Work-obsessed business travelers have been waiting years for a story that tells them the airlines are lying to them―that it's perfectly safe to fire up their laptop computers below 10,000 feet. This will not be that story.   True, chances are almost nil that rogue “portable electronic devices” will shut down the engines or send a jet spiraling toward Earth. But it is impossible to rule out the theoretical chance that they could jam communications and navigation gear. Any device with a micropro- cessor, whether it's a radio or a computer, radiates energy in a frequency band that can overlap the radio frequencies used by a plane's communication and navigation equipment. The result could be electromagnetic interference, which can confuse or even disable a plane's avionics.   While the relationship of cause and effect cannot be directly proved, several episodes suggested more than a coincidental connection between electronic devices and navigation problems. That evidence was enough for RTCA, a committee formed to advise the Federal Aviation Administration, to recommend the tightening of the current policy to make it mandatory instead of voluntary for airlines to ask passengers to turn off electronic devices during takeoff and landing. However, their report has not been put into action for more than a year; pilots point out that the cockpit crew sets the rules in flight anyway and can adjust the no-computing zone as weather and traffic conditions dictate   Although some airlines are putting in power ports for laptops, still, they do not want an electronic free-for-all 10, 000 feet. A spokesperson points out that “People don’t believe a laptop can turn into a flying missile.”

お客はラップトップの影響で飛行機が落ちるとお客は思わないので、上空10, 000Mで遠慮なしにラップトップを使うだろう。そうなると、事故が起きるかもしれないので、航空会社の人は、「free-for-all　誰でも自由にラップトップを使える状況」は好まない、恐れる、ということです。