A judge sentenced a British oil worker Wednesday to an unprecedented one year`s jail for endangering an international flight by refusing to switch off his mobile phone.
Neil Whitehouse, 28, was convicted of "recklessly and negligently endangering" a British Airways flight carrying 91 passengers from Madrid to Manchester after he ignored repeated requests from the crew to switch off his phone.
"You had no regard for the alarm that would be caused to passengers by your stubborn and ignorant behavior," Judge Anthony Ensor told Whitehouse at Manchester crown court.
Ensor said the case was the first time anyone had been prosecuted in Britain for using a mobile phone aboard a plane and there was no precedent to guide him on sentencing.
The sentence should serve as a warning that mobile phone use on planes, which is illegal in Germany and the United States, would be treated as seriously as violence on board aircraft, Ensor said.
Both British Airways and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which looks after the interests of all UK carriers, welcomed the landmark ruling as a step in the right direction.
"We welcome the fact that the court has recognized the seriousness of the hazard from mobile phones," BA spokesman Jamie Bowden said.
Although Whitehouse made no airborne calls, aviation experts told a three-day trial that radio waves from the phone could have sparked an explosion or affected the Boeing 737`s navigational systems as it flew at 31,000 feet (9,500 meters).
"The scientific evidence showed that there was a real possibility of risk," Ensor said.
"You were sitting six meters (20 feet) away from 100 pieces of complex electrical equipment," he told Whitehouse.
Whitehouse, who was sitting over the aircraft`s wing fuel tanks, said he had just been preparing a text message to send on his arrival in Manchester. Despite warnings from the pilot and crew he kept his phone on.
His lawyer argued that any potential interference to the plane`s systems would have been only for a few seconds and could have been corrected.
Judge Ensor called for urgent new legislation specifically covering mobile phone use on planes following CAA evidence given in the trial.
Detective Sergeant Rick Bates of Manchester Airport police agreed action was necessary.
"The possible consequences in this case could have been far more serious than from on-board violence. Luckily they weren`t but that is no guarantee for the future." he said.
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