Why? Mobiles at petrol stations

[funnymummy]

Who doesn't know of someone (or themselves

) that found on getting off the plane that their phone was switched on all the way...

It was my friends birthday a few weeks ago, she got a new phone & we spent the day joking it would take her weeks to figure out how to use it.
The next day she was whisked of on a surpsrise trip to New York by her partner. Just after take off the flight a phone started to ring, it was in the overhead bagage bit, a stewerdess asked who's it was..My friend said she was looking round & everyone was shaking heads. The lady next to her said she had packed hers in her suitcase as she couldn't use it & my friend said it can't be mine I have Black Eyed Peas as a ringtone and she'd switched it off anyway!
Afer it rang several more times the stewderdess asked eveyone, one by one to check their bags, my friend was one of the last to check.. It was her new phone, complete with new ringtone & not switched off! Ooopsie!

 

[waggoner]

I was always told by someone who worked in a petrol station, that the signal from the phones could interfer with the pumps,,, maybe in the same way if you have your phone near a radio you can hear interferance now and again.

But when you think the biggest cause of sparks is when you start the car up,, hundreds of volts suddenly going around the ignition system!!! Thats when your going to get sparks!!

 

[sunnyjim]

Someone who isn't me did, but they said that they didn't have a signal whilst in flight

AIUI not getting a signal's the problem - if every phone on the aircraft loses the signal, they all start trying to contact a cell at maximum power. Normally as soon as they make contact, the cell will tell the phone to be quiet, and tell it how much power it needs to transmit .

1 phone's not a problem, but 100 -200 active phones, all putting out about 4W each of RF inside a metal tube full of electronics keeping it in the air would be.

If the aircraft acts as its own cell, it can tell all the phones to reduce power or stop them working altogether.

'fake' cells are quite common in buildings (such as the one I'm in now) , so the owner can control phone access, and make an extra charge if they want.

Actually there's a lot of occasions where some mechanism to make anyone using a mobile phone explode instantly would be a good idea.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

"Yeah, I know.... he said I wuz gonna get it an I said 'no way' and then she said... hang on, just filling up the car at the moment... so anyways, I got back and... oh, bugger, I seem to have dropped the fuel line and have got petrol all over the forecourt... still, didn't drop my iPhone... lucky, eh?!?!"

 

[cisamcgu]

If there was any chance of a phone causing a plane to malfunction and crash they would be banned completely - telling everyone to turn them off is just a method of adding an element of fear to the passengers and keeping them comliant so the airline staff can get on with selling expensive drinks and duty free.

 

[srw]

If there was any chance of a phone causing a plane to malfunction and crash they would be banned completely - telling everyone to turn them off is just a method of adding an element of fear to the passengers and keeping them comliant so the airline staff can get on with selling expensive drinks and duty free.

I've heard a pilot say over the intercom that someone's phone signal is interfering with his communications, and asking everyone to check. Which suggests that either pilots make jokes over intercoms (which would be a quick route to the sack) or that there is potential for interference.

[edit]
And I should point out that a bottle of cask-strength whisky, a handkerchief and a cigarette lighter might make an effective Molotov Cocktail. All three items are freely available to buy in departure lounges.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

[edit]
And I should point out that a bottle of cask-strength whisky, a handkerchief and a cigarette lighter might make an effective Molotov Cocktail. All three items are freely available to buy in departure lounges.

*An internet monitor at MI6 raises his eyebrows, then turns to the man on the desk beside him*


"Guv..."

 

[Mad at urage]

*An internet monitor at MI6 raises his eyebrows, then turns to the man on the desk beside him*


"Guv..."

The guv'nor sighs at his whisky glass, puts it on the table beside him (removing his feet from the table as he does so), levers himself out of his chair and wanders over.

"What is it now?"

 

[_aD]

I've always suspected it's a case of a business or industry sticking their head in the sand and endangering people buy refusing to properly investigate risks. Blanket bans such as this are almost always because the powers that be can't be arsed to safely assess the risk and think that by ignoring it completely that they're (legally and literally) safer.

 

[PaulB]

Of course it happens. Happened to me just last week. It was unfortunate there was a coach load of school kids there, like, and another seven cars, plus the two I didn't mention making nine due to a 5p per litre reduction so 73 people were killed. It was in out local paper but may not have made the nationals yet. Even though the unfortunate incident was covered by several cameras. The police don't know if it was my casually discarded fag or the electro-static discharge from my phone but i don't smoke and I'd told them I'd chucked my lit docker away to throw suspicion off the phone.

So yes, it can and does happen. And I'm sory iff i made any sopeli misyakes but i havent got yhe bandiges of my hndfs yet.

 

[Brandane]

But when you think the biggest cause of sparks is when you start the car up,, hundreds of volts suddenly going around the ignition system!!! Thats when your going to get sparks!!

That's what I was thinking. Old cars and motorbikes go into petrol stations with dodgy ignition leads, shorting between the plug caps and the plugs. I've done it myself, unwittingly. Surely that's a bigger "elfin safety" risk than a mobile phone? Just another stupid regulation made up by some jobsworth trying to justify his existence.

 

[hobo]

Its like that myth that the wearing of a helmet whilst cycling will save you from being killed by a car running into you.

On a sharper note they have banned the use of stanley knives in the office because some one cut their finger.

 

[the_mikey]

It may also be a throwback to rules controlling other wireless telegraphy devices, ie, two way radios, some of which are capable of generating high outputs and potentially creating sparks, which would be undesireable in a petrol station.

 

[Archie_tect]

The guv'nor sighs at his whisky glass, puts it on the table beside him (removing his feet from the table as he does so), levers himself out of his chair and wanders over.

"What is it now?"

You can see my house from here.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Not got time to find the source now but IIRC the Civil Aviation Authority did some tests a few years ago with phones in an aircraft. No conclusive proof that they could cause serious trouble but neither could the possibility be eliminated.

There is also an AAIB report somewhere where the investigator had trouble making sense of the cockpit voice recorder. The recording was interrupted at regular intervals by a mobile phone's 'handshake' tones. The flight concerned was a freighter so it was either the Captain or the first officer.

Interview with chief pilot, caps on no tea and biccies!!