The need to switch on your device's airplane mode while flying

If you have ever traveled by commercial aircraft, you should be familiar with the procedure. After you have located your seat, the flight attendants or pilots will give you instructions requesting you to put on your seat belt or activate the aircraft mode on your electronic gadget, among other things.

Why? You might ask, but first, what is an airplane's mood?

The Airplane mood, sometimes known as the flight mood, is a setting that immediately disables all internet connectivity, including Wi-Fi signals and the like, when activated on a device. However, all other locations continue to function normally without requiring internet access.

As soon as you switch your phone into airplane mode, it will no longer be able to send or receive radio signals, messages, phone calls, or access websites or email.

Why do we have to put our phones in airplane mode? 

The aircraft's communications and navigational systems utilize radio signals from the ground. Because mobile phones, tablets, and other electronic devices use the same frequencies, these transmissions are vulnerable to electromagnetic interference that these devices can cause.

Interference from a mobile device might cause the pilots to be unaware of how close they are to the ground or whether or not it is safe to land at the current time when the aircraft is descending or landing. Therefore, for reasons relating to safety, pilots need to have clear communication, and taking a call on your cell phone might interfere with that.

What happens if you forget to turn your mobile phone into airplane mode? 

The reason for the restriction was the widespread concern that mobile phone frequencies may lead to a malfunction or, even worse, a crash in the aircraft's technical systems.

Even though we are told to turn off our phones, four out of ten passengers ignore these warnings. This is because there is insufficient empirical evidence to support claims that electromagnetic emissions from devices can confuse airplane computers, and there is no record of an airplane crashing because of a single device being turned on.

However, pilots have reported that the transmission of signals from cell phones can cause audible interference on the aircraft's radios (similar to the sound of a skipping CD). This interference can block radio frequency for one or two seconds, leading to confusion between the pilots and air traffic control. 

As new planes, phones, and other onboard technology are developed, incidents like this are becoming increasingly uncommon.