UK Going Mobile…In The Air
by Tyler Knott Gregson | April 2nd, 2008When in the name of all that is good and pure, is the United States going to completely allow this? Now, as I’ve mentioned before, the allowance of mobile phone calls in-flight has a plethora of pro’s and more than its fair share of cons. While it WOULD be rad to call whomever you want whenever you want while flying, it most certainly WOULD NOT be rad to hear everyone else yacking at the very same time. Yikes.
That said, the U.K. has officially approved in-flight mobile phone calls, just not during take-off and landing, and only after the plane reaches at least 3,000 meters according to reports. According to the Office of Communications in the U.K., “The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK.” Well at least they’ve thought it out.
Apparently the calls will be routed to an on-board base station and then sent out accordingly. So, knowing this, how much do you want a Bluetooth headset to at least not have to HOLD the phone during your long flights? Lets just hope they pre-install soundproof curtains between every seat from now on because the thought of hearing 250 passengers talking to 250 OTHER people all at the same time in a closed-in cabin at 30,000 feet is just, well, terrifying.
Tags:aviation safety agency, bluetooth headset, civil aviation authority, England, flights, mobile systems UK