Can Passengers Make Telephone Calls From A Flying Plane?

[sandyRoe]

If they can are there any reports of 'last messages' being received by relatives and friends of those who were on the German aircraft that crashed?

[Mamyalynne]

It all depends on the circumstances but I believe there have been no reports of such last messages from this latest terrible tragedy.

[Sycamore3House]

I read that there were phone calls & messages made & sent from passengers in the planes that were hijacked in the 9/11 atrocities .

[delboy3]

Just what I said on the other thread:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1409089-2.html

[sandyRoe]

I missed that thread, delboy3

[Gromit]

The passengers did not know the plane was crashing until the very last seconds. Screams were heard very briefly before the crash, not enough time to make a call. The plane descended very gradually, there was no dive into the mountain.

I assume the ability to make a call is dependent on the proximity to a phone mast from the point of impact. Not sure what phone reception is like up a mountain in the Alps.

[-Talbot-]

The passengers did not know the plane was crashing until the very last seconds.


Really?
With the pilot bashing frantically on the cockpit door...it must have crossed their minds?

[stuey]

I wouldn't call around 500 feet per minute a very gradual descent.

[DTCwordfan]

3000 to 4000 feet a minute can be easily achieved, stuey, steep yes, but safe.

[jno]

I think it's gradual enough that passengers mightn't notice it, it's not a crash dive.

[jd_1984]

This was not a gradual descent.
Perhaps not a "dive" that would cause sheer panic but unfortunately it appears passengers would have been aware of a serious problem for a matter of a minute to a few minutes.

[DTCwordfan]

Normal procedure for emergencies is:

1. Control the plane and take into a rapid descent (up to 4k feet a minute - and that explains the 8 minute descent in this incident)
2. Look for a nearby airport or 'safe' field(s) for landing, preparing for that starting at 8 to 10k feet
3. And only then issue the MayDay signals.....and communications if still enabled.

This was obviously deliberately ignored it seems.

Awful.

[Gromit]

Just looked it up.
The plane descende 30,000 feet in 8 minutes = 3,750 feet a minute.
So not that gradual.

[youngmafbog]

I think the point being made is that it was not a nosedive, it was well within normal capabilities of the plane, albeit for emergency.

From news reports does look like problems with the co pilot activating emergency decent.

[stuey]

I cannot really imagine what must flash through your mind when you know that you are going to definitely die in a most horrendous manner but you still have to wait a few minutes for it to happen

[Peter Pedant]

I can imagine some left messages on their phones

others may have written notes - passports spring to mind

and even some videos ....

we will have to wait and see