Management of mobile communications devices proximate aircraft

A method, comprising:

• receiving, by a mobile device associated with an aircraft passenger of an aircraft operating in proximity to the aircraft, an aircraft beacon transmitted periodically according to a retransmission period;
• disabling, by the mobile device, communications of the mobile device in a predetermined frequency band, thereby limiting interference by the mobile device with aircraft altimeters of the aircraft, wherein the disabling communications of the mobile device is responsive to the receiving the aircraft beacon;
• and
• continuing to disable the predetermined frequency band until exceeding the retransmission period of receiving the aircraft beacon to prevent inadvertent transmission by the mobile device in the predetermined frequency band, thereby creating interference by the mobile device with aircraft altimeters of the aircraft.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

• determining that a mobile device is not to communicate in a frequency band, wherein the mobile device is operating in proximity to an aircraft and is associated with an aircraft passenger of the aircraft, to thereby limit interference with aircraft radio altimeters of the aircraft due to communicating by the mobile device in the frequency band;
• and
• transmitting an aircraft beacon periodically according to a retransmission period, wherein the transmitting the aircraft beacon is responsive to the determining that the mobile device is not to communicate in the frequency band,
• disabling communications of the mobile device in the frequency band, thereby limiting interference by the mobile device with the aircraft radio altimeters, and continuing to disable the frequency band until exceeding the retransmission period of receiving the aircraft beacon to prevent inadvertent transmission by the mobile device in the frequency band, thereby creating interference by the mobile device with aircraft altimeters of the aircraft.