No airfones on flight 77 -Olsen lied -

Originally posted by firepilot
An airliner is probably not going to be able to hold together at 500 miles per hour at low altitude. That is close to its high altitude cruise speed. That is way over its (never exceed) speed at low altitude, probably doesnt have the power to get that fast.

Then if it's not possible for a Boeing 767 or 757 to get to speeds of 500 MPH at low altitude we have a serious problem with the NIST and FEMA reports. They both claim that all 3 airplanes hit their targets at around 500 MPH. From memory, i think the slowest of all 3 clocked in at around 490 MPH and the fastest at around 535 MPH.

But even at around 450 MPH or even as slow as 400 MPH I don't think a cell phone can have time to make a connection to it's network.

Sure, the Vne (never exceed velocity for the non-pilots here) of a Boeing might be close to 500 MPH at low altitude but you would have to agree that most likely a certain margin of safety and redundancy has been built into this number. But i really like to know where you got your source on the claimed Vne of a Boeing? I've looked for it in the past and could not find that number anywhere. I even talked with pro pilots down at my RAA chapter and none of them could help me out.

Originally posted by firepilot
I have used mobile phones in aircraft at low altitude. I remember even making one at 10,000 ft in 97, but that was in the analog days and I have not had any luck doing that lately.

What type bird were you flying and what sort of speed were you going at?

And yes, analog phones and digital phones are two different animals all together.
It's like comparing AM radio with FM radio. Analogue phones are similar to AM radio, the signal can go a lot further but their will never be a really clear sound with all sorts of statics and background noises.
The digital cell is like FM radio: much better sound with less noise and static but far less efficient when it comes to range from the tower.