Cell Phones on Airlines

Do we remember the questions surrounding the supposed cell phone calls from the hijacked airliners on Sept 11, 2001? I still do, and my questions still haven’t been answered.

John Kaminsky in his The Day America Died – Why You Shouldn’t Believe the Official Story of What Happened on September 11, 2001 writes:

“Canadian professor A.K. Dewdney has been from the outset at the forefront of questioning the authenticity of the controversial cell phone calls made on 9/11.

… calculated that the likelihood of a cell phone getting through to a caller under normal circumstances was one in a hundred.

Worse, the aluminum skin of an airliner and trying to make a call at high speeds further the likelihood that cell phone calls can get through from flights at typical airline altitudes and speeds…”

Well, hopefully that won’t be a problem too much longer. Read this from today's Reuters business wire.


Qualcomm, Connexion to test in-flight mobile calls
Mon Aug 8, 2005 9:25 AM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-08-08T132546Z_01_N08320306_RTRIDST_0_TECH-TELECOMS-QUALCOMM-CONNEXION-DC.XML

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc. and Boeing Co.'s Connexion said on Monday they would test in-flight mobile phone calls in the hopes they can overcome public skepticism.

Connexion, which already provides wireless laptop Internet services in airplane cabins, hopes to provide in-flight wireless voice and data services if regulators give the go-ahead.

The tests will be conducted through September in a specially equipped Boeing 737-400 aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration told lawmakers last month that substantial challenges remained to the in-flight use of mobile phones even if communications regulators eased a ban currently in place.

Boeing's archrival Airbus said last month that it was working with Germany's Siemens to develop technology that would make ordinary mobile phone calls possible for in-flight passengers by 2006.

Connexion has said it expects to start selling cellular phone services to airline passengers as early as next year, though some surveys have shown customer doubts about voice services in close cabins.

Qualcomm sells technology licenses and chips for mobile phones based on CDMA, the dominant cellphone standard in the United States.


So. Where were those “cell phone” calls made from?