Can You Text and Fly?

[carqwik]

From a NYT piece on an interview with Thomas Middleditch (actor who just got his PPL and a DA-40):

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/arts/television/thomas-middleditch-of-silicon-valley-on-doing-verizon-ads-and-flying-his-own-plane.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0

Excerpt:

Q: Can you text and fly?

A: You can. Honestly, when everything is on autopilot, there’s nothing else to do. My writing partner and I took our script and got work done while we were flying.

 

 

[N201MKTurbo]

It may technically be against FCC rules, but the chance of getting busted is zero.

That being said I had a vacuum pump fail on a trip back from Portland OR a few years ago. The wife and I were scheduled to fly to NOLA the next day. I told her what I needed and where to get it via text message while I was flying. The new vacuum pump was sitting outside the hangar door when I landed. I changed it right then and our trip went off without a hitch. That wouldn't have happened if I couldn't text from the plane.

Even if you have no service, it seems like the texts queue up in the phone and are sent as soon as you have service. I have had texts that didn't send for 1/2 hour or more, but they eventually go. 

[gsxrpilot]

Yep do it all the time.

[HRM]

2 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

It may technically be against FCC rules, but the chance of getting busted is zero.

Oh yeah, this is what happened when I texted once:

[Skates97]

I'll text updates along my route and give whoever is picking me up an ETA when I'm about 30 minutes out so they can be there when I land. 

[carqwik]

I was more focused on the idea of "if the autopilot is on, there's almost nothing to do" thought process of this young pilot...

[Skates97]

Just now, carqwik said:

I was more focused on the idea of "if the autopilot is on, there's almost nothing to do" thought process of this young pilot...

Yes, trouble waiting to happen....

[RLCarter]

Years ago I was on final and felt like I had a heart murmur, landed and all was good. Two weeks later it happened again, seems that at roughly 500agl my crackberry would sync up and do a short pulse (vibrate) to let me know I had a missed call or text. The way the shoulder harness fit it would hold the phone in my shirt pocket away from my body just far enough to make you think that things are fixing to get bad..... But yes, I do text\talk if I have service while in cruise

[Danb]

How high can you successfully text.

[carusoam]

I have had success using text below 3,000’ to let my ride know I was coming... at 500fpm that isn't much time for a warning. You will be in the traffic pattern in minutes....

A short preset message, pushing the send button is all it took.  Not quite writing a manuscript... my copilot was pretty good at ground conversations.

The Narco radios in my M20C were good at picking up electrical noise made by a cell phone that was picking up a connection signal.

Piloto has reported Good cell reception much higher.

As for the article, I didn't get a feel for anything actually being factual.  At best, the man is an actor.  He pretends to an audience. The audience wants to be entertained...  when making things up, he needs some better skill... Da40, really?

Best regards,

-a-

Edited April 22, 2017 by carusoam

[HRM]

2 hours ago, carusoam said:

A short preset message...

Anthony, you?

[Rmag]

6 hours ago, RLCarter said:

Years ago I was on final and felt like I had a heart murmur, landed and all was good. Two weeks later it happened again, seems that at roughly 500agl my crackberry would sync up and do a short pulse (vibrate) to let me know I had a missed call or text. The way the shoulder harness fit it would hold the phone in my shirt pocket away from my body just far enough to make you think that things are fixing to get bad..... But yes, I do text\talk if I have service while in cruise

Funny story similar to this, my brother used to have a custom ring tone when his wife called that was an actual warning in an aircraft he was flying, it said "WARNING WARNING PULL UP".  He was co-piloting with my Dad on a flight.  On final approach his wife calls...

Needless to say, the ring tone was quickly abandoned after that.

[N201MKTurbo]

4 hours ago, Danb said:

How high can you successfully text.

You should have asked the folks in the park at the 420 celebrations.

[peevee]

5 hours ago, Danb said:

How high can you successfully text.

FL180 and higher over a city.

[M20F]

Text and Internet reception success seems to depend on frequency of towers. If in a highly populated area I can text low and occasionally get data.  Flying in the middle of nowhere I can get both at almost any altitude.  

I suspect it is just a matter of the phone locking to 1 tower and not 5.  

[slowflyin]

I use a Garmin Inreach.  It links with my phone and allows texting via the sat link.   Also, leaves "breadcrumbs" so anyone I choose can track my flights.  Last but not least it's a fairly competent plb.  The texting is not as fast but adequate.  

[flight2000]

Out west, if I can get an LTE signal, I've been able to text as high as 13,000 feet MSL (haven't gone any higher than that yet).  I only normally see one or 2 bars due to the nature of the towns being spread out so far and on occasion, no cell service at all down low at 2,000' AGL.   Bad part is I normally can't even get flight following because I'm below radar coverage over a good portion of the areas I fly in if below 8,500 feet.

Cheers,

Brian

[thinwing]

10 hours ago, carqwik said:

I was more focused on the idea of "if the autopilot is on, there's almost nothing to do" thought process of this young pilot...

Uh...that's not good..

[kmyfm20s]

10 hours ago, carqwik said:

I was more focused on the idea of "if the autopilot is on, there's almost nothing to do" thought process of this young pilot...

Don't you just pull the chute if something bad happens?

[M20F]

2 hours ago, kmyfm20s said:

Don't you just pull the chute if something bad happens?

No you just get to a comfort level where you don't spend 100% of your time scanning things.  Flying at 9000ft plus about the only thing I fixate on is PulseOx otherwise I find things to occupy my time.  When something breaks you notice it without the need to fixate (especially with a decent engine monitor that come with idiot lights).

Flying 2000' in a high traffic area is a differing story. 

[Joe Zuffoletto]

I successfully fired off a text at FL220 over Ely, Nevada. I also received a phone call once at FL180 somewhere out west.

[Shadrach]

4 hours ago, peevee said:

FL180 and higher over a city.

I find the opposite to be true. More towers seem to create a situation where my phone is constantly acquiring and re-acquiring different towers. It does better in areas that are less populated. I can make voice calls out over the western part of my state that would never go through near D.C. or Baltimore. I called my wife departing Cumberland (rural part of the state) one evening and didn't loose her until climbing through 6000'.

[peevee]

3 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

I find the opposite to be true. More towers seem to create a situation where my phone is constantly acquiring and re-acquiring different towers. It does better in areas that are less populated. I can make voice calls out over the western part of my state that would never go through near D.C. or Baltimore. I called my wife departing Cumberland (rural part of the state) one evening and didn't loose her until climbing through 6000'.

Out west if I'm not near a city I get nothing.

[N601RX]

Cell towers main lobe is radiated horizontally. There are some secondary lobes that are directed upward and outward that are very weak and have some dead space between them. Because of this once your are more than a few thousand feet your phone is going to start picking up several towers that are many miles away rather than ones directly under you. 

[N201MKTurbo]

FWIW

SMS (text) messages go over the voice channel not the data channel. Having LTE has nothing to do with texting.