Originally Posted by
stifle
I can get this one.
Phones and other devices that want to make a cellular or wifi connection will send out a low-energy signal and see if they get a response from a cellular tower or hotspot (as the case may be; I'll just talk about wifi and hotspots for the sake of simplicity for the rest of this post). If they don't get a response, they will send out more powerful signals to try to find a hotspot. It is these more powerful signals that are said to cause disruption to the plane's electronics and/or communications. But if the device receives a response from hotspot equipment on the plane, it need not then send the disruptive high-energy signals.
Thanks! You are bleedin' clever!
So purely from a technical viewpoint my ipad searching for my wifi based hard drive will not interfere with the planes systems because it will find it straight away?
Also, why is it that - from recall - I do not remember any account of any incident being caused by a passenger leaving something on? It is inconceivable that some aren't left on. In the scenario you outline shouldn't those unanswered signals cause stronger signals which will cause problems? Why has it not seemed to have happened?