electricity and magnetism that Oersted insisted didn't exist?

[@jootrindade]

This was very cool, thanks

[@HelenRosemarySmith]

Thank you this was really interesting!

[@pialachner9378]

ted ed also made a great video on the science of airplane mode, for those interested

[@jbrysoniii]

Taha, just go for it and paint the room. Life is too short for swatches!

[@us3r158]

Great as always

[@GCWen]

this was an amazing video! I had no idea

[@DruidofSylvia]

YALL AIP HAS CAMS ON ME BRO I WAS BUYING OLIVE OIL WHEN THE OLIVE OIL VID CAME OUT SAME WITH THE HORROR MOVIE AND GUYS I JUST GOT OFF A PLANE AND TURNED OFF AIRPLANE MODE TO GET THIS NOTIFICATION OMG

[@tonys.1946]

The real question, how many people USE airplane mode?

[@lunarl1ly]

I looked into this a few weeks ago for my flight but you know I’m still watching

[@sleepingcattv]

I live just a few kilometers away from Hamburg airport, right in the landing path, and i have a prosumer wifi setup which scans for other networks in range. With that it can actually sometimes shortly pick up the free wifi from planes. Kinda cool

[@giovannigio6217]

there is one fact you missed about airplane mode: it is useful when you cross the border with another country in which your sim doesn't have a roaming plan. airplane mode is factually useless for citizens in the EU, but when they need to drive to specific countries outside the EU, like for example Switzerland, airplane mode is useful to avoid addictional charges.

[@chronovii2428]

One of my favorite moments in the West Wing is in like its first ten minutes-a character asks this exact question, in the rudest way possible, to a flight attendant. Go watch it.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

Toby is the best!

[@keepperspective]

The aesthetic of this is amazing

[@ozelhassan8576]

Your video made a lot of sense, Thank you.

[@BobBobson]

600 people on a plane shouldn't crash a cell network. Even 60,000 on an urban network should be fine. Do the cell networks black out every holiday when family comes from outside of the city to visit? In 2013 Toronto had a population of around 5.7 million. In 2023 it was almost 6.4 million. How many times did they have to upgrade the cell network in that period to handle the extra ~650k people?

[@suddenwall]

It's inconclusive but I think there's something to it. Ever notice that almost all new cars don't have compasses anymore? It's not just because of the ubiquity of GPS. Modern cars are overflowing with electronics. Finding a spot near the driver where EM won't throw off a magnetic compass is very challenging, and on some cars pretty much impossible! Yeah planes do have redundant systems, but that doesn't mean I want to take the risk, especially with companies like Boeing cutting corners

[@mauricioweber8879]

PLUS it prevents fights between individuals who believe it puts their life in danger and would fight other passengers over it!

[@rdp6096]

I always wondered about this lol. Thank you very much

[@petergerdes1094]

The problem with this subject is that everyone is so fucking reluctant to say it's not an issue because they worry they might be wrong and it feels like a tiny bit of comfort is worth being safe. This infects everyone who deals with the issue, **especially** the FAA. I mean you aren't likely to get blamed for saying: we can't rule out it causing issues. And this perpetuates itself.

[@Davixxa]

4:22 - Hey... Can we not do this in sponsor spots? Just because an app has been notarized by Apple, it doesn't mean it's malware free, which the ad here kind of suggests is how it works. There's been instances of apps with malware hitting the App Store before, and it will happen again.

[@m4rcyonstation93]

yea this sponsor was rly sketchy. Shame for an otherwise rly good video

[@Artofcarissa]

This video came out at the perfect time; I just flew to NYC today 😂

[@MooImABunny]

14:44 how do you pronounce the word router? Taha: yes

[@KeeLoker]

Okay but has anyone tried looking on google maps on your phone as you fly to see ur little dot move fast across the map? XD

[@brockmckelvey7327]

So you're telling me I CAN'T bring a microwave on a plane, plug it into a power source, and then microwave some fish?

[@Yiffbait]

I did a short flight once without turning it off by mistake cause I slept through entirely, I felt funny when waking up to see my phone without it while landing lol.

[@jamielancaster01]

@4:00 This simple calculator cost $345 in 1970 adjusted for inflation would be $2820 in today’s money (2024). Multiplication and division are combined in one key, but the operation actually used is determined by whether the += key is pressed at the end of the calculation, to give multiplcation, or the -= key, to give division. It also had a rechargeable battery.

[@sadikaeleer]

"pedant cam" ahahahaha, amazing. Good video, thank you for finally answering this question I've always had... also right before I have to put my phone in airplane mode!

[@Chrisamic]

Aircraft ground proximity radar operate at 2.4 GHz, so there's that. 4G and part of the 5G band are in the same frequency range as proximity and (probably) weather radar. This is likely to swamp the radar receiver making it more difficult to receive valid signals. Method 101 for radio jamming is to transmit a very strong (or very close) signal on the same frequency you want to jam, completely pinning the receiver. The reason it's generally not a problem that the phones and other equipment are inside an aluminium tube, while the antennae for this equipment is (more or less) on the outside. It *is* the reason why you won't find cell towers on the immediate approach to runways though. The FCC *does* regulate electronic devices. Basically, the rules are that any electronic device can not emit any frequencies over a certain limit at a certain distance. In the modern age almost everything has a microprocessor or processor in it, most of which are operating in the MHz or even GHz range. That's why just about everything electronic has the FCC logo on it, stating that it complies with the regulations. It's not actively monitored by the FCC, but any device that causes a problem or is found to be a problem would gather some rather serious repercussions for the manufacturer. In the case of aircraft receivers (ground proximity radar, weather radar, ILS glideslope positioning systems, TCAS collision avoidance and of course operational communications radio any or all could be interfered with by very close or very strong radio signals. So there's basically two problems - electronic devices accidentally broadcasting EMF (eg laptops or kindles) that might interfere with sensitive receivers, and devices specifically designed to transmit radio signals (eg mobile phones and two way radios). Hence the differentiation between using the device to play a game or listen to music, or having aeroplane mode turned off and chatting to your great aunt on the other side of the country while the plane is trying to establish a stable approach for landing. Currently many aircraft systems like ground proximity radar operate at 2.4 Ghz and this was reasonable in the 1970's when it was first designed and certified since almost nothing else was using that frequency *except* radar. It was the practical limit of our technology at that time. Now almost everything is transmitting in that band it's not so smart, so you'd think they'd be looking at using higher bands that technology has made available in the last fifty years. The reason it hasn't is that little word "certified". It would cost a lot of money to get new equipment certified for use on aircraft or update/replace all the old technology. Incidentally, the problem with mobile phones on aircraft trying to connect isn't just that there's a few more mobile phones in range of the towers, it's that the mobile phones can connect with *many* cell towers at the same time. The towers are set up to cover specific areas by taking advantage of geography or by using directional antennas. There's some overlap in these areas, but a mobile phone at 10,000 feet can access many mobile towers at the same time, and it's this conflict that can cause problems for the phone network. The actual number of phones is less of an issue these days. Pedant alert: 7:12 The plural of "aircraft" is "aircraft". You can add an 's' on the end in the case of a possessive apostrophe (eg the aircraft's wings) but that is the only case

[@sabrinagibby4167]

Great video, thank you!

[@Setsuna_Kyoura]

Airplane mode is the best "don't disturb" mode you can have. Go to bed? Just put your phone in airplane mode and you don't have to bother about speaker volume, vibration alarm or displays lighting up in the middle of the night at all with just a single click...

[@nilay108]

dude your content rocks! subscribed :D

[@bobkaster1]

The other thing to consider about wifi is that your phone isn't going to broadcast until it's told to connect to an available network, at which point any power negotiations will occur with whatever it sees. Cellular connections will negotiate power transmission levels from both ends of the connection (both the phone and the tower), so if the phone doesn't see a tower it just assumes that it's just too quiet and amps up power until it gets a response.

[@RGLove13]

Was literally just thinking about this the other day; nice to have a sort of concrete ish maybe answer, guess it's an answer in progress until more research is done..

[@aashnashah7147]

I've been wondering this ALL MY LIFE

[@ThomasPearsonPhoto]

Back with the monthly video 😍

[@MalenaLorente]

You convinced us all with the battery life thing

[@vees_reflections]

okay ummm i was thinking about this probably around the time you posted this video. i then thought to myself, “hmm maybe i should google it” then proceeded to not do anything about it. good timing and good video!

[@zThundy__]

Nice video, nicely edited and very good research. Only small thing that I would like to see changed in future videos is less corrections, like when you were explaning the FAA meaning and talking about years at the beginning.