In-flight cell phone use may soon be available

Travellers who want to make a phone call, while flying the skies of Europe will soon be able to use their mobile on commercial flights across the continent.

Ofcom, the UK regulator has finally given its approval for the use of mobile phones on aircraft registered in the UK, while flying in European airspace.

There are other problems that will need to be resolved before a totally universal system is in place. The Civil Aviation Authority, CAA, has stated that aircraft would need to have operating procedures in place to ensure that their planes systems would not be disrupted.

The current intention is to install tiny base stations, known as pico cells on aircraft, which can be switched on after takeoff, to create a cell phone coverage area within the plane. This will give passengers access to phone calls, text, and the internet.

Back in 2003 the CAA stated that mobile phone signals caused serious interruption to navigation equipment on commercial aircraft. This caused navigation equipment to give out false information, it is not yet certain that pico systems may not have the same effect.