Pilot confirms what effect 'airplane mode' has and whether you actually need to turn it on during a flight

If, like many others, you thought that the notorious ‘airplane mode’ had no effects on aircraft, one esteemed pilot is setting the record straight.

Whether it’s just to contact family or to get your TikTok fix after hours of being offline, fliers frequently ignore the safety briefing and try to establish an internet connection from the skies.

But while you might think it has little to no impact, it really can interfere with communications and radar technology in the cockpit.

British Airways First Officer Simin Taheri opened up to Supercar Blondie about the pet peeves of a pilot and what flying ‘myths’ are actually true.

British Airways Pilot reveals why airplane mode shouldn’t be ignored

Using her platform on YouTube, CaptainCroft, AKA Simin Taheri, often debunks common myths about aviation and details her experiences with flight training.

As an educational creator, she told Supercar Blondie that there’s actually a lot of truth in the tales told about planes, particularly when it comes to Airplane Mode on phones.

Discussing her biggest pet peeves as a First Officer, she took a quarrel with passengers who query ‘Why are we on airplane mode?’

“It’s because you don’t want to interfere with the communication systems on the aircraft when you’re coming into land,” she explained.

“The reason we have airplane mode is so they don’t ping off cell phone towers or anything like that to interfere with the navigation systems of the aircraft and communication systems.

“For example, there’s something called LVOS (low visibility operations) where we’re coming in to land, and we’re basically landing with both of the autopilots in there.

“Turn off your phone here because we’re doing an auto land. It can interfere. It really can interfere with it.”

Still, with that record set straight, there are plenty more passenger habits that really grind the gears of Pilots.

Biggest flying myths set right

With experience in a range of different aircraft and over 3,000 hours of piloting under her belt, Taheri rattled off an extensive list of small myths that are actually false.

Starting with engine failures.

“People say if both of the engines fail, the aircraft will fall out of the sky. It won’t,” she said.

“It will glide. That’s another thing I’ve heard a lot of people are afraid of, but there are procedures, and pilots are trained for that. It glides.”

Other cabin crew instructions that get ignored are also a gripe.

“People ask, ‘Why are we dimming the lights? Why are we putting the tray tables up? Why do we have to put the window blinds up? It’s all to do with safety.

“All of the procedures within aviation, the rules are there for you and your safety. Window blinds are up just in case so that the crew and passengers could see if there is fire on the engines.”

Finally, people clapping isn’t always the warm welcome that Pilots enjoy.

She revealed that often, some people will celebrate the landing but then complain to her about the flight time or the service, things that are out of her hands.

But for the most part, Taheri relishes every opportunity to inspire a new generation of fliers, even showing the controls to younger aviation fans.