From a Wall Street Journal analysis of the above NTSB release:
Though pilots say it happens relatively infrequently, cockpit crews sometimes do open up personal laptops while cruising in good weather during quiet periods when automated flight-management systems are fully engaged. According to some pilots, members of some crews have even been known to play DVDs on laptops in the cockpit to pass away the time on particularly long overwater and international flights.
Federal safety rules don't prohibit laptops in cockpits. But the rules call for crews to always remain attentive, monitor cockpit displays and listen for transmissions from ground-based controllers.
Indeed, a number of big airlines, including JetBlue Airways Corp. have pilots using onboard laptops for routine flight calculations and duties.
But according to some pilots, the Northwest incident raises questions about whether laptop screens can block or hide some cockpit-instrument displays in the Airbus A320 and perhaps other jetliner models.
Pilots Say Laptops Contributed to Distraction - WSJ.com
As I mentioned pages earlier, I've seen crews watch DVD's on their laptop and plug some hotwired headset plug gizmo into the the interphone so they can listen to the movie over their headsets. The laptop computer was set so that it covered most of the center panel aircraft screens. I think you had to select interphone on the mic row for the side you plugged the movie into, this may have inadvertently deselected ATC on one side at least.
Look for an explicit FAA ban on non-pertinent use of laptops in the cockpit.
As long as we can still listen to our iPods...
