Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

This forum has been developed to discuss aviation related topics.

Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog

GoinVertical
Rank 3
Rank 3
Posts: 148
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:12 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by GoinVertical »

phillyfan wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2019 10:47 am ...dangerous in the hands of pilots who using them to listen to music while flying...
Jeez, hope you've never tuned ADF #2 to a local AM station and had a listen... surely you'd spiral into the ground being unable to recognize an engine failure because of that damn music.
---------- ADS -----------
 
phillyfan
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 943
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2004 7:22 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by phillyfan »

Too bad. Being a millenial would have given you a reason for being such a whiny, drama queen.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Dry Guy
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 331
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:44 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by Dry Guy »

HEY PILLYFAN HOWS THE BEAV I CAN'T BELIEVE SOME OF THESE LAZY PILOTS. THE MORNING AFT,ER PROM NIGHT I WALKED DOWN TO THE DOCK ASKED FOR THE CHIEF PILOT, LOOKED HIM RIGHT IN THE EYE AND SAID “GIVE ME THE JOB” SHOOK HIS HAND AND THAT WAS THAT. BY THE TIME I WAS 19 HAD MYSELF A SEAT IN THE OTTER A COUPLE MOPARS A BOAT AND A HOUSE HOUSE I TELL YOU WHAT MELLENIALS NOWADAYS COMPLAIN TOO MUCH. SAY HI TO THE OLD BALL AND CHAIN
————————————
Pete “Punch” McKenzie
RCAF Comms Officer 1971-1972
ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION ORGANIZER 1973-1978
"We don't dial 911"
1964 ford shelby (LOVE Of MY LIFE)
1972 chevy corvette (cranks but dont start)
1983 dodge dart (FOR SALE)
“LEAD ME FOLLOW ME OR GET OUTTA MY WAY!”
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
flying4dollars
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1289
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:56 am

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by flying4dollars »

It's probably easy to say that if it was your kid, you wouldn't want to wake up half the province to let them know, until it is your kid.

I don't mind the alert though, I've endured worse things in life. I do notice it's a constant thing in Ontario, and almost rarely happens in the west where I reside so I haven't got any issues. That being said I can see why it can be a little overwhelming for some, but there are ways, as people mentioned here (manipulating your notifications, if possible, is the most viable one it seems).
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
JasonE
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 837
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:26 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by JasonE »

On the bright side, no one spams my fax machine anymore :)
---------- ADS -----------
 
"Carelessness and overconfidence are more dangerous than deliberately accepted risk." -Wilbur Wright
linecrew
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1887
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:53 am
Location: On final so get off the damn runway!

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by linecrew »

phillyfan wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2019 3:30 pm Too bad. Being a millenial would have given you a reason for being such a whiny, drama queen.
Pot-kettle. You come across as same.
---------- ADS -----------
 
mbav8r
Rank 10
Rank 10
Posts: 2325
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 8:11 am
Location: Manitoba

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by mbav8r »

https://dailyhive.com/toronto/turn-off- ... phone-2019
I missed a page of this thread but in case it wasn’t brought up, there is a way for iPhone users to disable the alerts, sort of, you disable LTE and use 3G, the alerts won’t come through but your phone still works.
I haven’t tried it but here it is just the same.
For what it’s worth, I just look at my phone, realize there’s nothing I can do and go back to sleep, usually after a trip to the bathroom, yes I’m that old!
---------- ADS -----------
 
"Stand-by, I'm inverted"
User avatar
Daniel Cooper
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 335
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:38 am
Location: Unknown

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by Daniel Cooper »

So who got woken up by the Nuclear alert? Seems like it was just sent in error.
---------- ADS -----------
 
lownslow
Rank (9)
Rank (9)
Posts: 1709
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:56 am

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by lownslow »

Daniel Cooper wrote: Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:06 am So who got woken up by the Nuclear alert? Seems like it was just sent in error.
I think if I was about to be in big trouble for a near nuclear disaster down in sector 7G that I too would try to play the warning off as an error.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Victory
Rank 6
Rank 6
Posts: 464
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:32 am

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by Victory »

I would think that too if the people running this emergency alert system weren't so incompetent.
---------- ADS -----------
 
digits_
Top Poster
Top Poster
Posts: 5930
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:26 am

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by digits_ »

And with every message sent in error, the effectiveness of the actual system reduces drastically.
---------- ADS -----------
 
As an AvCanada discussion grows longer:
-the probability of 'entitlement' being mentioned, approaches 1
-one will be accused of using bad airmanship
User avatar
valleyboy
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 797
Joined: Tue May 03, 2016 4:05 am
Contact:

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by valleyboy »

The concept is great but the system is not. In my case there are just too many irrelevant alerts to the point of being ignored. This was the highest priority alert, prezidential, but living 1800 km from the source still is just useless information and not an immediate treat. I would much prefer to get the details via the news than roll over and turn off my phone. They need to fine tune the system so people don't start to ignore the alerts or as I have done for now is disable the app, not just turn off the warnings which can be overridden but actually remove it. They need to select appropriate areas not just a blind open transmission.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Black air has no lift - extra fuel has no weight
http://www.blackair.ca
altiplano
Top Poster
Top Poster
Posts: 5377
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 2:24 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by altiplano »

Turn airplane mode on your phone at night.
Then wiifi back on if you need that...

Or if you need to be able to receive calls, just turn the data off on your phone at night.

Done.
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
Jean-Pierre
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 390
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:56 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by Jean-Pierre »

I do not think the alert is sent over "data".
---------- ADS -----------
 
altiplano
Top Poster
Top Poster
Posts: 5377
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 2:24 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by altiplano »

It's not a phone call or text message...

You have to be connected to LTE (4G).

No data = no LTE = good night's sleep.
Screenshot_20200112-132631.png
Screenshot_20200112-132631.png (597.87 KiB) Viewed 1515 times
---------- ADS -----------
 
Dry Guy
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 331
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:44 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by Dry Guy »

You can still have 3G data on and not receive the alerts. It is the LTE you have to turn off.
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
PilotDAR
Rank 11
Rank 11
Posts: 4053
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:46 pm
Location: Near CNJ4 Orillia, Ontario

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by PilotDAR »

Yeah, I think their system is flawed, and I do not have confidence in it. Even amber alerts, though important in some locales, are not important to me at home (I live on the edge on nowhere, on a dead end road). I'm not going to jump into my car, and drive out to the highway, in the hope of randomly seeing a suspect motorist. I agree that radio, and overhead highway signs are an excellent place to broadcast amber alerts - my phone is not! I spent 27 years answering a pager in the middle of the night as a firefighter, I like to think that I have now earned the right to have my sleep not interrupted, unless someone knows that I can actually help (in which case, they will phone my cell phone, and I'll go fly a search).

In the mean time, last time I followed the proper channels to inquire as to the right of emergency services to use my cell phone, I was provided an email address. That time, I was carrying a can of paint, ans was so startled by the shrieking tone, I damned near dropped it! For Ontario, it is: "askofmem@ontraio.ca". I was told that requesting there to have your cell number removed from the list will make it happen. I emailed this morning, and asked for confirmation when my number was removed. I will report back here with what I learn.

When I understand that the emergency alerting system has been refined to be appropriate to locale, I'll rethink my willingness to involve my cell phone. I agree that these systems have value, but it sure is reduced, when people who have no conceivable likelihood of being involved are woken up, or otherwise disturbed.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Trematode
Rank 4
Rank 4
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:46 pm

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by Trematode »

They're abusing the system in Canada and not using it as designed.

The "Amber" alerts they're sending out, are by legislation, being sent out at the highest priority level in the system as opposed to the designated amber alert level already included in the specifications (more or less a text alert, that can be silenced) -- instead, this highest priority they're actually opting to use is designed to bypass the "do not disturb" functions of your phone and force an aural alert for events like nuclear war and natural catastrophes where there is imminent danger to the user of the phone. Some android devices have the ability to silence these anyway (this is also not in accordance with design specs). iPhone's can't, though.

The whole thing is a mess, and because people are being disturbed in their sleep for the wrong things, they end up finding ways to disable the system entirely, by silencing alerts if possible on their particular phone, by disabling LTE, or by turning off their device entirely.

The end result of all of this misuse is that there are less phones active in the system, and so the effectiveness of the early warning/emergency notification system as a whole is severely handicapped.

Conversely, I'm sure nobody would mind if the system was used properly and only forced the aural alerts if something like a wild fire, or flash flood, was directly threatening their lives as they slept. We'd have people happily leaving their phones on, and contributing to the overall effectiveness of the national warning system.

It's totally SNAFU. They're using MAYDAY when they should be using PANPAN, basically.
---------- ADS -----------
 
photofly
Top Poster
Top Poster
Posts: 11306
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:47 pm
Location: Hangry and crankypated

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by photofly »

Daniel Cooper wrote: Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:06 am So who got woken up by the Nuclear alert? Seems like it was just sent in error.
Me.

I confess my second thought (first was "do I need to evacuate the children?") was I wonder if there'll be restricted airspace for my flights over that way, today.
---------- ADS -----------
 
DId you hear the one about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.
User avatar
valleyboy
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 797
Joined: Tue May 03, 2016 4:05 am
Contact:

Re: Are Amber Alerts affecting your flight safety?

Post by valleyboy »

I do not think the alert is sent over "data".
You are correct it is sent through the LTE network separate to data and the only possible way to not get notices is to either turn the phone off or select "airplane" mode and if you wanted to turn wifi on for email you could. The messages come through the LTE network. You can silence all modes except the prezidential (for whatever reason the proper spelling is blocked by web site - is it a dirty word???) through the apps and notification menu on android (I have no clue about an apple fone. The app in question is called "cell broadcasts" and it's a system app meaning it can't be changed unless you have super user access and a rooted phone.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Black air has no lift - extra fuel has no weight
http://www.blackair.ca
Post Reply

Return to “General Comments”