Never connect your mobile phone to an airplane’s USB port.

Unlike ten years ago, most airlines now offer USB ports and sockets for charging electronic devices such as phones, tablets and laptops. Others don’t. In addition, most of them do not have both an electrical outlet and a USB port for charging. Therefore, if you want to charge your gadgets on a plane, it is recommended to check which airlines offer this service before booking a ticket. If they have these USB charging sockets, we’re going to go over the reasons for waiting for your device to charge on land.

Danger during takeoff and landing

Yes, you can charge your phone on the plane. But you can’t charge your phone on an airplane while it’s in transit or when the plane is taking off or landing. International air navigation laws prohibit this, and there are fines for it.

During takeoff, the aircraft must all the power of the engines to take off. An airplane taking off with a full tank of fuel is the heaviest and most dangerous moment.

Electricity for charging the batteries comes from electric generators driven by engines. The motors develop their full power when you don’t need to generate electricity. It is clear that the charge is very small, but everything adds up. So wait a few minutes until the aircraft is at cruising altitude to make the engine work easier.

Aircraft USB ports are slow

Many aircraft now have USB ports built into their seatbacks. These ports are often used to charge passenger devices. However, if you only plan to charge your phone on an airplane using USB, be aware that the power output is very low: only 0.5 amps (or 500 milliamps).

This is because most airlines don’t want them to operate at full speed, drawing too much electricity from the aircraft’s system. To charge your phone on an airplane via a USB port, you will need a charging cable and, first of all, a lot of patienceso it is highly discouraged if you need to download it urgently.

juicer danger

It’s hard to imagine that something as airtight as an airplane could be as unprotected as other public places like airports, hotels, or shopping malls, but there’s still a risk of so-called juice grab if someone has previously plugged in. to this USB port is not very good. honest intentions. As long as you use free USB charging services, if they modified it, hackers infect your phone with malware and steal your sensitive data.

If you’re still forced to resort to these USB chargers as a last resort, there are a number of alternative security measures you can take. In particular, with the help of certain devices called USB blockers, usb condoms or Juice-Jack Defender, are adapters that fit between the cable and equipment and act as a shield. Finally, we can take care to carry around USB cables that only support charging, so that even if a public charger gets hacked, they won’t be able to access our data.

Be careful with external battery by plane

Instead of using the aircraft’s built-in USB cable, you can connect the USB cable to charge from a portable battery or external battery. Airlines are strict about batteries, especially lithium-ion ones, because of the danger they pose. As such, passengers can only carry portable chargers with a maximum capacity of 100 Wh (20,000 mAh is still subject to these criteria).

In addition, airlines only allow batteries in carry-on baggage, which is one of the lesser-known flight restrictions on devices. Therefore, in no case do not carry them in checked baggage, as this will bring you trouble and make you miss your flight.