Cell phone regulation on airlines?

Joseph wrote:

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 11:38:10 -0700, DaveC wrote:

Cell phone usage is restricted on all domestic commercial flights by the FAA,
so the flight attendant keeps telling me.

I seem to recall that this wasn't so, early in cellular history. Weren't we
able to use cell phones on flights, long ago?

Is cell phone usage also restricted on private jets, etc. for similar
reasons?

Restriction of cell phones from planes is not due to the interference
to avionics, but is more of concern that it will interfere with
land-based communications. When you're up at a height and you attempt
to use your phone you are hitting a whole lot of cell sites as once
and if lots of people did this it would make a real mess of land-based
cellular service. So it's more of an FCC mandate than it is of the
FAA.

I thought that the base station antenna patterns pretty much ignore any signal
greater than a few ( maybe ~10 ) degrees above the horizon.


Graham