Mobile communications to extend to the skies starting 2014

Planes will no longer be the rare refuge from texting.

Airline passengers may use their smartphones and other mobile devices to play games and send text messages inflight in line with global standards starting 2014, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said Tuesday.

But passengers on airlines based in the Philippines still cannot make voice calls while in flight, not for safety reasons but to avoid disturbing fellow passengers. So mobile users can expect cabin attendants to still patrol aisles reminding passengers to stop talking on their phones.

The use of digital devices on board flights was restricted for fear that these would interfere with pilots' communications. International experts have determined that danger no longer applies with modern plane equipment.

CAAP said its order, dated December 30, 2013, will take effect only 15 days after it is published in a newspaper of general circulation and a copy is filed with the Office of the National Administrative Register at UP Diliman, Quezon City.

 

Before take-off and after landing, passengers can use their mobile devices practically without restrictions, including voice calls, unless the pilot says otherwise.

 

In an e-mailed statement, Director General William K. Hotchkiss III said CAAP will permit people on board commercial flights to use their laptops and cellular phones to use the Internet and send text messages.

 

Once the doors are closed, mobile devices should be switched to silent mode. Passengers are prohibited from making calls and are only allowed to send text messages or browse the internet.

 

When the aircraft is refueling, all transmissions will not be allowed and mobile devices must be turned off.

 

"Basta sinarado na 'yung doors at nakapasok na lahat ng pasahero, bawal na ang voice communications para hindi maingay... pero pwede mag-text at mag-internet basta naka-silent mode bago mag-take-off," CAAP public information officer Eric Apolonio told GMA News Online in a phone interview.

 

Passengers are also allowed to play games on electronic devices and music on MP3 players with the use of earphones in-flight.

 

Apolonio said the change in policy reflects the Oct. 31 US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) move which allowed airlines to expand the use of personal electronic devices or PEDs in airplane mode by the end of the year.

 

The FAA said the decision was based on findings by a group of experts who concluded that most commercial airplanes today can tolerate radio interference signals from mobile devices. – VS/KG/HS, GMA News