The Air Line Pilots Association has judged the Federal Aviation Administration to have acted prematurely in revoking the licenses of the Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 miles past their Twin Cities destination last week because they were riveted by their personal laptops. Union officials want the FAA to “recommit to protect the integrity” of voluntary safety reporting programs, under which pilots are supposed to be able to disclose mistakes without fear of punishment. That process has its place. But these weren’t two store clerks lost in harmless conversation. They zoned out for 91 minutes at 37,000 feet with more than 140 passengers aboard. To many fliers, the FAA’s swift action seemed appropriate.
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12 Comments
Fire them and suspend their license for XXX amount of days, forced re-certification.
No excuses.
How do you overfly a runway by 150 miles? How do you not answer ATC for an hour and a half? Say what they want, but I’m betting they fell asleep.
Agreed Reg and XXX: Perhaps a greeter position at a box store?
This shows how far out of reality unions have gone. 91 minutes is a long time to be distracted with a computer and not hear the towers communication. You just do not ignore the responsibility of 144 lives in your charge.
If the passengers had been hurt or even worse the plane had crashed and all the people lost would the unions still believe it was just a mistake?
NWA?
I wasn’t aware that Ice Cube, Easy-E(dead), and Dr. Dre were in the airline business.
ANTI
Posted October 30, 2009 at 10:02 am | Permalink
NWA?
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F da FAA.
F da FAA.
=============
LMFAO!
150 miles in 91 min? That doesn’t add up. I thought the aircraft traveled at ~400 mph. Something is fishy.
Also, the majority of the flight is computer controlled. Were there no alarms? This thing is waaaaay fishy. What is keeping the cockpit recorder tapes from being released?
soldevbb posted October 30, 2009 at 10:10 am
150 miles in 91 min? That doesn’t add up. I thought the aircraft traveled at ~400 mph. Something is fishy.
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As usual, soldevbb is confused, and/or “slow”.
The location of the plane when the 91 minute distraction began was not given.
Solly,
“What is keeping the cockpit recorder tapes from being released?”
From what I heard, the recorder only captures the 30 minutes previous to landing (or crashing). By that time, the pilots already knew they were in trouble and weren’t snoring. The tapes were useless and there was no point in releasing them.
soldevvb,
BTW, an airliner does not just open the doors and let the 140 passengers out when it is over the destination, AND at 37,000 feet altitude.
It takes time, and distance, to descend before landing at the destination.
The pilots sure as he11 weren’t distracted by blogging on StevenDavis/Iggy’s blog!
http://iggydonnelly.wordpress.com/
Not unless they fell asleep.