Pilots of Northwest Flight 188 Suspended
The suspension resulted from an incident that occurred on Northwest Flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis on October 21, 2009. Flight 188 failed to land at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as scheduled. Instead, the plane overshot the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles and had to circle back to land.
Apparently, the pilots did not notice that something was amiss until a flight attendant called up to the flight deck to ask when the plane would be landing.
The pilots deny that they were asleep at the controls. They both also denied that they had been drinking alcohol or that they had been arguing. Instead, they both claim that they were working on their laptop computers. Even more specifically, they claim that they were reviewing and discussing the new pilots' scheduling system that was put in place following the merger of Delta and Northwest airlines in 2008.
This explanation is quite difficult to swallow. The pilots failed to communicate with Air Traffic Control for 91 minutes, an entire hour and a half. Is it remotely possible that the airline crew flight scheduling system was so riveting that both pilots would forget about their jobs and completely tune out the rest of the world for such a long period of time?
It is hoped that the flight data recorder will be able to provide some information to either support or undermine the pilots' claims.
In an attempt to reach out to the passengers that were on board, Northwest Airlines has offered $500 travel vouchers to all 144 passengers that were on Flight 188.
Because both pilots had a clean flying record prior to this incident and because the plane did eventually land without any physical harm to anyone on board, there has been much debate over whether the pilots should lose their jobs over this incident. However, in suspending the pilots' licenses, the FAA determined that numerous violations of regulations were committed and that the pilots operated in a reckless and careless manner. The pilots have ten days to appeal the ruling.
This incident will only serve to further fuel Americans' concerns over the safety of the airline industry. It will be interesting to follow this story to see if the pilots' stories change as further evidence is collected by investigators.
Sources: CNN.com, Report: Stray jet's pilots were on laptops
CNN.com, Pilots of wayward jet lose licenses
Associated Press, Northwest pilots prompt look at distracted flying
Published by Tricia Sabol
I have a full-time job working as a lawyer, but it doesn't define who I am. I am also a part-time wedding officiant, massage therapist, handwriting analyst, and certified laughter leader. I am passionate a... View profile
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17 Comments
Post a Comment...a late entry, but an interesting thought: a flight attendant finally "got their attention" when the entire air route traffic control system couldn't. How long would this have gone on had the F/A not chimed in? Could they have (would they have) run so low on fuel that a safe landing anywhere was not in the cards? Was the alert F/A the hero...while the cockpti was slumberng? I think so....
It will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out in the weeks and months to come. Great job on this article!
Great article. With auto-pilot technology pilots are required to do less and less. This leads to them not paying attention as they should. It is understandable- they're sitting up there with nothing to do but watch instrument panels and look at the sky. Perhaps pilots should be required to do more flying and less watching to keep them focused.
Great recap.
Great article, such a bizarre story.
This was so bizzare! Just another reason to support my refusal to fly!
Will we ever know the truth..
Great reporting. I hadn't heard about this. Good thing they got suspended!
wow, very interesting
It will be interesting to see if they appeal