NTSB: NWA flight 188 pilots using laptops, talking scheduling w...

The two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 miles past the Twin Cities before noticing their error have told investigators they were discussing "the new monthly crew flight scheduling system" that was recently put in place as part of Northwest's merger with Delta Air Lines.

[Pete Wendell]

I wonder if they were using their laptops after they told everyone else to put their's away.

[Lazy Boy]

They oughtta fire those two idiots and sieze their laptops. Give the laptops to whoever buys the DUI La-z-boy so that person can soup it up even more.

[swschrad]

hey, they can post their job search results on Facebook!

[Dicky]

So, was it porn or poker? Time flies when you're having fun.

[Delete History]

Something tells me we'll never know the whole story.

[kecker]

I call BS. How did they not notice air traffic controllers, other pilots and their own airline trying to get a hold of them for over an hour? How did they not notice autopilot twerping at them?

It's one thing to lose track of 20 minutes of time...to lose trick of 80 minutes is a bit hard to swallow.

Me thinks there is more to this story that these two are letting on....not that I blame them. They are trying to save their own arses after all.

[ftjjr]

Still doesn't make sense according to the info published. The map shows that ground controllers didn't make contact with the pilots until they were over Eau Claire. The article states that "Neither pilot was aware of the airplane's position until a flight attendant called about five minutes before they were scheduled to land, the NTSB said." Were they ahead of schedule, but past MSP when they made contact with ground control?

[captkirk]

FO Dumb and Capt. Dumber. Oh....you were checking your lines for Nov. Got it. Uh...now I don't think it'll matter much. Ever hear the term "careless and reckless"? Chech the FAR's- see ya.

[BLJ]

Well, at least this finally makes some sense. Nonetheless, I think they both should be fired.

[Jeff op]

See what happens when you text while driving er.. flying?

[Terry]

Take their computers and find out what they were really doing. It don't take that long to check you schedules.

[Edward]

It's Bush's fault.

[Orion]

The correct word is harakiri or seppuku... death with honor when one has made a terrible mistake....
If Northwest were still around this would have never happened!!!

[Stuck St Paulite]

I wish I would have been on that flight the airline gave each passenger $500 worth of free travel, not a bad deal for a one hour delay

[Bob the Bilderberg]

If this is the best advice their lawyers could come up with (and we all know that's where it comes from), then they better get better lawyers if they want to keep their jobs because that excuse isn't going to cut it with people with a three-digit IQ.

[Journalist]

May the searing hot poker of justice prod them in a place they won't soon forget.

[FlyMeToThe Moon]

Terry wrote:

Take their computers and find out what they were really doing. It don't take that long to check you schedules.

Actually it looks like this is a result of the Delta/NW merger. It looks like for the first time Delta and NW pilots will be bidding on the same flights. It's not an excuse, but I can see how they could get caught up in a "heated" discussion. Not that they were arguing with each other, but I'm sure both of them were upset with the new schedule.

I think some period of unpaid time off and some training are in order, but at this point I don't think they should be fired.

[Big Jim McKay]

This makes no sense. The military had four fighters at the brink of scrambling, and these pilots were unaware of what they were doing?

Remember, the last time this happened was on 9/11.

They are lucky they were not intercepted, and/or the passengers did not take control of the airplane, believing it had been compromised.

I heard the passengers were aware that they flew past the Twin Cities and alerted the flight attendants.

I believe we are seeing "spin" to avoid airline litigation.

[I will Take the Bus]

This just in from the cockpit voice recorder:
Pilot #1: Hey quit snoring!
Pilot #2: I'm not snoring, that's you, now go back to sleep.
Pilot #1: Hey now you stealing the blankets!
Pilot #2: I'm not! Now be quite and go back to sleep!

[Rona]

How comforting.