Texan arrested for mobile calls on aircraft
We're slowly starting to see more stories of airline crews getting fed up and kicking people off flights for using their mobile phones, but none are as controversial as this.A Texas businessman named Joe Jones was recently arrested following a Southwest Airlines flight on which he refused to get off of his phone prior to landing. Flight attendants had repeatedly asked the man to stop the conversation and turn off his mobile, receiving a "kiss my ass" in return each time they asked. Frustrated, they had state police meet him at the gate, where he continued to make a ruckus.
As his spokesman later explained, however, Jones had just received word that his father's heart had stopped beating and was wildly trying to contact the hospital. Given the life and death situation, he felt it necessary to make the phone calls.
And I can empathize with that situation -- if I knew that my parents were gravely ill and had to call the hospital, I can totally see how I would be trying to call the doctor in panic. My questions are as follows: how did Jones get the message in the first place? Was he on the plane with his phone on when a text came in or did he get the call before he boarded? And isn't interfering with an aircraft landing with your mobile phone signal also a life and death situation?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
May 13th 2008 @ 1:43PM
Eva said...
And another question:
Why not replace "kiss my ass" with "my father's heart just stopped beating and I absolutely have to reach the hospital"?
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 3:56PM
susan said...
Exactley what i was thinking.. takes the same amount of time to explain the situation. This is partly the reason we have the problems in society we have today.. this is a grown man.. a role model to his children and this is how he acts? Rude and obnoxious!.. He deserves the way he was treated. Maybe he will learn how to talk to others.. but somehow i doubt it
May 14th 2008 @ 4:05PM
Tammy said...
It doesn't matter what the problem or situation was, rules are rules and no one is exempt from them. No phone, means no phone. Sounds like this guy was stressing because of the situation, but he obviously is an butt himself. Otherwise, it wouldn't had gone to that level of calling the police.
May 14th 2008 @ 6:15PM
Melissa L. said...
Eva,
That's exactly what I was thinking. Instead of being a prick about it, why couldn't he just tell them his situation? I'm sure they would've been more understanding hearing a panicked passenger worried about his father than a jackass who was instead cussing them out.
Oh, and there has been no proof to show a correlation between cell phone usage and interference with a plane's electronic controls. I watch tons of documentaries, and I've seen that little factoid over and over again. The airlines' theory is, "Better to be safe than sorry," and I'm okay with that. But I would've done the same thing in this man's situation, minus cussing out the flight attendants and being a total tool.
May 13th 2008 @ 4:25PM
Chris C said...
There is ZERO chance that a cell phone, or any electronic device can cause any harm to an airline in flight. if it did, I guarantee 2 things, 1, that planes would be falling out of the sky on a daily basis, since i am sure many people forget to turn off their phones before takeoff, and 2, that if there was even a .01 percent chance of this happening, the FAA would mandate wireless/RF detectors on all airlines. I have gotten and sent text messages for years on flights, when signal was available, and am still here, and have made calls from my Iridium SAT Phone, and guess what? nothing happened.
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 2:53PM
J. said...
You, sadly don't know what you're talking about.
First Officer J.
May 14th 2008 @ 3:28PM
Unknown said...
but if everyone was allowed to use there cell phones on flights wouldn't there be some kind of frequency disruption
May 14th 2008 @ 3:44PM
anonymous said...
Chris C,clearly you don't know what you are saying....a few cellphones on will not cause any disruption in flight.But all 100+ passengers with their mobiles on will cause chaos as the combined magnetism is strong enough to cause interference with the navigation systems.Airlines clearly can't pick and choose who gets to leave their phone on during the flight so they ask that ALL passengers turn it off.And I am not just making assumptions here as you seem to be.But I am happy that he got arrested to send out a message to other travellers who think they can just do whatever and whenever as they please and be disrespectful to flight attendants at the end of it.But this is only the beginning because as the article stated flight attendants are FED UP.
May 14th 2008 @ 4:38PM
Kid said...
I can tell you for a fact that an electronic instrument CAN interfere with the controls, actually knocking out the instruments for a brief second. I work on airplanes and this has happened twice. Usually when turning the device on or off. If the pilots hadn't noticed that their coordinates had changed...well, let's just say that I wouldn't be here to warn you. Most device manufacturers have a protective casing for device signals, however, they are making them so fast they are not worrying about people using them inflight. By the way it was a Nintendo that most people don't know uses Wi Fi. So, when we say turn it off...TURN IT OFF!
May 29th 2008 @ 11:20AM
Michael said...
Actually the phone's can cause numerous problems with the navigation systems including the signal used for runway and glide path alignment. I have had to fly circles over Denver before until one of our passengers would get off of his phone, so our navigation would come back on line. Nothing will get a person off of the phone faster than 18 angery fellow passenger wanting to make their connections.
May 14th 2008 @ 5:42PM
darby said...
You don't know what you're talking about when you say zero chance. The reason you can't use them, especially at low altitudes is that they can and do interfere with airline instruments and communications. At low altitudes, there may not be a chance to recover if there were a problem, or request a second communication transmission. So my question is, why are people like you so sure you know more than all the experts that make the rules?
May 14th 2008 @ 7:35PM
Freightpilot said...
There is no interferance problen with any current aviation navigational equipment that can be caused by cell phones. this is proven daily by many profesional pilots myself included. there are many proposals underway to make there use legal (just do a google search for cell phone use on airplanes)
The FCC bans in-flight use because cell phones can communicate with more than one cell tower when in the air. This could lead to disruption of service for cell phones on the ground, which use only one tower at a time.
The FAA, meanwhile, has commissioned a study that could eventually result in its cell phone ban being lifted.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3543-2004Dec15.html
May 14th 2008 @ 8:15PM
robin said...
how can you get signal in mid air? that is what i want to know. i have never had signal a thousand feet above the ground. something is really strange about this story.
May 13th 2008 @ 8:43PM
Lannon said...
As a pilot, I heartily agree. I use my phone in my plane all the time, commercial pilots do it, and, yes, there is absolutely no chance of interference. If cellular signals were harmful to aircraft, wouldn't the much stronger signals from the towers be constantly doing damage. Not that this guy sounds terribly reasonable...
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 5:32AM
Joe said...
I think it's abundantly clear that the chance a cellphone will interfere with flight instruments is minutely small.
The flight attendants have a job to do and this prick is preventing them from doing. There are these things called Federal Aviation Rules. They define the steps have to be followed for takeoff, landing, and emergencies. And those safety announcements at the beginning and end of the flight have to be followed (slight deviations are allowed as long as the words are spoken). No one is exempt from them and if you don't follow them expect handcuffs and a big fine. The really belligerent passengers get the handcuffs in flight, how embarrassing.
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 2:16PM
melissa said...
i agree with Eva's comment, why didn't the passenger explain to the flight staff why he would not hang up? maybe they would have been more understanding. and maybe he should've made the call shorter.
remember the days before cell phones?? if someone was dying, or there was a severe emergency, you had to wait until you were at home/work to be contacted, now everyone assumes because you have a phone on you, you are available 24/7 regardless of where you are or what you are doing.
lately it seems that people have this mentality that they want to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and don't care if they are allowed or not, they will do it anyway.
of course, maybe I would have a different opinion if I was in an emergency situation.
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 2:19PM
James said...
If there is no interference, then why is this ridiculous rule still in effect?
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 2:47PM
Doug said...
The FAA regs. have more to do with order in the cabin during takeoff and landing, much as the rules for tray tables and seat backs. Planes don't fall from the sky. Most every disaster occurs during takeoff and landing. Having said that, rules are rules. Inconsiderate dirtbags need to consider those around them, not just themselves. Guys story is just a little fishy. Besides, what was he going to do in the minutes it took to get the plane on the ground and off the runway where he could use it legally. Congratulations Southwest.
May 14th 2008 @ 2:19PM
karen said...
I sympathize with the man, as I was in a similar situation last August. While flying home from florida, where I had left my dad under hospice care.....after landing in Philadelphia for my connecting flight....I turned on my cell phone as I was ordering a beer in the bar....my horror to hear my sister's voice mail that my dad had died while I was in the air.....not that I could have done anything.......the real kicker is I was flying back as my boss told me I had to workthat weekend...no way I could have off....my dying father wasn't a reason she said.....just the icing on the cake to have him die while I was going home!
Reply
May 14th 2008 @ 2:27PM
rod b said...
Rules are rules, if you want to talk on your cell stay on the ground, if you want fly stay off the cell phone
Reply