Turning off GPS on a flight?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 27 Jul, 2023
- |
I have used my GPS receiver frequently on flights (also to/within the US) and the only problem I had was getting it to acquire the satellites š
Some airlines explicitly allow them, e.g. Continental/United list them in the onboard magazine as allowed.
That said, I do switch it off during takeoff and landing.
Thereās a geek answer to this, and a practical answer to this.
The geek answer is that there are all sorts of electronics that can have no conceivable effect upon a plane in flight.
The practical answer is that even if youāre completely certain that your gizmo canāt affect a plane, itās going to be up to the cabin crew to decide whether you are breaking airline regulations. This can cause an effect ranging from being politely asked to turn off the deviceā¦ to your plane diverting in mid-air so you can be removed from the plane in handcuffs.
So my recommendation for flights in the US: follow the instructions youāre given. One flight I was on said, āIf your device has an off switch, turn it off.ā In this case, your watch would be fine. Most flights said, āTurn off your GPS.ā In this case, I would take out the battery.
It doesnāt have to make sense. The better question is, āWhat are the consequences for disobeying the instruction?ā Donāt rely on the common sense or tech savvy (or lack thereof) of the cabin crew who are legally empowered (in the US) to make any decision they like if they think it affects the safety of the plane.
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Itās pretty ridiculous that Iāve seen airlines ask for these to be turned off at times. By definition, GPS is receive-only ā it sends out NOTHING, so really the watch part of your watch probably emits more EM (note to science geeks, I canāt back that statement up with fact).
Anyway, they certainly wonāt ask you to turn off your watch, or remove the battery. If you were sitting there with a big GPS unit holding it up to the window Iād be surprised if it didnāt get a comment or request to switch it off, but the watch is fine.
GPS devices do not have an active transmitter (for devices that donāt go online to fetch map data, that is); they work by calculating time signals broadcast at low power by a constellation of satellites. Since thereās no active transmitter and GPS signals are broadcast anyway (modern aircraft navigation systems do use GPS onboard), a watch or a camera technically cannot cause interference at all.
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Credit:stackoverflow.comā
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