From David Norman
If mobile phones are really dangerous on aeroplanes
(27 May, p 7),
why don’t the airlines check for switched-on mobiles before take-off? It is very easy to
detect a mobile that is receiving a call, so surely it must be straightforward
to pick up the identification pulses that they send out every few seconds.
The Civil Aviation Authority’s report on mobile phones also recommends that
“airlines evaluate mobile phone detection equipment which would warn crews if a
phone was in use”. Such systems are already in use in restaurants and theatres
to prevent mobile users ruining other people’s evenings out—Ed
Ipsach, Switzerland
