How can electronic devices be FCC compliant to not cause interference yet can interfere with airplane communications?
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The concern has mostly to do with navigation systems, particularly instrument landing systems. A traditional ILS system in an aircraft receives signals from transmitters at the end of/adjacent to the runway. These transmitters operate at a frequency between 108-112Mhz(horizontal “localizer”) and 329-335MHz(glideslope). If a piece of equipment happens to generate interference in one of those frequency ranges it could render the navigation system inoperative or unreliable. While there are numerous backups and procedures to prevent this type of issue from bringing the aircraft down, it could cause a distraction at a critical time in the flight. Out of an abundance of caution this rule still remains even though the odds are very low of anything a passenger could bring onboard causing an issue.
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