Alec Baldwin Air-Rage Incident

Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin isn't known for being calm. He famously left a ranting answer-phone message for his daughter that made Christian Bale's workplace attitude seem like team building. But Alec got caught up in a plane-rage incident and I think he may have been in the right.

He was forced to leave a plane after a bust-up with the crew of an American Airlines flight because he was playing a web-based wordplay game 'Words With Friends' on his iPad.

Don't worry, the plane was still in the airport. They didn't push him out mid-flight. If you do that to a man on a plane it would be a bigger story.

The reason we know about this is because Alec tweeted updates as it was happening. The first read:

"Flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing 

WORDS W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving."

I'm assuming "reamed" means something different in America than it does here. If you do that to a man on a plane it would be a bigger story.

The next tweet said:

"Last flight w American. Where retired Catholic school gym 

teachers from the 1950's find jobs as flight attendants."

Gym teachers? Did he forget his flying kit and they tried to make him do it in pants and vest?

It is not clear if Mr Baldwin disobeyed instructions to switch off his iPad, which is common practice during take-off and landing procedures. One thing's for sure, all that tweeting probably wasn't helping the situation.

But they are mobile device Nazis on flights. They claim that the devices can interfere with the plane's equipment. Oh come off it. We've all heard what interference a mobile can cause. They make speakers do that "bidi bidi bidi" thing. Worst case scenario, the pilot thinks Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is stood behind him.

And how about this: build a plane that won't crash if someone leaves a phone on. In this world of health and safety I think a plane that can withstand a 3G signal isn't asking too much.

Let's not fly around in planes that a terrorist can take over just by making a phone call to his friends back home. And these days you can get calls to Afghanistan for about 1p a minute. At the very least we should be trying to price the terrorists out of making these calls.

They make a big deal about not using phones on planes and yet I have never heard of anyone dying because someone made a call. It's like how they make a big deal about not using phones in petrol stations but I have never heard of anyone dying because someone made a call.

And yet they don't make a big deal about not using phones in cinemas, but sadly I have never heard of anyone dying because someone made a call. One day.

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