GPS on an airliner!

Busted!

The airlines know you turned your devices on! They'll get you now!

That's cool though!

Impressive! That would've been fun to show off on the last few flights I've been on.

Great find brother!

Nice

what app is that?!

What app is that you're using?

I have V-cockpit unpurchased...it's good but that looks cleaner!

I've actually gotten this to work with the 4 but you have to have cellular on and also get the gps to hone in on the plane before you accelerate and take off or else you're screwed.

It was fun!

I remember a flight to france, where the door to the cockpit was left open
One thing I noticed was the pilots phone propped up on the 'center console'
As we started to descend, he started getting texts! So the phone was on of the whole flight

northernbaldy said:

I remember a flight to france, where the door to the cockpit was left open
One thing I noticed was the pilots phone propped up on the 'center console'
As we started to descend, he started getting texts! So the phone was on of the whole flight

Click to expand...

I was just ranting about this the other day.

If our iPhones (or any phone really) had the potential to mess with the functions of a commericial airliner in ANY way in this post-9/11, Purell-loving-world we live in there is NO WAY we would be allowed to bring them onboard. We'd check them in...right after our shoelaces are untied of course.

God forbid I pack too much shampoo in my carry-on.



(Sorry, I just flew recently and I'm still pissed how insane things are)

That's awesome! Would also like to know which app you were using.

northernbaldy said:

I remember a flight to france, where the door to the cockpit was left open
One thing I noticed was the pilots phone propped up on the 'center console'
As we started to descend, he started getting texts! So the phone was on of the whole flight

Click to expand...

So, what is the problem? In the past those electromagnetic signals would have been able to throw off some of the airplane's electronics, but nowadays that doesn't happen anymore.

The most important reason why you have to turn off your devices and put them away (usually during landing and take-off) is because they are dangerous items. Taking-off and landing are the most dangerous operations on an aircraft and if something happens, you don't want 100-150 gram glass/metal/hard plastic phones flying through the cabin. And you also don't want 600 gram iPads flying through the cabin.

If you have to turn off (and put away) your electronic devices during the entire flight, than that is usually because an airliner doesn't want that you are disturbing other passengers - but that's a rare thing to see (with a lot of European carriers, anyway).

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zorinlynx said:

Wheeeeee!

My iPhone 4 couldn't do this. Not only does the iPhone 5 do it, but it locks on within ten seconds! The GPS chipset in the 5 must be highly improved.

("SIM Locked" is a trick I learned; setting a SIM PIN lets you disable the cellular radio while keeping the GPS on. Using airplane mode kills them both)

Click to expand...

I think you might have been connected to GLONASS (Russia's GPS). I'm not certain, but I thought that GLONASS was better able to penetrate materials (like aluminium). The iPhone 4 doesn't support GLONASS.

zorinlynx said:

Wheeeeee!

My iPhone 4 couldn't do this. Not only does the iPhone 5 do it, but it locks on within ten seconds! The GPS chipset in the 5 must be highly improved.

("SIM Locked" is a trick I learned; setting a SIM PIN lets you disable the cellular radio while keeping the GPS on. Using airplane mode kills them both)

Click to expand...

Are you aware that while the sim is locked, the iPhone is actually actively seeking available GSM networks? That's a rule of GSM, that even if you haven't entered the PIN number, you'd be allowed to make emergency calls (112 in europe, 999 in the UK, 911 in USA, 000 in Australia, etc).

So, you still have the cellular network radio on.

I have however turned off airplane mode from tiem to time to try to use GPS up there just for 10/30 seconds. I have a friends whose a pilot and says that the only real risk is if you use it while landing or taking off, as some old phone could interfere with some sensors. but that doesn't happen with modern aircrafts and modern phones, it's done "just in case".

zorinlynx said:

That's SpeedPro. It's great if you just need quick-n-dirty display of speed, altitude and location.

Sadly it hasn't been updated for iPhone 5, but it still works great.

Strangely, Motion-X would take forever to get a lock, which is weird because they're both using the same chipset! But SpeedPro and Apple Maps were able to get a lock quickliy.

Click to expand...

awesome pretty accurate? i just wanted something to use in my car got bigger rims and tires and i think my speedometer is off now

The old Nokia E61i was able to do this aswell. Don't know if I can find the YT vid anymore.. used to be 2007 I think

ThatsMeRight said:

The most important reason why you have to turn off your devices and put them away (usually during landing and take-off) is because they are dangerous items. Taking-off and landing are the most dangerous operations on an aircraft and if something happens, you don't want 100-150 gram glass/metal/hard plastic phones flying through the cabin. And you also don't want 600 gram iPads flying through the cabin.

Click to expand...

I think the real reason is that in case of an incident, they don't want to have to cope with some idiots playing Angry Birds instead of getting off the airplane.

zorinlynx said:

The GSM chipset can turn on, but only if you ACTUALLY dial 911/112/999/etc. It will then seek the first mobile network it can reach (there's no SIM, so it can't "stay connected" to any one network) and will place the call then.

It's an "on-demand" thing; unless you do the dialing, the chipset will remain off.

Click to expand...

I've heard on the contrary. GSM allows sim-less calls to emergency numbers. They even allowed emergency calls from IMEI-blacklisted phones.

I guess the only way to check this is by measuring emissions under such conditions.

mikeydeezy said:

I was just ranting about this the other day.

If our iPhones (or any phone really) had the potential to mess with the functions of a commericial airliner in ANY way in this post-9/11, Purell-loving-world we live in there is NO WAY we would be allowed to bring them onboard. We'd check them in...right after our shoelaces are untied of course.

God forbid I pack too much shampoo in my carry-on.



(Sorry, I just flew recently and I'm still pissed how insane things are)

Click to expand...

This is you right now ^

"OMG HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN SECURITY IS OBVIOUSLY NOT TIGHT ENOUGH, I WOULD MUCH RATHER GIVE UP MY PRIVACY THAN MY SAFETY OMG I HATE THE TSA FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That is you after an attack happens^

stonyboys said:

This is you right now ^

"OMG HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN SECURITY IS OBVIOUSLY NOT TIGHT ENOUGH, I WOULD MUCH RATHER GIVE UP MY PRIVACY THAN MY SAFETY OMG I HATE THE TSA FOR NOT DOING ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That is you after an attack happens^

Click to expand...

Haha I believe it's a necessary evil don't get me wrong.
But I think the United States could take a page out of how the Israeli Travel Administration handles airport security.

Believe it or not people don't have to disrobe to fly on a commercial flight!