Can you listen radio in a flying plane?

I want to know if there are any radio frequencies while flying over land with a plane. Can I get some radio signal?Can you listen radio in a flying plane?Yes you can. On most commercial flights (American Airlines, Jet Blue etc.) I'm pretty sure you can listen to both AM and FM.Can you listen radio in a flying plane?
Of course you can! Although, I don't recommend it, especially if you only have 1 or 2 channels, you should be concentrated on flying the plane and monitoring METAR, ARFOR, traffic, and so on ;) As an alternate form of navigation in areas where normal services are unavailable pilots may refer to certain charts to spot radio towers on AM frequency. It's acts as an aid to VFR flights, much like DME or NDB, only the instruments are tuned to and will point to an AM radio tower. You will certainly hear what that particular tower is broadcasting. Brittney Spears on one occasion.... XD



A small correction to @plastic's comment - the range of a radio frequency is 'increased' with height, approx 30nm per 5000ft. Or, the square root of your diagonal distance form the tower.



Transmitter power input to the antenna for commercial AM stations ranges from about 250 watts to 50,000 watts at freq 148.5 kHz -30.0 MHz. Thats more than enough to reach any commercial aircraft and makes it more powerful than NDB - an actual nav aid used by aircraft.



The AM-band was originally used for maritime and aircraft navigation frequencies (You can look this up on Wikipedia) as well as Morse code and so it still is on supplementary occasions, but rarely.



There's no law against it being used as a supplementary or emergency aid and most aircraft are certified to use AM under these circumstances.Can you listen radio in a flying plane?The body of a commercial airliner is metal and may work to block a lot of weaker signals like a Faraday cage but you can certainly still get some radio signals if you are relatively close to a strong transmitter. You have a much further horizon which helps out a lot.Can you listen radio in a flying plane?
You can sometimes pick up AM stations while on a commercial flight. If you're flying in a small plane (lower altitudes) you might be able to pick up more.Can you listen radio in a flying plane?Anything that is not certified to be used on airplane that TRANSMITS or RECEIVES radio signals must be OFF in flight, including AM, FM and GPS receivers.