Posted on 10/28/2009 11:06:04 AM PDT by gandalftb
Armed F-16s from the Wisconsin Air National Guard were on the runway and could have shot down the errant Northwest flight, officials said today.
"As a force of last resort, NORAD is always prepared to do whatever is necessary," NORAD spokesperson Mike Kucharek told ABCNews.com.
Air traffic controllers feared Northwest Flight 188, might have been hijacked after its pilots failed to respond to radio transmissions for more than an hour.
Air traffic controllers reported the pilots initially failed to respond to commands as it passed from the air space controlled by the FAA Denver Center into the area controlled by the Minneapolis Center.
The concern grew as the pilots ignored a command from the Minneapolis approach controllers to begin a descent for landing.
The National Counterterrorism Center in Washington was notified, and authorities began to scrutinize the passenger list, according to Pierre Thomas and Jason Ryan of ABC News.
Once contact was re-established, after an hour and 18 minutes of silence, the controllers ordered the pilots to carry out a series of zigzag maneuvers in order to prove "the pilots had command and control of the craft,".
Controllers tried used a variety of FAA frequencies, the Northwest private frequency and texting services to contact the plane.
The pilots finally responded when contacted by the Denver controllers—-an indication they had not changed frequencies on their radios when they passed into the Minneapolis air space.
The pilots had to be asked three times if they were okay and had control of the plane.
The pilots said they had a "cockpit distraction" and were having a "heated discussion" about a "company issue,".
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Where would you go on a first date with Cindy?
I wonder if all the flight attendants were accounted for and if there were any new members of the Mile High Club initiated on that flight.
Don’t forget your looks.
How about a flight attendant asking for access and if no confirmation from the flight crew and an OK from air traffic control, a small door within the cockpit door could open so the Flight attendant could at least see inside and talk to the flight crew.
No, my wife tells me a still look great ;)
Haven’t seen any indication that any passengers showed any concern or were aware of where they were. If its cloudy, it’s pretty hard to tell where you are. However if it is clear, someone should notice that things aren’t right by looking out of the window. I always appreciate the crew telling us where we are, but I guess that is too much information for a lot of people.
“One of the most sensationalistic headlines I’ve read in quite some time.”
I agree, plus their not going to shoot down a plane just because it has been hijacked. It would have to be a threat to something on the ground.
About 15/20 minutes...if you add in descent time though it’s actually quite a long time not to have “situational awareness”
To a good divorce attorney. Lord knows, I'd need it.
All of those carry the same risk. Hijackers can make a flight attendant tell air traffic controllers anything. What would work is an always-on video feed from the cockpit to galley — and a policy that any adult passenger is allowed to take at least a brief look at it upon request to a flight attendant, except when required to be seated with belt fastened due to take-off, landing, or pilot request over the PA system (i.e. due to turbulence). We need to take away the security pilots have (greatly enhanced now, with the locked cockpit requirement) that nobody can see what they’re doing.
Yeah it is stretching it they must have slow news days because they don’t report anything regarding POTUS unless it is a date night or what Michelle is wearing.
It would have taken about twenty minutes to go 150 miles. Here you stated you wouldn’t have waited 78 minutes without saying something. If the aircraft was headed back, you wouldn’t need to say anything.
Do you know why the pilots didn’t respond for the period of time they didn’t?
The hand off call by the controller wasn’t acknowledged. For that reason the pilots didn’t change to the proper new frequency. The air traffic controller by policy should have contacted them again, until he got acknowledgment on the first frequency. He didn’t.
One of the pilots went to the bathroom when the air traffic controller made the first attempt at a notification. I’m not sure why the co-pilot didn’t hear it, but he didn’t. I’d imagine this happens from time to time.
If you get involved in something else, scheduling or something, you could lose track of time. KFI LA had on an expert consultant and he pretty much stated that these pilots may very well not have been that far out of line.
He thought they should get a few months without pay, but shouldn’t lose their licenses over this.
His take on it was certainly 180 degrees from what the media hype as been on it.
There is NO EXCUSE for the Terror these Two Pilots caused doing whatever they were doing in the Locked Cockpit! They oughta do Prison Time for this Insurrection and Dereliction of Duty and Endangerment of 100’s of Lives and possibly thousands of Lives!! As a Pilot, this is Inconceivable!!
If it were truly Laptops, it is Outrageous that they were operating them while responsible for a Multimillion Dollar Plane and Hundreds of Lives!! And further as a Heavy Computer User, it is Outrageous to say that One gets so absorbed in looking at a schedule or anything else on the computer that You dont hear alarms, radio calls, and the banging on a cockpit door and Intercockpit Phone Calls!!!!
LOCK the BassHats UP and Throw Away the KEYS!! and never let either ever set foot in a Cessna 150 ever again!! :-)
BTW, they became aware of their plane's position only after a flight attendant asked about the landing time over the planes intercom, according to the NTSB. Otherwise they might never have checked their position until they ran out of fuel.......
There have to have been passengers who were watching the time, due to connecting flights and business or personal appointments at the destination. I’m guessing the flight attendants were totally out of it too, distracted like the pilots by some activity they weren’t supposed to have been engaged in, and were roused into knocking on the cockpit door and rousing the pilots by a passenger inquiring as to when the heck they were going to be landing, seeing as how they were still heading straight at full altitude at least 45 minutes past the point where they should have begun descent, and there had been no announcement of a delay or diversion.
I agree on that point. Review my post 32 and see what you think.
I agree, many passengers must have noticed and started asking questions, I sure would have. Much less fly past MSP, no chance that gets un-noticed.
See my post #35. I’m not ready to give the flight attendants credit for noticing something was amiss. They should be well aware of the flight schedule, due to the need to schedule meal and drink service and subsequent clean up in advance of preparations for landing. They should also have much greater awareness than the average passenger of when the plane is beginning its very gradual pre-landing descent, which should have been about 30 minutes before scheduled landing time for a plane flying at this altitude.
Peep hole would be a good solution if it can be given a full view of the cockpit. I’d still like to see at capability of video feed, as it would create a habit among flight attendants of watching what’s going on in the cockpit. These flight attendants who hadn’t noticed they were 45 minutes or more overdue to begin descent, probably were too distracted to bother with peephole checks.
Indeed, I can see how many infrequent flyers wouldn’t notice gradual descent or lack thereof, but it’s just not plausible that experienced flight attendants (the only kind working on planes this large) wouldn’t be aware of it if they were focusing on their jobs the way they’re supposed to be.
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