飛機上可打電話,有人歡喜有人愁

You know there is trouble when Tony Robbins, the tirelessly upbeat Mr. Motivation, is sulking.

當你看到託尼·羅賓斯(Tony Robbins)這個不知疲倦、永遠樂觀的勵志大師感到鬱悶，你就知道的確出問題了。

But there he was on Twitter, lamenting the prospect of yet another torment in the hell of modern air travel: people talking on cellphones. The Federal Communications Commission is considering letting passengers use their phones while flying, and Mr. Robbins — and a lot of other people — are not happy.

可是羅賓斯恰恰就在Twitter上，嗟嘆着“現代航空地獄”可能出現的另一種磨人酷刑：乘客打電話。聯邦通信委員會（Federal Communications Commission，簡稱FCC）正在考慮允許乘客在飛機飛行時打電話。羅賓斯和其他許多人都很不高興。

"Do we really need this!?" Mr. Robbins, the motivational speaker, wrote in response to the news.

羅賓斯這位勵志演說家迴應這則新聞時寫道，“我們真的需要這個嗎？”

Others were more blunt. My inbox was flooded with angry messages. "I already hate my fellow passengers — this would only make it worse," one reader wrote. A petition was created on the White House website to rally the quiet-cabin camp.

其他人的口氣更加直白，我的收件箱裏也收到了大量憤怒的言論。一位讀者寫道，“我本來就討厭同機的乘客，這樣一來恐怕要更恨他們了。”人們還在白宮網站上發起了請願，試圖凝聚保持客艙寧靜的陣營。

The reaction was the opposite of the mostly celebratory, Twitter-tape parade that marched through social media last month when the Federal Aviation Administration finally relented and agreed to let passengers read on their devices, surf the web and check emails during takeoff and landing. For many, the takeaway seems to be this: Let the guy squeezed next to me read quietly on a Kindle? No problem. Let him drone away in my ear? No way.

這種反應與聯邦航空管理局（Federal Aviation Administration，簡稱FAA）上個月終於放鬆要求，允許乘客在飛機起飛和降落時在設備上閱讀、上網、查收電子郵件時，大多數人都表示慶祝、在社交媒體上奔走相告的反應大相徑庭。對很多人來說，故事的重點似乎是：使勁塞進我旁邊座位的那個傢伙想在Kindle上靜靜讀書？沒問題。讓他在我耳邊嘟嘟囔囔？沒門。

So why is the F.C.C. proposing something many people don't seem to want? The agency is, in fact, trying to give us what we want: access to data while flying. One byproduct, however, is that people would, or could, also be able to make calls. But it may be difficult for people to get what many want — access to cellular data on flights — without getting what many don't want — the occasional Chatty Cathy in 21B.

那麼FCC爲什麼要提出一項許多人似乎並不喜歡的措施呢？實際上這個部門是在試圖給我們想要的東西：飛行時能夠使用數據。然而這種做法的副產品就是，人們也同樣能夠打電話。但要想讓人們得到他們想要的（在飛機上使用蜂窩數據），同時避免他們不想要的（偶爾出現在21B座位上的大嘴婆）可能很難。

It isn't a done deal. The F.C.C. has not issued a formal ruling, and commission officials declined to comment for this article. But an earlier statement from the F.C.C.'s chairman, Tom Wheeler, echoed the concerns that people like Mr. Robbins are voicing.

這件事還沒有敲定。FCC並沒有下達正式的決定，委員會的官員也拒絕爲這篇文章接受採訪。不過FCC主席湯姆·惠勒(Tom Wheeler)在較早前發佈的聲明中，迴應了像羅賓斯這樣的人所表達的顧慮。

"We understand that many passengers would prefer that voice calls not be made on airplanes. I feel that way myself," Mr. Wheeler said. "Ultimately, if the F.C.C. adopts the proposal in the coming months, it will be airlines' decisions, in consultation with their customers, as to whether to permit voice calls while airborne."

“我們理解許多乘客希望在飛機上不要打電話。我本人也是這樣想的，”惠勒說。“如果FCC在未來幾個月採納這個提議，最終還是要由航空公司在諮詢消費者之後，決定是否允許在飛行過程中撥打電話。”

The F.C.C. provided me with documents and filings that help explain how this issue has evolved. The rules about using cellphones on planes date to the early '90s, when phones were the size of milk cartons. Those devices, coupled with the weak electrical insulation in aircrafts, created crackly interference for pilots, so they were quickly banned. In 2007, the F.C.C. opened an internal review about whether to lift the rules, but safety concerns were still an issue, and the proposal was shelved.

FCC向我提供了一些文檔和提交的文件，有助於解釋這個議題的轉化。涉及在飛機上使用手機的規章始於上世紀90年代初期，當時的手機還和磚頭一樣大。那些設備，再加上飛機上薄弱的電絕緣技術，對飛行員產生了噪音干擾，因此手機被迅速禁用。2007年，FCC對是否取消這些規章開展了內部審議，但安全方面的擔憂仍然是一個問題，於是提議被擱置了。

Now, as the F.A.A.'s revision of its rules on using devices during takeoff and landing illustrate, today's gadgets and planes are made for each other. In many respects, the F.C.C. is looking out for consumers, trying to give people the opportunity to connect to data on a cellphone rather than pay for costly — and often laboriously slow — Wi-Fi available on airplanes.

現在，就像FAA修訂其規章，允許在飛機起降時使用電子設備所顯示的，今天的電子設備和飛機經過設計可以互相兼容。在很多方面，FCC是在保護消費者權益，讓人們有機會在手機上連接數據，而不是使用飛機上提供的昂貴且緩慢的Wi-Fi。

As is often the case with technology, the United States is trailing other parts of the world on this issue. The European Union began enabling airlines to permit cellphone and data use in 2008. As will be the case in the United States if the rules change, the European Union left it to airlines to choose which components of a cell service to make active during flights.

就像科技領域經常發生的那樣，在這個問題上美國也落後於世界其他國家。歐盟在2008年就開始批准航空公司讓乘客在飛機上使用手機和移動數據。就像規章改變後美國的情形一樣，歐盟讓航空公司選擇在飛行過程中允許移動電話服務的哪些部分。

In Europe, Virgin Atlantic allows unlimited data connections, but it lets only six people talk on a cellphone at once. Some Lufthansa flights allow data connections through a cellphone, but no phone calls. Emirates lets an unlimited number of passengers talk on their phones — though few apparently do. How is it working so far? A study by the F.A.A. in 2012 found no reports "of air rage or flight attendant interference related to passengers using cellphones on aircraft" in other countries.

在歐洲，維珍大西洋(Virgin Atlantic)允許無限的數據連接，但只允許六個人同時打電話。漢莎航空(Lufthansa)的一些航班允許通過手機連接數據，但不允許打電話。阿聯酋航空(Emirates)允許數量不限的乘客打電話，不過似乎很少人會打。這些規定的實際影響如何？FAA在2012年開展的一項研究發現，在那些國家沒有出現“與乘客在飛機上使用電話相關的憤怒事件，也沒有空乘實施干預”的報告。

The change here, if it comes, will not happen overnight. There's a long process to go through first.

即使美國的規章變動能夠得到批准，變化也不會一夜之間到來，首先還需要經過很長的過程。

"Once the F.C.C. issues its opinion, it would be up to the F.A.A., the airlines, or both, to decide whether to roll out services," said Angela Giancarlo, a lawyer at Mayer Brown and a former F.C.C. official. Then, as in Europe, the airlines would be able to decide whether to allow data services, voice services, neither or both. Most important, pilots and stewards would have a "kill switch," so if someone is talking too much, his or her phone could be shut off from the cockpit.

孖士打律師行(Mayer Brown)律師、前FCC官員安吉拉·吉安卡洛(Angela Giancarlo)表示，“FCC發佈意見之後，就會由FAA或航空公司，或是雙方來決定是否推出服務。”之後就像在歐洲一樣，航空公司還可以決定允許數據服務還是語音服務，兩者都不允許還是兩者都允許。最重要的是，飛行員和乘務員手裏有“終極開關”，如果有人打電話打太多，飛行員可以在駕駛艙裏屏蔽他的手機。

"There is no quiet car at 30,000 feet," Senator Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, wrote in an email. "Staying connected and entertained by checking email and playing a game on your phone is one thing, but loud, intrusive phone calls would strain the social compact we all enter into when we board a plane."

馬薩諸塞州民主黨參議員，參議院商業、科學及運輸委員會(Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee)成員愛德華·J·馬基(Edward J. Markey)在一封電子郵件中寫道，“在3萬英尺的高空可沒有單獨的‘寧靜車廂'。在手機上查郵件、玩遊戲，跟人保持聯絡或者進行娛樂是一回事兒，可是大聲打電話干擾別人，卻會對我們登上飛機後共同進入的社會空間構成干擾。”

So what happens next? On Dec. 12, the F.C.C. proposal will be presented to its commissioners. If approved, it will then be put online for a public comment. That's when everyone — airlines and passengers alike — can voice their opinions.

下一步會發生什麼？12月12日，FCC的提議就會提交給委員們討論。如果得到批准，就會在網上徵求公衆意見。到時候所有人都可以表達觀點，包括航空公司和乘客。

But, travelers, think carefully. Say no to cellphone use, and you lose that data connection on your iPad and smartphone at 30,000 feet. And that is what many of you have been asking for all along. You might have to sit next to Chatty Cathy. But at least you will be able to tweet about it.

但是請各位乘客認真考慮。不允許使用手機，就會在3萬英尺的高空失去iPad和智能手機上的數據連接。這可是你們當中許多人一直都想要的。或許你旁邊就坐着一個大嘴婆，但至少能在Twitter上抱怨一下。