MYTH: CAN YOUR CELL PHONE INTERFERE WITH A PLANE'S INSTRUMENTS?

Finding: BUSTED

Explanation: Never mind what the chatterbox in the seat next to you says about cell phones messing with plane navigation -- those metallic birds are built airtight against foreign signals and operate on entirely different frequencies than cell phones.

So why all the fuss about phones? When you make a call at 10,000 feet, the signal bounces off multiple available cell towers, rather than one at a time. That means too many phone-happy jetsetters might clog up the networks on the ground, which is why the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — not the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) — banned cell use on planes.

If you're just dying to bust out your BlackBerry mid-flight, go international. Some airlines in Europe, the Middle East and Asia now allow cell phone use in planes, but don't hold your breath for the FCC to follow suit.

As seen in "MythBusters: Cell Phones on Planes."

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