Alec Baldwin and other feisty flyers endangering flights by using smartphones

Maybe Alec Baldwin and a host of other tech-gadget addicted celebrities have done the aviation industry a service by refusing to turn-off their “cells” and other electronic devices, state aviation experts who view these selfish actions as endangering flights.

A recent USA Today report on flying safety, that includes reports by aviation experts in the United States, Canada and Europe; while also surveying 900 frequent fliers along with interviews with Boeing, NASA and “independent electromagnetic interference experts,” proves that Alec Baldwin was dead wrong in refusing to turn off his personal electronic device. The published findings in USA Today on Dec. 21 showed that there’s “plenty of scientific evidence” and “dozens of chilling circumstantial incidents” that electronic devices such as cell phones, smartphones and iPads “can interfere with airliners’ radio, navigation units, collision avoidance boxes and fire detection systems.” The aviation experts then asserted that, “It shouldn’t take a crash to make the point,” that Baldwin so rudely rejected by refusing to turn off his electronic device before his American Airlines flight took off.

Baldwin rudely ignored flight attendants request

It was about a month ago, on Dec. 6, that actor Alec Baldwin was “escorted” from an American Airlines flight at Los Angeles International Airport for playing the game “Words With Friends” on his smartphone. Baldwin, 53, then proceeded to blast the airline on Twitter by stating the decision to make him stop using his electronic device lacked “common sense, style and service.”

At the same time, Baldwin – who seems to not like it when he doesn’t get his own way as a movie star and millionaire – trashed the airlines flight attendants who he said “walk the aisles of an airplane with a whistle around their neck and a clipboard in their hands and they made flying a Greyhound bus experience,” reported the Washington Post last month; while releasing a statement from American Airlines: “The passenger (Baldwin) stood up (with the seat belt light still on for departure) and took his phone into the plane’s lavatory. He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked. They immediately contacted the cabin crew to check on the situation.”

In turn, the actor – who’s infamous for freaking out and throwing tantrums when he doesn’t get his own way – tweeted about the flight attendants rude behavior in not allowing him to play with his smartphone even while he was given the instruction to “turn off all electronic devices.”

Baldwin later made fun of the issue, and even lampooned his actions on “Saturday Night Live.”

At the same time, the FAA official noted that “if a passenger (such as Baldwin and other celebrities who also refuse to turn off their electronic devices) cannot be disconnected from the ‘outside world’ for a few minutes, that passenger has serious personal issues that the FAA cannot solve.”

Other celebrities are also feisty flyers

According to a recent Washington Post report on feisty flyers – those privileged rich or celebrities who view the rules for flying only apply to common folk – there are other Baldwin’s out there:

-- Josh Duhamel: The “Transformers” star was booted off a Kentucky-bound flight for refusing to turn off his BlackBerry last December.

-- Naomi Campbell: Handcuffed and escorted off a 2008 British Airways flight after squabbling with the crew over missing luggage.

-- Ivana Trump: A rant at some noisy kids on a 2009 Delta flight turned into a showdown with the air crew, and a quick trip off the plane.

-- Peter Buck: the REM guitarist was charged with assault and intoxication after overturning a meal trolley and scuffling with the air crew on a 2002 British Airways flight; cleared after arguing that a bad mix of sleeping pills and wine messed him up.

-- Victoria Osteen: The televangelist’s wife got into it with a flight attendant over some spilled liquid before a Houston-to-Vail trip in 2005, was asked to leave the plane.

-- Gerald Depardieu: This famous French actor held up a flight for two hours in August when a cleaning crew was called in after he relieved himself on the floor in a first-class aisle.

The Washington Post report also noted how the fellow airplane passengers of Baldwin and other feisty celebrities often get the raw end of the deal because the airline attendants have to deal with these rich and powerful people who feel they are somehow entitled to special service and rules for flying.

Digital culture keeps users online 24/7

Moreover, the digital culture has spawned a different sort of mental addiction where users of smartphones and tablets can’t seem to take their eyes off the screens they carry on to airline flights.

“It’s the unreported flying issue of the past few years about this major addiction people have with their tech-gadgets,” said a security official at the Eugene Airport in Oregon in a recent Huliq interview.

For instance, the airport security official noted how he's even been spit at when "asking people to please turn off their electronic devices" during routine security checks. "It's as if I was asking them to stop something that they perceive as essential. I then over hear them call someone saying 'I'm bored," or just some chat about nothing."

Fliers simply refuse to turn off their gadgets

The USA Today special investigation on the dangers of using electronic gadgets when flying on commercial airline flights notes the problem is centered on “gadget-dependent fliers who are turning a deaf ear to flight attendants’ instructions to turn off their devices during takeoff and landing, despite decades of government warnings.

In turn, the USA Today investigation – which reviewed thousands of pages of technical documents and surveyed hundreds of frequent fliers – “also confirms that the worry about electronics on planes is not baseless: The devices emit radio signals that can interfere with cockpit instruments and flight systems.”

"We really need to get the technical findings out to the public and tell them it's dangerous to use their portable electronic devices in-flight," says Bill Strauss, an electrical engineer whose doctoral thesis at Carnegie Mellon University studied use of electronic devices in-flight, added the USA Today report that also noted an accident report involving cellphone as causing "random interference to the proper functioning of aircraft avionics such as navigation equipment and autopilots."

Image source of 53-year-old Alec Baldwin who refused to turn off his smartphone during a commercial airline flight; giving no quarter to the safety of other passengers, and then making fun of it on “Saturday Night Live.” Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.