Mobile phone may have caused mid-air plunge

TWO violent mid-air plunges by an airliner that seriously injured 13 passengers may have been caused by an on-board mobile phone signal, investigators said yesterday.

They are also exploring whether interference from a naval transmitter or even a passenger’s laptop caused the Qantas flight to nose-dive over the Australian coast last month.

Initial investigations of the mid-air emergency indicated the malfunction on the Airbus A330-300 on October 7 was caused by a fault in a computer unit that uses sensors to detect the angle of the plane.

While that theory is still considered the most likely, investigators are examining if the fault could lie with electromagnetic interference from a low-frequency naval submarine communications transmitter on the Australian north-west coast at Exmouth, near where the plane was forced to land.

The Naval Communications Station was built by the US Navy in the 1960s. It provides very low frequency radio transmissions to the US and Australian navies across the western Pacific and eastern Indian oceans.

Portable electronic devices are another possible source of the interference. Australian Transport Safety Bureau director Kerryn Macaulay said mobile phones and even laptops, usually seen as safe to use on flights, are being examined.