London: Please don't forget to switch off your mobile phone and other gadgets when the flight purser tells you to do so while on board an aircraft, for experts say that electronic devices could cause a crash.
According to the experts, the operation of cell phones and other portable electronic devices could create a "perfect storm" of interference with sensitive aircraft instruments to cause a crash -- and older aircraft are especially vulnerable.
Most personal devices transmit a signal and all emit electromagnetic waves which, in theory, could interfere with the plane's electronics. At the same time, older planes might not have the best protection against the latest devices.
"The technical advancements for wireless devices and portable electronic equipment is so rapid, it changes every week. The advances in airplanes take 20 years," the 'Daily Mail' quoted Doug Hughes, an electrical engineer and air
safety investigator, as saying.
But it is not as simple as saying that if a device is on, it is a problem.
"It's a good news-bad news thing. Electronic devices do not cause problems in every case. And that's good. It's bad in that people assume it never will," said David Carson, an engineer with aircraft maker Boeing.
There is no recent survey of how often passengers ignore restrictions on use of their gadgets but seven years ago Bill Strauss, then a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, monitored the signals emitted from phones during
flights and found they were frequently being left on.
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