Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: westmark!dave@uunet.uu.net (Dave Levenson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cellular Telephone Causes Airline Fire Alarm Message-ID:Date: 19 Aug 89 01:46:28 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA Lines: 42 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 307, message 3 of 8 In article , wmartin@stl-06sima.army. mil (Will Martin) writes: > This was on Risks -- thought it was worth getting into Telecom: > > >Date: Tue, 15 Aug 89 08:17:31 -0400 > >From: dave davis > >Subject: Cellular Telephone Causes Airliner Fire Alarm > > A morning radio news report here in Washington, DC reported that a commercial > airline crew noted a fire alarm signal from a cargo hold in mid-flight. Upon > returning to their originating airport, the cargo hold was examined carefully > and no evidence of fire was found. Apparently, a cellular telephone in a > passenger's luggage had received an incoming call, that activated the smoke > (I assume) detector via RF interference. > ...As a result of this > event, the aircraft companies may have to redesign a lot of sensors. No. The only sensor that has to be implemented is the one that scans the passenger baggage. It is ILLEGAL to use electronic devices such as cellular telephones or even Walkman-sized portable receivers on board commercial aircraft. It is also ILLEGAL to operate such devices on other aircraft unless the pilot of the aircraft has determined that the device in question does not interfere with the aircraft systems. This part of the federal aviation regulations is chiefly aimed at reducing the risk of interference with the navigation or communications systems, in the interest of flight safety. While interference with the file alarm system may have been unexpected, the passenger who carried a powered-up portable electronic device aboard that aircraft is in violation of the law. What will probably result from this incident is not a major re-design of aircraft systems, but better enforcement of the existing regulations. -- Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave