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Re: Pacmakers and Tesla coils = bad??
<<< I'll let this ONE go since this rasied considerable off list
interest... - Terry >>>
a bit off topic, but, the fragment below is just plain wrong. I was the
lead systems engineer for the L-1011 automatic pilot (admittedly not a
"modern" airplane, but it will serve to establish my "credentials" here) -
it had 900 miles of wire in it. modern airplanes have more, not less. The
reason for no cell phones is that they can interfer with navigation
equipment, or potentially cause interference with on board computers. There
is no airplane where control surfaces are commanded by RF, absolutely none,
anywhere. There are fly by wire, and fly by light, but no fly by radio.
moreover, any interference from cell phones in the scenario below would be
far less than that produced by the on board air to ground radios (that on
ocean going aircraft can be 1 KW each). RF interference is real, I was on
one test flight where (at about 500 ft) all 3 engines stopped when the pilot
keyed the microphone and a 1 KW HF com radio went on the air. Fortunately
the engines restarted, or I woud not be writing this note.
so, the facts - no cell phones to avoid interference with navigation and
computer equipment.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2000 11:41 AM
Subject: Re: Pacmakers and Tesla coils = bad??
> Original Poster: spam_proof-at-worldnet.att-dot-net
>
>
snip
. This is one of the reasons they
> don't allow the use of cell phones on airplanes (they don't run many wires
> through commercial airlines--they're too heavy, they use radio signals to
> control the flaps, rudder, spoilers, etc). While it is true that 99% of
> all cell phones won't cause a problem, the one that does could cause
> hundreds of deaths