So confusing though, cell phones could not connect from flight altitude at that time. Personally know several Motorola engineers- mobile phones simply did not have enough power to connect, airplanes did not have those connections on these planes. Impossible to have made those calls at flight altitude. And amazing how crystal clear they sounded, right?
I'd also imagine some of them did come from cell phones once the planes reached low altitude. If cell phones worked from the highest floor of the WTC (and they did), then they worked from the planes for at least a brief moment in time -- these planes were hijacked and flying well below altitudes requiring pressurization for a decent amount of time
They weren't in those planes yet. I flew the very next week, and almost every week after that- no phones in planes. Believe me, my parents would have been happier with things if there had been.
Anyeay, even if they had been on the planes, they took a LONG time to connect, with very bad signal quality.
So confusing though, cell phones could not connect from flight altitude at that time. Personally know several Motorola engineers- mobile phones simply did not have enough power to connect, airplanes did not have those connections on these planes. Impossible to have made those calls at flight altitude. And amazing how crystal clear they sounded, right?
Back then airplanes had phones on the back of the seats. Cost like $3 per minute or something crazy. You activated them with your credit card.
I'd also imagine some of them did come from cell phones once the planes reached low altitude. If cell phones worked from the highest floor of the WTC (and they did), then they worked from the planes for at least a brief moment in time -- these planes were hijacked and flying well below altitudes requiring pressurization for a decent amount of time
They weren't in those planes yet. I flew the very next week, and almost every week after that- no phones in planes. Believe me, my parents would have been happier with things if there had been.
Anyeay, even if they had been on the planes, they took a LONG time to connect, with very bad signal quality.