Cell Towers May Provide a Ton of Information About Missing Malaysia Flight

Cell towers may contain a plethora of information about what may have happened to the missing Malaysia flight that disappeared over a week ago. Many planes these days allow cell phones to remain on during flight, even if the flight attendants politely ask passengers to disable their cell coverage it’s not a rule that’s always complied with. A recent Consumer Electronics Association Study reported that 30% of flyers forget to power-down their devices during take-off and landing. So between the passengers who “forget” turn of their device completely and those who choose to go rogue and leave their cellular data on, there’s a chance that a few cell phones pinged to nearby towers on that flight. While some believe that cell phones won’t work at a high altitude, there are reasons to believe differently: think 9/11. Many passengers used their phones to dial home. Even though most of the flight path was over water, if the plane intentionally veered off course and landed safely, the passenger’s cell phones would connect to the nearest tower automatically. Lance Ulanoff of Mashable explained, “It’s hard to believe that not one of the 239 passengers and crew members had the ability, time or wherewithal to get out a single message or that even one not-in-airplane-mode phone or tablet didn’t ping a single cell tower.”