Originally Posted by flyclub
Most interesting and as a fellow pilot I fully understand. Do you have an IMC rating or even an IFR rating? It sounds to me as if the conditions certainly didn't permit a VFR flight to return....
However, I am amazed it had that much of an effect. However, in terms of what Spotwelder stated, I can honestly believe older aircraft are more susceptible to interference than modern airliners. I used to fly PA28's which were 60's in design and wouldn't be at all surprised if more susceptible to intereference. The Diamond DA40 I now fly is like something from a different world, especially with the inbuilt GPS 'for basic not to be used for navigation guidance'.
Furthermore, space in a light aircraft is at a premium so everyone is relatively close to the avionics, unlike a commercial aircraft.
At the end of the day, I wouldn't be surprised if every flight taking off in the UK has at least one passenger onboard who has inadvertently left their mobile switched on.
Erm ,Yes of course (IMC/IFR/VFR thing), if I was stupid enough to go flying around unqualified or unlicensed I don't think I'd come on here to admit to it.
The point was not that phones will defintely interfere in all aircraft/situations, but the statement that "they may interfere ..." does seem to have some validity and in my case, on that day in those conditions in that aircraft with that phone it certainly did interfere. The aircraft in question was full IFR as well, so the units should have had their FM immunity or whatever it is they have. Remember a VOR works by the slight difference in phase in two signals, it only needs a slight amount of interference with one of them more than the other and your bearing will be a few degrees out.
That said I cannot for the life of me see why it isn't possible to develop navigation systems and phones that by their inherent design cannot interfere with each other. I guess once again its commercial issues, like some airlines will want to offer their own £5000/minute options (I tried it over India once ,$30 for a line so bad that in the crackly few seconds it worked I was unable to understand or be understood), or that even if there were new navigation instruments that would co-exist with mobiles, fitting them to the worlds fleet is going to cost a bit.