The Federal Aviation Administration has revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew past their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles last week. Northwest pilots Richard Cole and Timothy Cheney violated numerous regulations, including operating carelessly and recklessly.
Northwest Airlines flight 188 departed from San Diego and then flew 150 miles past Minneapolis-St. Paul, the airport where the flight was supposed to land. Air Traffic Control (ATC) was unable to establish radio contact with the flight from 5:58 p.m. MDT (6:58 p.m. CDT) to 8:14 p.m. CDT. Initial reports stated that authorities wondered if if the pilots fell asleep.
Apparently the pilots were not sleeping. Instead, they were engrossed in a conversation about a new crew-scheduling program and were using their laptops while they let Flight 188 cruise on auto-pilot for more than an hour.
The pilots of Northwest Flight 188 (First Officer Richard Cole of Oregon and Captain Timothy Cheney of Washington state)told investigators they lost track of time and place while working on their laptop computers.
While there are no federal rules that specifically ban pilots' use of laptops or other personal electronic devices as long as the plane is flying above 10,000 feet, the laptops served as enough of a distraction that Northwest flight 188 went 150 miles past its destination.
Although there are no federal rules for pilots using a laptop in-flight, Delta Air Lines said in a statement that using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots' command of the aircraft during flight is strictly against the airline's flight deck policies. Policy violations will result in termination.
While Northwest pilots Cole and Cheney were able to turn their plane around and land safely, their complete loss of attention for the flight they were piloting could have been a tragic disaster.
The Northwest pilots, who said they had no previous accidents or safety incidents, have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocation.
Cheryl Phillips
HULIQ.com
sources: NPR, Delta Airlines, FAA
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