Pilots miss airport by 150 miles

[ROLLTIDE]

Quote: Aviation authorities have launched an investigation in the US after a pilot overshot his destination by 150 miles and had to turn back.



An alert was sparked when a Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego to Minneapolis lost radio contact with air-traffic controllers for more than an hour.

The Airbus A320, with 144 passengers on board, was 150 miles off course by the time the pilots realised the error, re-established communications and requested permission to turn around.

By this time, the US military had been alerted and had put fighter jets on stand-by, reports Sky News.

The pilots reportedly told the Federal Aviation Administration that they lost track of where they were during a "heated discussion" over airline policy.

However, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has said that it will investigate the possibility that the pilots fell asleep on the job.

Delta Airlines, which owns Northwest, has suspended the two pilots while the ~censored~ voice recorder and flight data recorder are being analysed.

However, the airline has refused to give any further information on either the pilots or events during the flight.

In January 2008 a Go! Airlines flight in Hawaii passed its destination when two pilots fell asleep in the ~censored~ for at least 18 minutes. They were eventually roused by controllers and landed the plane safely.

Code: http://www.ananova.com/News/story/sm_3533463.html

[Joe-Nathan]

They were probably playing 'rock, paper, scissors' to figure out who would land the plane.

[Windwatcher]

This is why I have a fear of flying.

[Stormlover]

Windwatcher Wrote:This is why I have a fear of flying.

compared to the threats of driving though, airline travel is many, many times safer

[Windwatcher]

Statistically, yes, that's what "they" say. But in flying, you give up 100% of the control to someone else. With driving, it's only 50%. (In my enlightened, nothing-to-back-it-up opinion)

[Katfive]

Windwatcher Wrote:Statistically, yes, that's what "they" say. But in flying, you give up 100% of the control to someone else. With driving, it's only 50%. (In my enlightened, nothing-to-back-it-up opinion)

Yeah, and I think the odds aren't as good if your pilot is sleeping too!

[kobayashi]

Speed

Means they went past their destination 15 minutes?

I guess the question was - since they were out of communications for an hour were they abducted by the space aliens?

[ woops - wrong thread ]


What it reminded me of though was the "Combat Air Patrol" over DC after 911

Seeing F15's and F16's doing oval contrails overhead............

[Stormlover]

Windwatcher Wrote:Statistically, yes, that's what "they" say. But in flying, you give up 100% of the control to someone else. With driving, it's only 50%. (In my enlightened, nothing-to-back-it-up opinion)

But you are giving up control to highly trained experts vs. half control to drunks, idiots, texters, etc. No comparison. You hear of the very, very rare case like this, with no injuries anyway, and somehow blow it up to affect your opinion of all of the thousands and thousands of flights every single day.

[Windwatcher]

No, this one story didn't get blown up and affect my opinion---I've ALWAYS felt this way!

[Stormlover]

Windwatcher Wrote:No, this one story didn't get blown up and affect my opinion---I've ALWAYS felt this way!

But why?