Hey remember that Northwest Airlines flight that overshot it’s destination (Minneapolis) by 150 miles last week and everyone thought that the pilots were asleep at the wheel? Well, as it turns out, they weren’t asleep at the wheel or fighting or giving each other handjobs or anything else scandalous, but were innocently surfing the internet on their laptops instead. Well isn’t that comforting?
Reports the Daily News:
The flighty flight crew members said they were checking new work schedules on their portable computers as the A-320 with 144 passengers aboard drifted beyond its destination on autopilot, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Capt. Timothy Cheney, 53, and First Officer Richard Cole, 54, claimed that they were not asleep or having a “heated argument” when Flight 188 from San Diego became what is known in the industry as a NORDO (“no radio” communications). They were relieved from duty after the incident last Wednesday.
The pilots ignored repeated attempts to contact them by air-traffic controllers, including efforts that set off chimes in the cockpit, until a flight attendant finally got through on the intercom somewhere over Wisconsin.
Ah yes, the ole “I was just checking my schedule” excuse. It’s a good one, not quite on par with the “I was just ordering a birthday present for my grandmother,” but still pretty stellar. Unfortunately for the net-surfing-while-in-flight pilots, such activity is a violation of some FAA rule or something and they have been “relieved from duty.” Just another instance of The Man trying to keep pilots down.
