They were playing Call of Duty – Flight to Minneapolis:
The pilots of the commercial jetliner that last week overshot its destination by about 150 miles have said they were using their laptops and lost track of time and location, federal safety officials said Monday…
(The pilot), 53, was hired in 1985 and has more than 20,000 hours flight time; ( the First Officer), 54, was hired in 1997 and has about 11,000 hours of flight time, the report said.
Looking on the bright side, hundreds of more junior pilots and first officers now look forward to advancing one more spot on the seniority list.
Yeah, with all the hoo-rah’ing going on in the cockpit, no wonder all Center got were deaf ears.
You wonder if they spent the additional 78 minutes figuring out if the black box only had a 30 minute recorder – and stretching the flight to overwrite anything incriminating?
I think the probability is actually rather high that that sort of calculation is exactly what transpired. Regardless of whether they were napping, arguing, or playing on their laptops.
My guess too. IMHO, however, those two will be history. There will probably be some fall out for the controllers that did not notify NORAD about the situation. FedGov employees tend to be protected from their dereliction of duty.
I thought NORAD was aware – didn’t they put some Air Guard jets on alert (but not launched)?
Somebody was.
Authorities became so alarmed that National Guard jets were readied for takeoff at two locations and the White House Situation Room alerted senior White House officials, who monitored Northwest Flight 188 with its 144 passengers and five crew members as the Airbus A320 flew across a broad swath of the mid-continent completely out of contact with anyone on the ground.
From about 5 stories down on this page. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hitISYixOv_DC0ABZeYzc6dg2BDAD9BJ1VC01
There’s a great book called “The Killing Zone-How and Why Pilots Die” which identifies primary causes for accidents. Interestingly, pilots with thousands of hours can fall prey to overconfidence, bad judgement, and complacency.
Their head wasn’t in the game. For 78 minutes. And that’s a very long time for both pilots to be AWOL in a cockpit where two pilots are required.
The folks best qualified to comment (Nose , Secret Asian Man, et al) are unable to weigh in, but it would be great to get their perspective on Cockpit Resource Management in this situation. Two pilots completely oblivious to radio calls, situational awareness etc. Yes, autopilot cruising can be a little boring but ATC handoffs should keep at least one person engaged in the process of flying.
I wonder if the airline will ban laptops.
Want to be this was one of the 139 NW planes with WIFI. http://www.boston.com/travel/blog/2009/05/airlines_rushin.html
A guy I know flies the A320. I think he told me once that he enters course changes right into the auto pilot. Maybe their SA would be a bit better if they were hands on the yoke/stick all the time. You know what they say about 1 bad apple….
Ummm… Not to appear to be a horn-dog or anything, but has anybody accounted for the status of the flight attendants during this time?
Just pondering, I play video games all the time. Five or six nights a week, come to think of it. A ringing phone or yell from She Who Must Be Obeyed tends to get through the headphones and into my consciousness.
On the other hand, there are some times when my phone is off because, well, interruptions aren’t allowed.
I suppose if I were an airline pilot, a new scheduling program might cause me to break my attention from flying the aircraft to focus on the all-important scheduling widget available on the web. Then again, if I’d had a 19-hour layover I might have made use of that time instead.
Smells, I dunno, fishy.
– Max
Listening to the radio yesterday they said it was a flight attendant who called the cockpit to ask them when they would be landing that was the impetus of change in this whole event.
not too hard to dissect them thar laptops and figure out exactly when on, for how long, and what files were accessed. If they were on line looking at crew schedules that access to server is logged as well. I’m sure the NW detectives are eagerly devouring to get the facts, just the facts, which we will probably never know. Maybe time again for cockpit-cam. Think most did away with that after the DC-10 at O’Hare rolled after losing an engine on takeoff.
How can NORAD “scramble” aircraft but not launch them?
I suppose we can file that paragraph under lolmainstreammedia
Oh you know. Were creeping back into the “deep state of peace” we were in prior to 9/11.
I was living in Miami after 9/11 a couple miles up the approach for Runway 30. In the weeks following it was not unusual to see a pair of F15s or F16s winging in a commercial jet domestic or international. I don’t see the big deal with that. Unless you happen to be an airline industry lobbyist.
Perhaps there is information on this we dont have right now but Im a bit concerned as to the reasons why we didn’t launch.
I’ve read the explanations about how one of them went to the bathroom, dinner was served,the change of radio frequencies was missed, they were messing around on their laptops, having a discussion, etc.
That doesn’t add up, though. Between ATC trying to raise them, dispatchers from NW trying to get ahold of them, and anyone else that may have been trying to get their attention the whole laptops, bathroom, dinner explanation is extremely lacking. I second MaxD’s suggestion.
re: MaxD’s suggestion
78 minutes? Hard to imagine.
A Toby Keith song comes to mind…
The spirit is definitely willing but the flesh is weak — esp at their age.
Latest info is that they’ve lost more than their laptops. The FAA has relieved them of those small bits of paper… you know, their licenses.
Thinking these things over, who would have wanted to fly with either of these guys? You’d think 20,000 + 11,000 hours would tell you enough. Apparently not. My hunch is that SSG Jeff and Chris Taylor have the whole incident nailed.
I am actually a little annoyed that the FAA pulled their tickets without completing its investigation first. They’re already suspended by the airline, and it’s not as if any other part 121 carrier is going to call them up and say hey, I have a gig for you flying the A320–right this second! They don’t represent much of a threat to air safety on the ground, restricted from flying duties while the investigation is underway.
But I also understand there is a bit of a message in there, essentially–who was managing air safety on NWA188 while you two were pulling an eyelid inspection/dorking around on laptops/whatever? Nobody.
So a penalty must be meted out, but at the same time I would feel better if the punishment arrived after the facts were known.
For what it’s worth, pilot Dusty over at Castle Argghhh! weighs in on the contretemps as well…