Northwest Airlines pilots say they were working on laptop computers

DallasNews ^

[traumer]

The latest in the case of the straying Northwest Airlines flight is that pilots have told the National Transportation Safety Board that they were working on their laptops, not sleeping, not arguing.

The Associated Press had this:

"National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Monday that the pilots said in interviews that they were not fatigued and didn't fall asleep, as many aviation safety experts have said was likely.

"The board said the pilots told investigators the first officer was instructing the captain on monthly flight crew scheduling. The pilots were out of communication with air traffic controllers and their airline for over an hour and didn't realize their mistake until contacted by a flight attendant."

Adds the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

"The pilots said they were discussing the new monthly crew flight scheduling system that was in place because of the merger between Delta and Northwest. [First Officer Richard I.] Cole, who was more familiar with the procedure, was providing instruction to [Timothy B.] Cheney, the captain, the report said.

"'The use of personal computers on the flight deck is prohibited by company policy,' the report said."

[Don Corleone]

Net result...probably at least one month off w/o pay, no notice flight checks for a year and a nasty letter to follow.
A 5 to 10 thousand dollar fine tends to get ones notice. Also I expect that the company flight manual will have a new page or two in it.

[Right Wing Assault]

I don’t buy the story.

[Lucky9teen]

[SiVisPacemParaBellum]

First it was a heated discussion, now it's heated lap top viewing...

[Publius6961]

I can see it now, the new classic joke among flyers, the flying equivalent of the dog ate my homework:

I was distracted by my lap top... yep, that's it.

[ml/nj]

Also I expect that the company flight manual will have a new page or two in it.

If these guys weren't put up to this by some government agency, they should have their pilot privileges permanently revoked. This just isn't something anyone can defend or finesse.

ML/NJ

[atomic conspiracy]

Sure. It’s common to fly into denied airspace because you’re goofing off and there are never any consequences. Now, who’s ignorant here?

[safisoft]

Sure. It’s common to fly into denied airspace because you’re goofing off and there are never any consequences. Now, who’s ignorant here?

Not I. 32 years as a pilot, 28 in the airlines.