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.