Twenty-six of the incidents in the report affected the flight controls, including the autopilot, autothrust and landing gear. Seventeen affected navigation systems, while 15 affected communication systems. Thirteen of the incidents produced electronic warnings, including “engine indications.” The type of personal device most often suspected in the incidents were cell phones, linked to four out of ten. Read more here: Is It Really Safe to Use a Cellphone on a Plane?

The report illustrates a problem LightSquared (News - Alert) also faces, namely that tests indicate the terrestrial Long Term Evolution network it proposes to build can interfere significantly with the GPS system. And neither the IATA report, nor tests of GPS interference caused by the LightSquared network, are unusual.

Early in its development, in the 1960s and 1970s, for example, the cable TV industry had to work pretty hard to ensure that its signals did not interfere with amateur radio transmissions, for example.

The report, which stresses that it is not verifying that the incidents were caused by PEDs.Cable signal leakage can interfere with any of the over-the-air services that happen to be using the same frequencies as the cable operator and that are within the vicinity of the cable system. Such interference, especially on the emergency channels, can interfere with the communications of safety personnel or airplane pilots. When such interference occurs, it can endanger the lives or hamper the rescue efforts of safety personnel.

Not that many will remember it, but concern about cable TV signals interfering with aircraft navigation or communications were a hot issue in 1982 and 1983.

It has been quite some time, but as I recall, there were about two categories of verified cases of actual cable TV signal interference with aircraft communications, one of which was a series of “squelch break” errors caused to the voice communications system of aircraft flying between 8,000 and 10,000 meters altitude over Flint, Mich. I seem to recall also a separate problem with an aeronautical radio beacon near Hagerstown, Md. in 1978 or so.

Since then, I am not aware of any subsequent issues caused by signal leakage from a cable TV network to aircraft communications or navigation. The number of incidents the IATA raises is significant, though the report seems unable to pinpoint the actual cause of the apparent instances of interference.

A 1980 survey suggested a couple of instances where signal interference was measured.

The same problem can happen in reverse, some believe, with over-the-air signals getting into the cable TV networks. To be sure, an LTE handset would have to be operating in very very close proximity to the cable TV network, and the cable network would have to have some lack of integrity that would allow signals to seep in and out.

Signal interference is not an unusual problem. But in the case of aircraft safety, the IATA report suggests there really is good reason to have rules prohibiting the operation of mobile phones in flight. 

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