Virgin America mid-flight panic after moron sets phone Wi-Fi hotspot to 'Samsung Galaxy Note 7'

A Virgin America flight from San Francisco to Boston was nearly diverted after someone onboard named their phone's Wi-Fi hotspot 'Samsung Galaxy Note 7'. A passenger on Flight 358, Mapboix software developer Lucas Wojciechowski, was scanning the plane for in-flight Wi-Fi when he noticed a hotspot active that appeared to be …

[Eddy Ito]

Perhaps a nice whack to the forehead of said moron, with their own device of course. They'd also have to make sure it's hard enough to knock it's Wi-Fi offline permanently though.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

How about being assigned to work at the Galaxy Note 7 disposal center?

[a_yank_lurker]

@Kevin McMurtrie

I was thinking he could try to imitate DB Cooper sans parachute.

[Anonymous Coward]

What if it was a REAL Galaxy Note 7 but they changed it to read "totally safe iPhone 7 guy?"

It's totally inappropriate, and yet funny all at once. I love the over-reaction, yet lots of innocent people were delayed for no reason. I just make my hotspot read "ISIS Recruitment Network Outreach Program", or how about "This phone is a bomb! but not really, did I scare you? Sorry, just funnin' ya, ya prick!"

What if the guy had a bunch of Galaxy Note 7s strapped to him like sticks of dynamite though? THAT would be so startling! If someone were to call him on one... well, the damage would be quite a bit more than you could imagine. "I don't know, I can imagine quite a lot." -- Han Solo

[Olius]

You must be a real hoot at parties, AC. Do you also give people wedgies, and then shout "Only joking! JEEZ, can't you take a joke?!" when they get annoyed?

[Anonymous Coward]

"You must be a real hoot at parties, AC. Do you also give people wedgies"

Don't underestimate the number of adults who have the same sniggering schoolboy sense of humour that they has as kids. Its the reason TV programs like Mrs Browns Boys (and in a previous generation Benny Hill) are so successful.

[joea]

And then there's Donald Trump . . .

[Magani]

@AC

I love the over-reaction,...

Words fail me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you pissed?

Reading your post I gives me the impression that you have been sniffing too many beermats either that or you are one stick short of a bundle.

Cheers... Ishtiaq

[macjules]

I would have gone down the route of, "This in-flight scare was brought to you by Mr F*ck Witt, sitting in seat number 39A, Please feel free to thank him for waking you up"

[Triggerfish]

"This is your captain speaking. We'd like to point out it was passenger in seat 3a who caused this problem, he has been asked to remain seating so that everyone can walk past him when leaving and call him.... well whatever you like really, we may not notice the odd slap either"

[ma1010]

I say let him walk home NOW

Toss this silly wanker out of the plane. Yes, with a parachute -- I'm not that evil. But really, sometimes human stupidity just seems to know no bounds.

[The Axe]

Re: I say let him walk home NOW

You are talking about the one who reported that he had seen a badly named WiFi hot spot and put 2 and 2 together to make 5 aren't you?

[Anonymous Coward]

The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is not the equivalent of a hand grenade with the pin pulled out. The manufacturing defect affects less than 0.01% of phones, that's less than one in ten thousand phones. Even if it wasn't one of the >99.99% of phones without defect, this certainly doesn't mean it was about to burst into flames.

If I was on the flight I think I would be far angrier at the people who over-reacted than the individual who set up the hotspot in the first place.

[Triggerfish]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

Risk assessments should be treated differently at 35000 ft, for a start the fire engine when called doesn't have a long enough ladder.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

"for a start the fire engine when called doesn't have a long enough ladder."

you realise that if this had been over London, the Mayer and the FBU would be blaming that in inadequate equipment because of Tory cuts .....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

...and they'd be right

[P. Lee]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

Is everyone here too young to remember that we used to allow smoking on aeroplanes?

Yeah it was silly, but maybe it was set weeks earlier while firmly on, er, terra firma.

Maybe some simple triangulation equipment on board might be a cheap antidote to the forgetful and the pranksters.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

"A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is not the equivalent of a hand grenade with the pin pulled out."

Nevertheless they are banned from flights. So if it actually had been a SGN7 the plane would have been flying with a banned object on board. That is a serious state of affairs and I'd expect there would have been repercussions for the airline for doing this. That Smooth Newt considers it safe would not be a relevant factor.

[9Rune5]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

"Nevertheless they are banned from flights"

By the same people who banned us from bringing more than half a litre of H2O on the flight?

The rules have been watered out and at least my respect for them has gone down the drain.

I once had to delay boarding the aircraft because I brought a 1.5 liter container of orange juice (gift from my step-brother, he did not know any better bless his little heart). I drank it all there because I hate waste.

In my experience, when the rules make more sense, they tend to command a lot more respect. Oh, and in case nobody noticed: The terrorists won.

[Adrian Tawse]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

The risk assessment is not the point. The pilot would be obliged to divert.

[Paul 195]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

Yes, the one thing people always say after an accident is "oh well, someone died but at least no one lost their sense of proportion".

[Patrick R]

Re: The only thing at credible risk of being blown up was a sense of proportion

Thank God, air flight companies have those things something called "procedures" that keeps them from having to assess credible risk a thousand times a day.

[patrickstar]

Re: I say let him walk home NOW

Generally speaking it's not possible to parachute from passenger jets due to how the doors/engines are placed. So you might as well skip the parachute, he's not gonna make it anyways.

[VanguardG]

Re: I say let him walk home NOW

D. B. Cooper did it by going down the rear stairs so he wouldn't be sucked into an engine or slam into the leading edge of the wing. One wonders if that's still possible (okay, since there's still no trace of Cooper, maybe he didn't make it either). Of course, not every airplane has such stairs anymore. And after Cooper, one would hope aircraft designers would alter the design so there is only hydraulic aid for raising them, and lowering is purely gravity-induced, that way they would never be able to lower them against the pressure of the airflow going by.

[SomeoneInDelaware]

Re: I say let him walk home NOW

Or just leave him/her in North Dakota. That's almost as bad as a D.B. Cooper!

[Dagg]

Re: I say let him walk home NOW

sometimes human stupidity just seems to know no bounds

The universe is finite human stupidity is infinite..

[Anonymous Coward]

Two things

Isn't it possible he named his hotspot months ago at the height of the infamy, and forgot it? I couldn't tell you my hotspot name without checking.

And these fires are pretty rare. Even if a Note was on board the chances of it engulfing, then bringing down the plane are probably less than the pilot so doing himself. I don't know the precise stats but I seem to recall at least 2 likely pilot suicides in the past 2 years and, er, no lion disasters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Two things

Yes, but if the crew looked the other way and it got out, or something happened it would be a disaster for them, the airline and the passengers.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Two things

Didn't iPhones used to burst into flames as well?

I don't remember them being banned - although possibly they will be banned on flights in Korea since that seems to be how things work now'

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Two things

Didn't iPhones used to burst into flames as well?

Yeah, but Apple is an American company so the law doesn't apply.

[david 12]

Re: Two things

>Didn't iPhones used to burst into flames as well?

Matches do. And although they are now banned from flights, I wouldn't expect the pilot to threaten to land the plan if any were suspected.

[Pedigree-Pete]

Matches.

I never fly with the Zippos friends and family have bought me. Usually, just a compressed gas "Clipper" like lighter for that 1st fag (sorry cigarette) when I leave the terminal.

If it gets confiscated, I'll buy another or scrounge a light.

Somehow, I don't think they are any safer than matches or Zippos, but I've never had one confiscated yet. Hmmmm. PP

[John Tserkezis]

Re: Two things

"Yes, but if the crew looked the other way and it got out, or something happened it would be a disaster for them, the airline and the passengers."

No, and bullshit.

If I farted in the cabin, I shit you not, you'd be calling the EPA. Yet, it also would be entirely legal.

Let's not let one fucking measly phone that, realistically, hardly ever fails, result in stupid responses like this.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Two things

1. If you were the flight crew, would you risk getting disciplined by the airline or FAA because you let what was thought to be a functioning electronic device that had been banned by the FAA stay onboard your plane? No, you wouldn't

2. If something did happen and people were injured or killed, would the passengers, a trial jury or the FAA or National Transportation Safety Board take pity on you because you thought that the risk was insignificant? No, they wouldn't

3. If you were the airline, would you want the brand damage, damage or destruction of an airplane and all the legal liability described in 2. getting forced on you by a crew that had what to their eyes was good reason to expect that one of these devices was onboard and then did nothing? No, you wouldn't

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Two things

It is NOT the flight Crew's responsibility to check each device as you board. That is what the morons in the TSA is for. However they are far too engrossed in watching the pictures of what's under the clothes of pretty women to bother.

This seems to me to be the typical American reaction to anything that might possibly put them outside their little cotton-wool covered comfort zone.

Overreaction is the norm in that part of the world. Shoot first and don't bother to answer questions.

Trump will only make them more paranoid even after he builds that wall and bans followers of certain religions from entering the country. The whole place seems to think that everyone in the world is out to kill them. Probably goes back to the time of 'Reds under your beds' and Sentaor McCarthy in the 1950's.

[Danny 14]

Re: Two things

Thing is though, pilots have a duty of care and there was a possibility of a banned item. Pretty much the only thing you can do in the air is divert and hope it doesnt go wrong. The pilot in this case did the wisest course of action: investigate. He obviously knew note 7s werent ticking timebombs and probably had a thought that hotspot name isnt always device name.

TBH i would rather have been on this virgin flight where the matter was dealt with sensibly rather than (say) a Delta flight.

[ilmari]

Re: Two things

One thing to keep in mind regarding ticking time bomb, the issue is said to be insufficient space for the battery to expand. As Samsung has been limiting the state of charge the battery can operate at, we can assume that the swelling is bigger either near full or near empty, or both.

So, what happens when you put what is essentially a balloon in a low pressure environment such as an aircraft cabin? Does it get bigger or smaller?

I think I finally understood why the note got banned on air travel.

[david 12]

Re: Two things

>a balloon in a low pressure environment? Does it get bigger or smaller?

No, it doesn't. It's constrained. If it is allowed to get bigger because of case expansion, that, of course, makes it less dangerous.

[cambsukguy]

Re: Two things

>Trump will only make them more paranoid even after he builds that wall and bans followers of certain religions from entering the country

According to this weeks' Time mag, when 'Murricans are asked how many people out of 100 are Muslims, the averaged reply was 17.

Since the actual figure is 1, you can see that there is a slight over-exaggeration of the 'threat' that Trump was highlighting.

The figure for the UK was 15/4.8, reprehensible but none-the-less better, especially as many people might think an Indian national is a Muslim when they are a Hindu.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Two things

"Didn't iPhones used to burst into flames as well?"

I believe those all turned out to be because of 3rd party batteries ( in the days you could swap them) or cheap arse chargers.

[Brian Griffiths]

Re: Two things

Wtf is an "arse charger"??

[Rich 11]

Wtf is an "arse charger"??

Rocco the Randy Wrestler after two years at Her Majesty's pleasure.

[Sean Stacey]

What's an arse charger?

Read Papillon, then you'll get it.

[d3vy]

Re: Two things

"Let's not let one fucking measly phone that, realistically, hardly ever fails, result in stupid responses like this."

YES.

Over reactions like this are the reason that I cant take more than 100ml of WATER on a flight but I can carry a kg of Lithium ion batteries... the mind boggles.

The obligatory XKCD : https://xkcd.com/651/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: the crew looked the other way

Could it be that there was at least one narrowminded person on board? Be it the captain or the whistleblower. Has anyone seen a SGN7 device? I see no proof. Has anyone verified the non-confirmed SGN7 device turned on? No proof either. Someone has seen a Wi-Fi hot-spot name, just a name. To the best of my knowledge the name itself is not banned on any flight, and prankster or not, the law hasn't been breached. Moreover the one discovering the hot-spot has potentially breached the "all electronic devices in flight mode" rule.

The captain himself was misinformed, or badly trained, or both. Instead of using the facts he has quickly jumped to conclusions, or believed someone else's jumping to conclusions. The El Reg text does not mention the captain asking the owner of the device advertising itself as Galaxy Note to step forward. He voiced his assumptions, not the facts. If one brings onboard a glass container with pills labelled "dilute in 2 pints of milk", is that a 2-pints liquid? I doubt it. Is a half-gallon bottle with a label "50 ml" permitted on board?

Absurd, isn't it? But that is what the prankster revealed.

[Adam 1]

Re: Two things

I am totally against people bringing lions onto aircraft; especially in hand luggage.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Two things

@Adam1

Also, I watched "The Lion King" twice last night, cried both times, and now I am proud to say I am totally against lion battery.

[Osricson]

Re: Two things

How about their little cousins: http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/87863263/the-cats-out-of-the-bag-swift-deportation-for-canadian-cat-smuggler

[Stuart Halliday]

Re: Two things

But Snakes are cool...

[tiggity]

Re: Two things

Maybe that person originally had a note and had set up various devices at his/her home to use the Note WiFi hotspot.

When Note replaced due to recall, rather than alter all his/her home devices maybe the person just set WiFi hotspot on new phone to match the old one.

i.e. Cannot definitely be certain it was prank / malicious behaviour

(On similar topic, I don't even know what my WiFi hotspot is called without checking, as only set it up for partner to use a device with so name memorable to partner not me)

[VinceH]

Re: Two things

Another thing to consider is mentioned in the replies to the tweet linked in the article.

Specifically, this reply:

@lucaswoj The person might not have done this. I went from a Note7 to an S7 and the hotspot is actually still called Note7 on my S7."

The article doesn't say what the actual phone was, only:

It wasn't one of the flammable phones, but instead another model belonging to a moron who thought it would be a good wheeze to rename their mobile hotspot and pretend to be carrying a banned handset.

So if it turns out it's an S7, then it wasn't "a moron who thought it would be a good wheeze" at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: if it turns out it's an S7

If it turns out it's an S7, then it was "a moron who thought a name can burst in flames"

[Alan Brown]

Re: Two things

"And these fires are pretty rare."

Even if they happen, they're dealable with. Knowing one is onboard is enough warning to get a sand tray ready

[Mage]

Re: Hotspots

Off topic really...

But WHY do people have WiFi sharing / hotspot functionality turned on by default, esp in an aircraft. It's daft, wasting battery (on portable things) and an extra vulnerability.

I see an iPad appear regularly here at my home office. Why is that on by default? Idiotic Vendor programming and daft users?

[cambsukguy]

Re: Hotspots

I have wondered this, even though iPads have large batteries.

My WiFi hotspot can be enabled when off by 'friendly' users in any case (those that already have the password and know the SSID) so that I don't need to keep it on.

My laptop even says the name and the state so I can just click it as if it were advertising. It switches it on remotely and works, by far the most power efficient way, since it turns off automatically when not in use also.

[Herby]

This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

I'm sure there are lots of ideas that a typical BOFH could dream up on a moments notice.

This gives all sorts of pranks that one could invent with a Raspberry Pi with a small power supply/battery. If it were me, I make it a changing name so as to not have too much suspicion.

This gives a whole new meaning to in-flight entertainment.

[Brian Miller]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

I'm just not saying anything, I'm just not saying anything... Wasn't there, didn't do that, you didn't see me, I was verifiably over there, it looks like any USB stick to me...

[Vic]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

it looks like any USB stick to me...

Doesn't look like anything to me... </westworld>

Vic.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

"This gives all sorts of pranks that one could invent with a Raspberry Pi with a small power supply/battery."

I'm not sure you'd get past the x-ray machines if your hand luggage included a small circuit board with wires attached to a small solid looking object such as a battery. I'm sure much hilarity would ensure, just as you predict, but it's more likely to include a number of people dressed in black with bang sticks pointed at you.

[Aitor 1]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

Oh, you can. I have done it with breadboard prototypes, and was never stopped.

[John Tserkezis]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

"I'm not sure you'd get past the x-ray machines if your hand luggage included a small circuit board with wires attached to a small solid looking object such as a battery."

You never know. I came from the US into Australia, with an 16bit ISA card, along with cables, and they didn't bat an eyelid.

Yet, I've had friends bring in hard-to-get spark plugs, and power transformers, and nearly had the feds called in.

Do not underestimate stupid. If you think you need enough brain cells to sucessfully breath air, look at some of the TSA agents or whoever has been empowered to decide if you're a terrorist, or a bratty kid. I doubt they can tell the difference.

[Vic]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

You never know. I came from the US into Australia, with an 16bit ISA card, along with cables, and they didn't bat an eyelid.

I was flying quite a bit after the Lockerbie attack, when they decided that electronics were an issue - although they really meant "batteries".

I would be carrying a couple of Eurocards. They would always be taken off me and swabbed...

Vic.

[HeliosFA]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

You say that, but when we were doing field work in Iceland with airline baggage only, they took far more interest in the commercial, sealed GPS unit and 2-3 laptops we each had than they did in all of the experimental bare PCBs and wiring that we had.

Similar situation when I took a pile of radio gear on Eurostar (they do security screening as well, just not as crazy as planes) - they were more interested in the laptop than in the antennas, radios and other paraphernalia.

[Version 1.0]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

Name it TrumpWiFi and Rickroll everyone when they connect - given the level of paranoia in the US, I believe we are going to see a lot more of this class of panic. Most US citizens have the mental maturity of a 6 years old male.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

Rename the hotspot "Malcolm X's IPhone" and head to the nearest white Mall...

Anon because I don't want the white crackers shooting me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

Whereas in the EU they have the mental maturity of a 6 years old female.

Probably Goldilocks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

"Most US citizens have the mental maturity of a 6 years old male."

what a dumb comment.. obviously made by someone who has never been to the USA and / or met any Americans then ...

[VanguardG]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

Actually, v1.0, most of us are as intelligent as any other population when measured as a group. We just have a bunch of idiots as "celebrities" who get on TV and spout off quite a bit, and most of them would lose a battle of wits with a house plant. So those are the ones you see. Imagine if all most of the world saw of your country were the people who lie and spout the words other people tell them to say, and that's literally *all* they do...that's the summary of A: our politicians, and B: actors. And C:, the "reality TV" people who are neither of the above but inexplicably become someone we're supposed to be interested in because they somehow got on TV. Our news media...its worse. Every news outlet is so biased sometimes you wonder if they're even covering the same events. Clever photo cropping avoids charges of "manipulation", but still convey incomplete stories. You want to judge Americans? Try meeting some...and I don't mean at the airports or the tourist centers like New York City or Los Angeles. If I judged Britain by the people I met in LaGuardia, I'd say the British are arrogant jerks with no concept of organization and a vehement opposition to anything that resembles customer service. But, I'm not a six year old boy.

[Version 1.0]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

" ... most of us are as intelligent as any other population ..."

Fair comment - I'm a US citizen too, and live in the USA. I would agree that on average Americans are as smart as anyone, unfortunately that's the average, the really smart Americans are REALLY SMART, but there are some many abysmally dumb ones that the average is sadly skewed downwards.

This does depend on where you live, I live in the deep South.

[Adam 1]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

It's already done. Google WiFi pineapple.

[Brian Miller]

Re: This leaves open all sorts of pranks!

The WiFi Pineapple is too large. I was thinking of something like the HiLetgo board, or a serial to WiFi transceiver just to pop up a signal with an ID. Put it into a garage door opener, and there you go.

[choleric]

Reality check

A quick check of the offending access point's MAC address might have been enough to show it wasn't a Note 7 and prevented the witch hunt. The MAC address is visible whether or not the WiFi network is encrypted.

The first part of the address refers to the device manufacturer. Several phone apps, eg. "WiFi Analyser", will match the number to the manufacturer's name, and if it wasn't Samsung the captain need not have woken everybody up threatening to land the plane somewhere random.

I'm sure the way they did it was much more exciting though.

[J.G.Harston]

Re: Reality check

WiFi MAC address analysis is unlikely to be in standard pilot training.

[MR J]

Re: Reality check

I can tell you have never met airport staff before.

Seeing how they use towers inside the terminal at the airports and such, one has to wonder why there was not a request to get the IMEI/MEID/MAC for all Note 7's to flag up on the networks as a potential risk.

On top of that when you go through the security gates then they should spot the phones there.

Bit of a case of over-reaction all around me thinks.

[a_yank_lurker]

Re: Reality check

I doubt the flight crew knows how to check the device addresses and numbers. Plus they do not have the information handy in flight, not exactly something that is normally important to a flight crew. Also, once someone got the relevant data it take some time to find someone who could identify the device.

[psychonaut]

Re: Reality check

or the mac could have been spoofed

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Reality check

It would appear that this Wojciechowski chap is a bit of a panic merchant first and foremost. He sees something and panics rather than using his couple of neurons and checking (he is supposed to be a software developer). Or maybe he was looking for his 15 minutes of fame.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Reality check

"The first part of the address refers to the device manufacturer. Several phone apps, eg. "WiFi Analyser", will match the number to the manufacturer's name, and if it wasn't Samsung the captain need not have woken everybody up threatening to land the plane somewhere random."

Yep. Use "WiFi Analyser' to get the manufacturer and it will even help you get a fix on the device based on signal strength.

Similar app - use 'Fing' app on a mobile and it'll tell you what manufacturer the device is.

[Pascal Monett]

Re: Use "WiFi Analyser' to get the manufacturer

I'm sure that's real easy to do at 35,000ft.

[katrinab]

Re: Reality check

And of course a laptop with Wifi Analyser is standard issue kit on aircraft.

[Alan Brown]

Re: Reality check

"The MAC address is visible whether or not the WiFi network is encrypted."

The mac address is also capable of being changed by software.

[JeffyPoooh]

My phone's hotspot is named "Free Pr0n Server"

Every now and then, I'll hear a gasp of surprise nearby.

[Ol'Peculier]

Re: My phone's hotspot is named "Free Pr0n Server"

Mine is GCHQ_DetectorVN1...

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: My phone's hotspot is named "Free Pr0n Server"

"Mine is GCHQ_DetectorVN1"

That 1 is a dead giveaway. Try a larger random number.

[Anonymous Coward]

So

"Strike Fighter F16" is also not a good name, on a plane...

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: So

I'm planning on setting mine to "Donald Trump" next time I'm visiting the former colony

[Danny 14]

Re: So

I wouldnt choose any word in arabic either.

[Hero Protagonist]

Re: So

"I wouldnt choose any word in arabic either."

And don't get me started on those Arabic numbers.

[DropBear]

Re: So

Yup, you shouldn't use those either. Oh, hold on, were you talking about Hindu ones like "1 2 3"...? Why not...?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about...

"Flight Command System"?

[bombastic bob]

Re: How about...

I can think of SO many wifi hotspot names that would be funny as hell. Best to have them randomly cycle through a list of no-no-names automatically. Should make things more interesting that way. Calling it "Explosion" for example... or "Trigger"... or "Revenge"... or maybe "Aloha ACK Bar" might raise a few eyebrows.

Then there's "Get Ready For A Surprise" (a little 'Total Recall' reference), and "Oh, HELL, No!" and then ANY movie line spoken by Samuel L. Jackson [particularly one with profanity in it]. "Snakes on a Plane" might just draw some fun attention, too.

Still, if you ask me, there's JUST TOO MUCH PARANOIA OUT THERE.

That calls for another worthy mention: "DON'T PANIC!"

/me considers writing "an app for that" for 'droid phones. just download the APK from wherever the hell I post it online, enable the appropriate developer mode, and you're good to go. No "store" to get in the way, etc.. You provide the name list to rotate through every few minutes while nobody's actually using the hotspot. Might as well rotate mac addresses, too.

[MNGrrrl]

Achem, funny not funny

First, considering they basically anally probe and irradiate us before letting us near a plane, that a well-known and publicized (and banned) device making it onto the plane is disappointing to say the least. That said, I'd probably have done the same thing if I were the captain -- because although I work in IT and know how to look up things like the wifi mac address and manufacturer, I also know enough not to trust it. If I'm taking hundreds of people's lives into my hands, I'm not going to screw around.

On the flip of it, if I were a guy who decided to get a few chuckles or raised eyebrows, naming my wifi like that and then going about my business would legitimately be amusing. And if I suddenly remembered while on the plane that I'd done this, I'd probably be reluctant to come forward... because of the aforementioned anal probing irradiating lunacy that dominates the industry: And that's what they do to *innocent* people. It's like, 50 years in the electric chair if you bring a bottle of water on board or something. Faced with an obviously angry captain and the prospect of hours in a dark room naked while men with shotguns take turns "interrogating" me... I'd probably change the name and then turn my phone off and let them turn the place upside down and then land in bum fuck egypt at 3am.

Because unfortunately, we don't live in a society anymore where people have a sense of humor, common sense, or any kind of sense at all. And if you want to bad mouth me fine, but we don't live in a world where fessing up and apologizing is enough. Plenty of people on this very thread suggested opening the door and throwing the guy out, with the *nice* ones offering a parachute. When that sort of thing is culturally acceptable and nobody calls them out on it, yeah... just keep your mouth shut. By the by, it's incredibly common to see someone getting ready to jump off a bridge or pull the trigger that'll blow their head off to the cries of "Do it! Do it!"

So basically, shame on everyone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Achem, funny not funny

Spot on.

I don't think it's a lack of common sense I think it's an ingrained trait of animals to follow the herd. Once most people become arseholes then more people start acting like arseholes then were all in the shit surrounded by arseholes. Personally I think a lot of this arseholery could be avoided if they taught philosophy in schools enabling people to understand themselves and where they fit in society but that's another story.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Achem, funny not funny

"I think it's an ingrained trait of animals to follow the herd."

I think it's ingrained training of air-crew to follow procedures. Something to do with safety.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Achem, funny not funny

"I'd probably change the name and then turn my phone off"

That would cause even more panic. The offending phone is no longer functioning, *probably* indicating that it has malfunctioned. It's probably on fire right now. Or, if it isn't on fire, it was probably switched off by the terrorist, who is now lying low until the panic is over.

[Mr Cable]

Typical unwillingness to accept responsibility for own actions.

This is Virgin's Plane. You want to fly with them, abide by their rules (especially one enforced upon them by the FAA). If that's not good enough for you; start your own frigging airline.

I think a 12 month Carrier-wide no-fly listing for the owner would be a very fair response.

[SkippyBing]

InFlight Teammates

When they say that they mean 'crew' right? I mean it just seems a stupid way of saying 'people who work on our planes' when you can just use a four letter word.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

Re: InFlight Teammates

I guess pretty soon they'll change that into something like "Your InFlight buddies who're fun to fly with".

Combined with lower pay, of course.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: InFlight Teammates - Combined with lower pay, of course

I think "Your InFlight buddies who're fun to fly with" wouldn't get paid anything, being robots.

And that's presumably where it's heading; robot CEOs get on aircraft with robot pilots and robot cabin crew to visit their fully-automated factories, because letting wetware do things is just too hazardous.

[Alan Brown]

Re: InFlight Teammates

"Combined with lower pay, of course."

And a new corporate anthem suggesting passengers stick their head in a pig.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: InFlight Teammates

Yes, for a country that seems to pride itself on shortening things so they can speak even faster, eg "'shrooms" (mushrooms), "'slaw" (coleslaw), "mains" (main course (of a meal)), I've noticed a number of jarring new inventions that take even longer to say. The worst are where abbreviations are used and spoken as letters which, especially when including a W take longer to say that the original word or phrase.

[VanguardG]

Re: InFlight Teammates

I say "breakfast", "lunch", or "dinner", myself. Never used "mains". And why would one need to specify "coleslaw" when there is no other "slaw" with which it might be confused? If you want to bring up linguistic oddities, how about the British use of "Bonnet" and "Boot" for the front and rear of a car? Its a *car*, not a woman! Though our "Hood" and "Trunk" are admittedly not much better, but less likely to be confused with clothing items. The "lengthened" things...that's the drive (largely from our political left wing) to be "politically correct". One cannot be called a "trash collector" now...it must be "Domicile-oriented sanitation coordinator". One isn't a "teacher" now. Now, "knowledge-disseminating organic resource" should be used. Because there is this idea that a person's professional ego can be inflated by making their job seem hard by using long terms to refer to it. "Fire fighter" becomes "Unplanned conflagration control and elimination specialist". "Unlicensed drug dealer" becomes "Distributor of recreational pharmaceutical products". By changing a person's job title to something complicated, its thought that the person, being overwhelmed by their fancy job title, will fail to notice that they are getting no pay adjustments, their workload increases monthly, and the CEO was just "fired for poor leadership" and left with a $40 million payout.

[Ben Tasker]

Re: InFlight Teammates

If you want to bring up linguistic oddities, how about the British use of "Bonnet" and "Boot" for the front and rear of a car? Its a *car*, not a woman! Though our "Hood" and "Trunk" are admittedly not much better, but less likely to be confused with clothing items.

They're actually both quite odd really.

You Yanks say "trunk" because there used to be a literal trunk strapped to the back of the car when travelling. We say boot because those were the storage areas on carriages

Feels obligatory - There's a fucking H in it

[richardcox13]

Not just US

> have been banned from US flights

Based on the number of signs at checkin at Heathrow yesterday.

[Known Hero]

Re: Not just US

Apple's reach is far and wide.

What your saying they had nothing to do with this ....

*sceptical mumbling

[Jonathan Richards 1]

Re: Not just US

Definitely not just US. I flew a lot in South America recently, and all the regional airlines we used had announcements during boarding, telling passengers that Galaxy Note 7 devices were banned.

[Milton]

Insh'allah

As someone else pointed out, the owner is probably lucky he hadn't given his hotspot an Arabic-sounding name.

Or simply answered a short phone call to his Arabic-speaking college friend, thereafter to be deplaned and harassed for (oh, the horror!) speaking a language some fat western-"educated" tourist slob didn't recognise ... which wouldn't be hard.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Insh'allah

or been a popular youtube "pranks gone wrong" guy with a history of pretending to be a terrorist on planes as a joke to rile up the other passengers then crying about the injustice when his dumb ass finally gets kicked off a plane. For instance.

[Mutton Jeff]

FIRE!!!

[Dr_N]

Airlock

This is why passenger planes need an airlock of some description...

[Bob Wheeler]

Some talk common sence, some talk shite

As mentioned in the article, a fire on-board a flight is the crew's worst nightmare, even more so if your at cruising height.

While the probability of the Note 7 catching fire may well be low, it is still a possibility that is can happen. This is why they also banned flammable liquids, and also why they banned smoking (nothing to do with health reasons), all about a fire in a metal tube at 30,000 ft.

Some folks have talked about pranks, yeah well, most pranks are only funny for one side of it, the prankster.

Happy Bar Humbug

[Lotaresco]

Re: Some talk common sense, some talk shite

"While the probability of the Note 7 catching fire may well be low, it is still a possibility that is can happen. "

It is a combination of several things. The fire risk, yes. LiIon batteries are pressurised and have a flammable electrolyte. At altitude the batteries are stressed because the pressure differential from inside to outside is greater than at sea level.

If a battery catches fire not only is the fire a hazard but the gasses vented from the battery are toxic or irritant. In a closed tube such as an aircraft hydrogen fluoride, hydrochloric acid and sulphur dioxide are serious concerns and they can't be purged from the aircraft easily in flight.

Then there's the consequences of the battery leaking. The electrolyte is corrosive, particularly so when in contact with aluminium. That's aluminium, the thing that most aircraft are made from. Even a small leak can cause unseen structural damage to an aircraft and suspicion of a leak means and expensive inspection of the aircraft structure is necessary.

And you have it right about risk. Humans are really bad at risk assessment. The majority always put their convenience and their pleasure ahead of the risks they cause to themselves and others.

The GN7 was bursting into flames at the rate of 112 a month. Samsung claimed that only 1,000 phones were affected in total, but they have no way of knowing that. At the rate they were bursting into flames (there's every sign that rate was increasing, rather than decreasing) then it's reasonable to extrapolate to a *minimum* 5,000 phone failure over three years and, given the fact that the batteries are aging over that time, that's likely to be an underestimate. So a probably 0.5% failure rate over the life of a handset.

Now some may argue that's "very low" but in terms of safety engineering that's an appalling failure rate. Take, for example a Boeing 737. To-date these aircraft have flow approximately 192 million flights with 74 fatal events. A failure rate of 0.5% would imply 960,000 events. True we don't know what proportion of those events would be fatal, but I think it's reasonable to say that we would have to be very lucky indeed for only one in 10,000 fires to result in a fatality.

And that's for just one phone per aircraft. If someone else has the same flammable phone the probability of a failure doubles.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Some talk common sense, some talk shite

If a battery catches fire not only is the fire a hazard but the gasses vented from the battery are toxic or irritant. In a closed tube such as an aircraft hydrogen fluoride, hydrochloric acid and sulphur dioxide are serious concerns and they can't be purged from the aircraft easily in flight.

It's difficult to find publications that go into this in real detail. It does seem that once a lithium ion cell goes over about 66C it will self-heat by internal discharge, which seems worrying close to the temperature some phones reach when doing anything intensive. The nastiest reaction products seem to be fluorides if the usual electrolyte is used, and a sudden thought has struck me - have aluminium cases become popular because the aluminium will mop up some of the reaction products as well as conducting away heat and being non-flammable.

However, I would have thought the risk was much greater from a large laptop or tablet battery. Phone batteries are not very large and although they could cause localised problems, I wonder if a scenario of corrosives reaching the airframe of a commercial aircraft as you suggest is really realistic. If we assume a respired dose of around 50mg of fluorides is seriously harmful, and that the volume of air immediately affected by a decomposing battery is no more than a cubic metre, and that all the fluoride makes it into the air, my TOTH estimate says you'd need to inhale about three litres to reach that level. After that diffusion, air circulation and settling would rapidly reduce the level.

I'm just a random person pontificating on the Internet, but given the number of lithium cells on a plane these days (not to mention the number in general use), while I wouldn't argue for a moment that steps should be taken to provide mitigation methods on aircraft I suspect the major real world hazards are reputational and financial. The next time the incidence might be low enough to escape notice until the number in circulation is very large indeed - it could even happen to an iPhone if it could happen to Samsung - which suggests to me that this is a wake up call and that mitigation needs to be installed, staff need to be trained etc., but that the real hazard is more likely to come from a laptop than a phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Some talk common sense, some talk shite

Too late to fix typo - I meant "argue that steps should not be taken".

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

This is why they also banned flammable liquids, and also why they banned smoking (nothing to do with health reasons), all about a fire in a metal tube at 30,000 ft.

No, the smoking ban was entirely driven by the desire by anti-smoking campaigners to have a tobacco free environment on flights. http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/13/suppl_1/i30.full.pdf+html covers the history of the ban in considerable detail.

[Alan Brown]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

"The smoking ban was entirely driven by the desire by anti-smoking campaigners to have a tobacco free environment on flights. "

Ironically the smoking ban led to more fires, because of smokers stuffing butts in the toilet bins - which already had paper in them.

That said, I enjoy my tobacco free flights and remember what it was like before them. I also remember coming home from the pub in the days before the ban and having to have a shower plus toss all clothes in the laundry, or deal with an unholy reek of other people's stake smoke in the morning.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

"That said, I enjoy my tobacco free flights and remember what it was like before them. I also remember coming home from the pub in the days before the ban and having to have a shower plus toss all clothes in the laundry, or deal with an unholy reek of other people's stake smoke in the morning."

Oh man, that brings back memories of coming back from a night out smelling like a forest fire.

The other factor in banning cigs from airplanes was all of the orange gunge that clung to every surface in the plane and brown/orange streaks on the outside where there was an air leak/vent. Many airlines found that banning smoking radically lowered the cost of maintenance.

[SkippyBing]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

'brown/orange streaks on the outside where there was an air leak/vent'

Although it did ironically make finding loose rivets harder.

[John Tserkezis]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

"No, the smoking ban was entirely driven by the desire by anti-smoking campaigners to have a tobacco free environment on flights."

Yeah, I'd like screaming babies banned from flights too, but fat chance that's going to happen.

Oh, I'm sorry, you're offended because you have your own sprog? Too bad, I'm offended because my right to not be audibly molested applies too.

[Adam 52]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

"This is why they also banned flammable liquids"

Apart from the gallons of flammable liquids that they sell in the duty free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Some talk common sence, some talk shite

...apart from the gallons of flammable liquids in the wing tanks..

[Anonymous Coward]

SSID

I name mine AT&T and harvest everyone's login details.

[Prst. V.Jeltz]

sudden reduction in the number of wings.

" sudden reduction in the number of wings."

Not the nine o clock news?

[TX_SS]

Pilots Worst Nightmare..

" ... an in-flight blaze is many pilots' worst nightmare – barring a sudden reduction in the number of wings."

My favorite snippet of the article, well put :)

[Stevie]

Bah!

Another excuse for the Reiser Is Innocent crowd to trot out daft reasons why this was the pilot's fault. Love it.

Extra credit for the "should have checked the mac address" meme.

Of course, these are only hystrically funny to those of us in the computer biz.

As for over-reaction, yes America would seem to be the only place on earth one can be shot for pulling out a cellphone ... oh, wait a bit.

.

[ritey]

thats his 15 minutes

Lucas Wojciechowski needs to get out more.

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me guess

It wasn't one of the flammable phones, but instead another model belonging to a moron who thought it would be a good wheeze to rename their mobile hotspot and pretend to be carrying a banned handset.

Adam Saleh by any chance?

[Anonymous Coward]

What nobody realises

If anyone had a Note7 and backed it up before swapping it for another Samsung phone (such as an S7) restoring the backup onto the new phone also sets the SSID on the S7 to be the same as the default one on the old Note7, which is almost certainly what actually happened here.

The poor guy probably didn't even realise that his phone was even broadcasting an SSID yet alone that it was set to match the Note7's old SSID!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What nobody realises

The poor guy probably didn't even realise that his phone was even broadcasting an SSID yet alone that it was set to match the Note7's old SSID!

Then why was he using it as a wifi hotspot? If he didn't know its name, surely he wouldn't be able to use it? What am I missing here?

[Swiss Anton]

No fly list

Lets hope this moron get put on a no fly list, and let this be publicised as a warning to other would be morons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: No fly list

I hope you're talking about the first moron, that Wojciechowski guy.

[Bluto Nash]

Re: No fly list

Agreed, IF proven to have been done with malicious intent. If part of the backup.restore process earlier alluded to, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

BOFH

Remember our beloved BOFH that painted "Die infidels" in Arabic over one of his Boss' spare laptop battery, with some wires and a clock attached to it or something to that effect.

And note that this particular Boss never reached his destination...

[Anonymous Coward]

All the "lads" who think it is funny to stitch up a flight crew over a banned item that turns out to be innocuous - If one of you ever causes a flight I'm on to divert or delay for your prank, I will hunt you down and administer an admonishment that will seriously hamper your ability to ever try something that stupid again. I only fly when I must, my timetable is generally tight, and I do not appreciate additional delays beyond the unavoidable like weather conditions. You would henceforth only fly airlines that would be able to accommodate hospital bed and respirator.

[Mike Friedman]

The guy (you know it was a guy) should've had his return flight cancelled with no refund.

[Mike Friedman]

The guy (you know it was a guy) should've had his return ticket cancelled. With no refund.

[Calin Brabandt]

Risk Management Consideration

As a former airline pilot, I can tell you there are risks incurred in the diversion of a flight. Even if the phone had been an actual Samsung Galaxy Note 7, quite possibly the risks of a diversion would have exceeded the risks of transporting the phone to the scheduled destination. In threatening the passengers with a diversion, the Captain did get the moron to 'fess up though!

[Pascal Monett]

Re: "the risks of a diversion would have exceeded the risks [..] to the scheduled destination"

That is a very interesting comment that brings up a few questions.

Taking your statement at face value, could it be that diverting means landing in an unfamiliar airport and there is added risk ? Is it really that important to have experience landing at an airport ? I've heard that Hong Kong flights are captained exclusively by pilots that have already landed there, but at the same time Hong Kong is considered to be an exception, if I'm not mistaken.

I would have trouble imagining that a seasoned pilot would have trouble landing at an airport for the first time. Methinks that if that were the case we'd be seeing way more incidents. Add to that that landing is the second most dangerous time to be in an aircraft (the first being taking off, of course), and I really can't guess as to why a diversion would be riskier than going to the initial destination.

I really would like to know, though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "the risks of a diversion would have exceeded the risks [..] to the scheduled destination"

I'm not a pilot or anything, but some airports are harder to land at than others. You might be thinking about the old Kai Tak airport (now closed). Funchal/Madeira is another tricky one.

[Vic]

Re: "the risks of a diversion would have exceeded the risks [..] to the scheduled destination"

could it be that diverting means landing in an unfamiliar airport and there is added risk ?

There are more risks than that.

For example, a passenger jet early in its flight is carrying loads of fuel. That's a lot of weight, and it is commonplace for such aircraft to be too heavy to land until they've burnt off some of it. So what do you do when a precautionary landing is required? The aircraft might not be equipped for fuel dumping.

Vic.

[Richard Boyce]

Re: Risk Management Consideration

... or the pilot was bluffing and had his bluff called.

[MachDiamond]

Oxygen generators

Oxygen generators are a typically safe item that have been banned from aircraft. The best way to improve safety is to address the potential problems that ARE known since the unknown ones are ….. unknown and can't be addressed.

[Anonymous Coward]

With all the Android exploits around

If you know your target will be flying in the near future, this seems like a fantastic way to exploit their handset with practically no way of it being traced back to you. :(

Also, literally no-one would believe the target's excuses about "I didn't know"! Likely jail time for the target once their phone is located and turned off.

[gnasher729]

Re: With all the Android exploits around

Of course there is the problem that your target might be believed - most people are not computer literate enough to set up a hot spot, and those that are computer literate enough to do it wouldn't say "I didn't know" they would say "I most definitely set the name of my hotspot that way".

Then some investigation might start, and since most hackers are bloody stupid idiots, there will most likely be some evidence that can be found. And then we have a case of computer hacking, plus trying to pervert the course of justice, plus _intentionally_ threatening a flight with 300 people on board.

If your plan is "likely jail time" for the target, then your risk is "lengthy jail time" for the perp.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: With all the Android exploits around

> Of course there is the problem that your target might be believed ...

Not really. People don't seem to work that way.

[onefastskater]

My home Wifi network is broadcast as FBI Van 57! No Galaxy 7 involved.

[Cursorkeys]

Custom ROM?

Might not be malicious/poor judgement. I have a custom ROM on my Note 3 and the hotspot (and handset name) is currently set to 'Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge'.

I didn't set that so it must be baked into the ROM as the default. Maybe he just had a Note 7 ROM on there.

[Delbert Grady]

I wish the species wasn't as hung up on bloody cell-phones as it is, i was sat in the Doctors waiting room a few weeks back, every single person (except 2) was sat there hunched over, staring into a 3" screen, seemingly oblivious. Yes, the only two human beings who weren't staring into magic boxes was myself and (curiously) the only other male in the room, we exchanged head shakes..

- do we really need to ignore each other so efficiently ?

[Milton]

Aren't you better than clickbait-headline stupidity?

Because it wasn't a "panic", was it? There was no panic whatsoever. There was an orderly and well-managed process to find out who had the offending device. A device which, even if it had been what it said it was, had a 99.999% chance of doing no harm to anyone, given the small number which have caught fire (note, "caught fire", not "exploded", as your seemingly moronic headline writers love to say).

El Reg is well worth a read and I wouldn't want you to cease publication, but can you not at least try to avoid the childish, tabloid silliness with the headlines? Your readers know better and so should you.

[Johan Bastiaansen]

CE

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 carries a CE mark doesn't it?

Well then!

[david1024]

I doubt he spoofed the MAC. I put the flight-crew in the idiot pile too.

[Loopey]

Yup..... I'm an asshole

Yeah, I'm an asshole for this............... but that is FUCKING HILARIOUS

Yup........... mad respect for the Troll that pulled this off. Good job giving up before making the plane land, seriously that would have been going too far.

But pushing buttons & getting such a huge response over a WIFI SSID....................I'm laughing so hard I'm actually tearing up.

[Paul Hovnanian]

Object lesson

Passenger airlines are no place for jokes.

Ryanair excepted.

[Christian Berger]

Actually it seems more like the cabin crew were idiots

I mean the chances of someone still having a Galaxy Note 7 and taking it on a flight are very slim. Even more so that it actually creates a WLAN with the name of the device in it.

[Nebra]

No action taken ?

Airline did'nt say if any action was taken ! - Yeah right probably is one of this months new menbers of the

no-fly club, I hope he likes the bus ! - http://www.no-fly-list.com/month