TAMPA - Do you think cell phone games aren't addictive? Just ask actor Alec Baldwin. He got kicked off an American Airlines plane after he allegedly refused to stop playing the cell phone game "Words With Friends."
So, that got us wondering about the addictive nature of these games, and the subsequent question: if passengers can't put them down and turn off their cell phones during take-off and landing, does that really increase the chances of a plane crash?
One pilot we spoke to did not waste words, saying absolutely yes, our electronic device is a danger to everyone onboard -- so turn it off. (Continue reading at MyFoxTampaBay.com)
Click on image below to watch the interview:
Angry Birds? Try angry pilots: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com
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What the heck?
The cellphones per-se were not the issue here, an unruly passenger was.
On the flight in question, the problem wasn’t so much that Alec was playing a game on a _cellphone_, it’s that Alec was not complying with the flight crew and physically causing a ruckus. And you can’t have a loose cannon on deck.
FAs are tasked with enforcing policy they don’t themselves set. By being blatant in resisting that policy, Alec forced the FAs hand, who is not free to choose to just let the situation pass. Saavy passengers (evidenced by all the arrival/departure window-seat clips from camera phones on YouTube) know not to press the issue, and what the FAs don’t know about won’t bother them.
Compared to other issues with the 1920s-era AM simplex modality of most ATC communications (Hello? Tenerife calling.), that an occasional cellphone radio can be overheard on the earpiece as a characteristic (and not normally masking) galloping buzz is minor, and I would argue not additive of significant relative risk.
“There hasn’t been a lot of definitive evidence OR crashes caused by cellphones…yet.”
There hasn’t been a _single_ crash caused by emissions from a cellphone. IF cellphones were the deadly menace made out here, why not simply ban them to checked baggage? It’s completely within the rights for private airlines and individual aircraft operators to do. I argue the reason is that it’s not so serious as all that, but there is a question here of the authority to wield power against convenience in service to customers in the hopes they remain yours.
The captain’s word is effectively law, so if she says turn ’em off, you ought, even if you don’t agree with her worries. If captains, collectively, are such angry birds about this, perhaps they ought to lobby their companies to make it policy for cellphones to be banned.
Sheesh, the battery may be more deadly than the device itself, powered or not.
Interesting follow up on Fox Business:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/2012/01/10/airplane-cellphone-ban-remains-matter-public-safety/