‘The more ya know’: Pilot shares the real reason you have to go on Airplane Mode

Whenever you’re traveling via airplane, flight attendants will likely ask you to put your phone on Airplane Mode before takeoff. This is something most people just do without question, even if they don't know the purpose of it. A pilot recently went viral for explaining why Airplane Mode is so important.

“This is just a friendly PSA that the Airplane Mode button on your phone is not a conspiracy,” popular TikToker and pilot @perchpoint starts his video. His video has been viewed over 400,000 times since Tuesday.

“It’s not the end of the world. The plane will not fall out of the sky. And it won’t even mess with the systems on board,” he adds.

“However, it does have the potential to mess with the headsets," he says of the pilots' headsets.

He explains that even if a handful of passengers don't turn on Airplane Mode, their phones can attempt to connect to a radio tower for something like an incoming phone call. “There’s a potential that those radio waves can interfere with the radio waves of the headsets that the pilots are using,” @perchpoint adds.

He then dives into an incident that occurred on his most recent flight. He says he was using his headset for "clearance on which way" they had to go.

“As soon as we started getting directions, there’s this, like, really annoying buzz going through the headset," he shares. “Like I said, it’s not the end of the world, but it is definitely annoying when you’re trying to copy down instructions."

"The more ya know, yanno?" @perchpoint captions the video.

@perchpoint shared with the Daily Dot that he has flown professionally since 2019 and has been an airline pilot for two years.

“Phones not on airplane mode and interfering with radios is something that happens under the right circumstances. It depends on things like the phone provider, location of the plane, the phone actively trying to make or receive a phone call, and where the passenger is sitting. (I.e. the closer to the flight deck, the more likely),” the piolt explained via TikTok direct message. “Many flights happen per day, with thousands of passengers, they just wanna mitigate the chances of interference with airplane mode with as many passengers.”

And it's not just phones that can cause interference. “Equipment around the airport has caused interference,” he shared.

Overall, the content creator wants to reassure flyers who forget to put their phones on Airplane Mode.

“It’s not the end of the world if people forget to put a phone on airplane mode. It won’t impact any of our guidance or GPS systems. It can just make the buzz in the headset under the ‘right’ circumstances,” @perchpoint said.

Viewers continue to question the importance of Airplane Mode

“Yeah I refuse to believe any airplane mode garbage. If it truly presented ANY risk to the flight airlines would be collecting phones from passengers,” one viewer wrote.

“I stopped turning on airplane mode after I once sat next to a pilot who never turned it on and was on his phone through the whole flight lol,” a second commented.

A pilot co-signed @perchpoint's claim.

“Yesss bruh one time I forgot to turn my phone off, and I could hear my headset buzzing. I was getting a phone call,” they shared.

Is this a law?

Although there have not been any crashes connected to cellphone use, "the FCC and FAA ban cell phones for airborne use."

“Its signals could interfere with critical aircraft instruments. Devices must be used in airplane mode or with the cellular connection disabled. You may use the WiFi connection on your device if the plane has an installed WiFi system and the airline allows its use,” per the Federal Aviation Administration’s website.

@perchpoint The more ya know, yanno? #fyp #aviation ♬ original sound - PerchPoint

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