WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Cellphones on Airplanes 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.240 Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:10.360 there's Chuck, and there's guest producer Jerry sitting in for 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:14.800 Dave c. Yeah, and this is short Stuff getting up. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.639 No time to explain any of the Jerry Dave thing, No, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.080 not at all, because we're on an airplane and there's 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.640 a jerk in first class yammering on his cell phone 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.560 because it's now okay to talk on take cell phone 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:30.880 calls on planes. Why would you do that to me? 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.280 Why would you even create that, that little situation, that 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:38.520 sketch of a horrible day, just to drive fear into people, 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.880 because it's not really true. Um, it's been a while 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.960 since I've flown on a plane. Exactly one year actually, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.640 oh yet to the day, not to the day, but 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:55.080 about then about a year in a WEEKI jerk, fifty 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:00.360 four weeks. Uh. But yes, you cannot make sell phone 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:04.160 calls because there are a couple of bodies in the 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.920 United States that make sure you can't. The f A 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.600 A and the f C c OH. I thought you 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.440 were going to say Rob Low and Tom Selleck, just 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:18.600 a couple of bodies. Yeah, um, so yeah, there's actually 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.880 two federal agencies that ban the use of cell phones 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.360 because everybody hates it so much that everyone wanted to 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.479 get a no banning it. The f a A says, well, 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.080 the reason we ban it is because we're pretty sure 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:39.480 that that could conceivably interfere with the planes instrumentation. Um, 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.440 and you don't want to do that because you could 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.120 make a plane drop out of the skuy probably And 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.080 the SEC says yeah yeah. Plus also it will totally 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.360 mess with calls on the ground because those ones up 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.240 in the air will be jumping from tower to tower 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.840 and it will just be a big problem. Yeah. And 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:59.440 I think pre two wasn't didn't you even have to 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.200 power down your cell phone? Yes, they were like, just 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.520 don't just take your cell phone and throw it out 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.160 the window, like Mitt Rodney says, roll down your your 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.040 airplanes window and just throw it out midflight. We don't 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.160 even want them onto here. They were basically like, just 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.520 do not do anything with your cell phone. And then 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:20.160 finally somebody told them about airplane mode, appropriately called airplane 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.280 mode because it cuts off the cellular service on your phone, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.280 but it remains it keeps like the WiFi intact if 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.239 you're if you have it turned on right, and ever 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.440 since then you could at least go through and and 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.919 spend a couple of hours deleting pictures that you don't 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.640 need clogging up your storage space. That's right. I like 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.440 to just like there's one of the things that was 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.000 always great about a flight, as you were just disconnected 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.359 for an hour or five hours or something, you were 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.480 just just like you could bring an actual printed book 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.320 with you and like read it, you know. But with 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.320 the with the advent of WiFi on planes and everything, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.600 it's like, now it's connected and you can commu indicade 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.040 and it's just you can do other stuff that you 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.920 do under normal circumstances, and it's ruined everything. Yeah, I 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.320 will still unless I really legitimately have stuff I have 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.960 to get done for work, I will still not get 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.320 my laptop out and get online just to surf the web. 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.440 I'm like, I give myself that break. Yeah. No, it's 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.160 a it's good to do. It's you know, it's so 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.760 easy to be addicted to computers and the Internet and 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:33.040 everything that sometime it's hard. It is. Uh, the deal 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.440 with whether or not it could really interfere with communication 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.720 systems or the planes flight systems. Uh, that is probably 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.560 not the case because planes are hardened, meaning um, all 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.640 of those electronics that are important on a plane, like 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.960 the flight control system are covered or you know, boxed 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:56.440 in this electrically conductive material that prevents any kind of 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.680 electromagnetic interference. So they've kind of taking care of that 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.280 for the most part, but they still air on the 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.480 side of caution and they're like, but let's just not 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.720 do it. Still. Yeah, they do know that electro magnetic 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:14.240 interference can affect planes. Things like lightning and solar flares 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:19.560 UM have affected instrumentation on planes, and especially with GPS, 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:24.920 which is critical in uh, take off but especially landing. Um. 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.440 It's it's it's really sensitive to electro magnetic radiation interference. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.240 So you don't want anything messing with that, least of 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.840 all somebody who just has to talk on the phone, 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.120 because the worst reason to allow it, right, So they 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.479 know that it can happen, but they couldn't find in 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.719 this one study in the two thousand odds uh, any 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.080 any smoking gun that said, yes, this plane fell out 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:51.760 of the sky because somebody was talking on a cell phone. 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.760 It was just they knew it was conceivably possible. Even 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.720 though they shielded or hardened the stuff, um to prevent 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.640 that that. They still said, it's just it's just not 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.760 worth it. Everybody hates people talking on cell phones anyway, 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.640 so why would we make an exception when it could 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:12.960 also conceivably mess with the planes? Instrumentation agreed. Should we 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.640 take a break? Yes, all right, we'll take a break 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:49.440 and finish up with this stuff right after this. Alright. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:54.080 So here's what they don't have on planes is any 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.880 kind of alert to a flight attendant that says, hey, 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.760 there's a jerk on row fifteen in the middle seat 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.760 that's hunched down and using their cell phone. Go back 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:09.120 there and stop him. They don't have prejudice. Yeah, totally. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.400 They should bring that pot of coffee. Um, they should stop. 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.320 They should have that stuff, but they don't. But generally, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:21.440 I think anybody if they saw their seat mate next 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.400 to them trying to make a phone call or calling 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.840 somebody would be smart enough to alert the flight attendant 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:30.839 and say, hey, you can't do this, get this jerk 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.400 off a here. My hand would shoot up. Like a 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.159 third grader with the right answer to the question the 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.360 teacher just asked, I'd be like, oh, oh, they're on 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:45.599 their phone. I would sell on somebody so fast, Yes, yeah, 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:47.680 and I wouldn't even care if they gave me stitches 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:55.480 for niches. That's right. Um at thirty six thousand feet though, 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.000 you're not gonna be connecting with the cell tower anyway. 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.160 I think we have all been in situations where we 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.599 may not have realized that our phone wasn't on airplane mode, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.799 and you'll hear You're like, when you start to land, 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.760 you'll hear your phone ding, like a message just come through, 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.320 and you're like, oh boy, I didn't know that that 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.880 could even happen. Uh. They must really mean it when 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.080 they say put your phone on airplane mode. Yeah, that's 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.920 what the SEC's whole position was, is that um air 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.920 traffic would mess with ground traffic, and that cell phone 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.920 towers are basically designed to hand off from one tower 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:32.200 to the next in a cell um as you're walking by, UM, 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:36.440 driving by tops, not you know, flying a couple of 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:38.960 hundred miles an hour at ten thousand feet as you're 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.920 coming in for a landing. Yeah there, and yeah, exactly 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.360 a bunch of people on a plane all doing at 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:47.080 the same time, because you're gonna attack the capacity of 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.960 each tower they're not designed to register in handoff calls 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.240 like that that fast. Um, and so the the SEC 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.800 is like that could really interrupt ground communications. So that's 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.440 another reason not to do it. Yeah, but generally those uh, 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.000 they're not looking up anyway, which is why you can't 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.800 get that signal at thirty six thousand feet. But like 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.720 I said, anything less than ten thousand beat and it 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.240 might be possible, So you just shouldn't try. Still. Yeah, 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.720 and Richard Branson said, what is one way that I 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.880 can fully ruin the experience of flying for people? And 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:24.640 uh in two thousand and ten, I believe around then 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.160 he came up with the answer, and that was to 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:32.560 offer cell phone service via UM little uh what are 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:36.440 they called pico Yeah, Pico cells. Pico cells, little tiny 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.120 cell towers that use the plane's WiFi to transmit cell 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.840 phone calls. So on Virgin UM some Virgin flights that 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.920 are not in the United States or within two fifty 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.640 poles of the United States, you can make cell phone 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.840 calls aboard the plane. Yeah, that's I think he probably 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.560 thought that would enhance the experience because he's all about 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.400 I mean, we both flown rgin. It's it's the best. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.960 It's awesome. Oh yeah, there's that pantry. You can stand 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.040 up and just go get candy from any time you 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.160 want to love it. That Australian flight was like the 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.000 one of the nicest experiences I've ever had in the air, 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.280 for sure. I I suspect he's promoting his Virgin Mobile 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.680 business though by well maybe you know, but it is 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.960 weird that someone that has taken such great care to 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.000 make the flight such a great experience then ruins it 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.480 by saying everyone can talk on their cell phones now. Maybe. Yeah, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:32.600 nice chill lights, lavender aroma therapy. It is such a 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:38.000 nice experience, for sure. It really is country. Hey, while 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:39.480 we're here, I just want to say, I want to 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.760 take a second when we're talking about Virgin Uh, my 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.600 niece Mila just recently flew to New Zealand for eleven 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.680 weeks because she's co starring in a major motion picture 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.319 and that's where they're shooting. Are you serious? I am 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.360 dead serious, man. My parents are there right now for 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:03.240 a level week. She is and wow she is. Yeah, 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:05.400 like she's one of the co lete she's one of 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:07.560 the main characters. Like I think her hands are going 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.400 to be on the poster. That's amazing, isn't it huge? Congratulations, 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.800 it's really exciting. I'll keep you posted as I can. 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.440 To be honest, I'm not entirely certain I can include this, 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.360 so we may end up editing it out. But at 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.800 the event, at least you know now well and when 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.480 the time comes, we can promote it on movie crush. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.679 Oh nice, thanks man, that's very of course. So uh. 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.800 The FCC basically spent many years saying, like, Okay, is 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.240 this really a problem? Should we allow like Richard Branson's 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.560 making us look like total jerks? Should we allow this? 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:47.600 And they, after several years of study, they concluded they said, no, nuts, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.400 nuts to Richard Branson. They said the flight attendants. You know, 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.000 they asked a lot of people. They didn't just do 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.480 the studies about safety. They asked actual people who work 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.960 on planes, and the flight attendants were all like, no, known, 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.800 Oh no, they need to be listening to us, um, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.600 Especially in the case of an emergency. The first thing 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.600 everyone would do would be to get out their phone 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:10.760 and try and call their loved ones. And that's when 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.600 they most need to be listening to things. Right, that's 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:17.680 a big one, um. But then there's also the annoyance factor. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.800 And this to me is where it just becomes like 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:25.240 the most important thing. Just everything else forget it. It's 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:30.520 so obnoxious to even while you're on the tarmac waiting 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.319 for them to shut the door, and there's people sitting 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:37.240 there talking on the phone. That's obnoxious. Enough of food 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:39.760 from the food court even that, I'm like, Okay, at 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.240 least they're they're providing their bodies sustenance and nourishment. I 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.760 can live with it. The phone is like and you 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:49.080 can tell from the conversation there's just no point in 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.959 this transpiring, and yet it is, and and there's another 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.840 one in, another one, another one. Being on a plane 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.080 like that for many, many hours is awful. It's an 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:02.040 awful idea. Yeah, it's that situation and where John Hodgeman 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.120 always talks about being aware of the impact that you 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.679 have on others, and I've always subscribed to that. But 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.360 the person that has their shoes off and they got 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:13.760 their Panda Express like piping hot meal in their lap 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.160 and they're talking on their cell phone before the flight 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.120 takes off, that's the person that's like paid for the seat, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.080 Let just do what I wanted, and I paid for 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.440 the seat. Don't be that person, I know, Yeah, because 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.120 you just don't have an effect on everybody. Be kinder, 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.800 think about other people. Yeah, but hey, enjoy your pain 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.000 expressed because you're providing. There's got to be some nourishing 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:39.960 nutrients somewhere. Sure. Yeah, those green peppers are okay. You 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.920 got anything else? I got nothing else? Okay, Well, then 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:50.720 that means short stuff says stay off your phone. Stuff 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.720 you should Know is a production of I heart Radio. 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.719 For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.760 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:12:58.760 --> 0:12:59.480 favorite shows.