Pilot explains what can actually happen if you don't use flight mode on a plane

Fasten your seatbelt, open the window blinds and put away your tray table – the standard instructions your given when a flight is getting ready to take off and land.

And while there’s a reason for them all, you’re pretty much allowed to undo them all once the plane is in the air.

However, there’s one rule included in that set that generally applies for the whole journey: putting your phone in airplane mode.

But while we’ll follow along and do as we’re told, a lot of passengers don’t really understand just why we have to take ourselves off the grid digitally, while we’re off the grid on land. So, to clear things up, a pilot explained what can actually happen if you don’t use flight mode on your tech while you’re on a plane - and it's not just an etiquette thing.

It's actually pretty important. (Getty Stock)

David Morgan, a veteran pilot and chief of flight operations and safety at Air New Zealand, told Stuff that he’s experienced flights where people’s devices not being set correctly have caused him bother.

"I've been in an aeroplane that has done things that I haven't wanted to do on three occasions because of a Game Boy, a cell phone, and a laptop,” he said.

Yep, he says a literal Game Boy got in the way of him doing his job – proving flight mode isn’t just limited to your iPhone or tablet.

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“I was taking off out of Melbourne one day in the 767 and we lost all VHF contact,” Morgan explained.

The pilot said that the airplane has three of these VHF radios and as each one didn’t work, he’d move on to the next only to find it was also not working.

"We finally got to the point where I said 'We better have a look around the cabin to see if something is affecting it,'” he recalled.

You might've thought a Gameboy would be innocent enough. ( Vincenzo Izzo/LightRocket via Getty Images)

And as it turned out, there was a passenger on the flight using a Game Boy.

“And then as soon as that was switched off, all three radios returned to normal,” the pilot explained.

So, it turns out they really aren’t’ just trying to cut us off from updating our mates with what meal we’ve gone for on the journey, but because our devices actually can get in the way.

A UK flight attendant previously clarified this with LADbible TV as she said the signal from our devices (no matter what they are) can potentially interfere with the plane’s signal to a beacon.