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Mystery deepens over what distracted pilots on plane that overshot by 150 miles
Telegraph ^ | 10/24/09 | Philip Sherwell

Posted on 10/25/2009 9:59:16 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

Mystery deepens over what distracted pilots on plane that overshot by 150 miles

The mystery of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles has deepened after the first officer insisted that he and the pilot were not asleep or arguing.

By Philip Sherwell in New York

Published: 6:39PM BST 24 Oct 2009

The mystery of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles has deepened after the first officer insisted that he and the pilot were not asleep or arguing. Pilots on the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles will not say what they were doing Photo: AP

Richard Cole refuted two explanations put forward for the strange case of NW flight 188 when the cockpit crew was out of radio contact for more than an hour after flying past Minneapolis, their final stop on Wednesday evening.

"Nobody was asleep in the cockpit. No arguments took place," Mr Cole told a local television station from his home in Oregon. "But other than that, I cannot tell you anything that went on because we're having hearings this weekend, we're having hearings on Tuesday. All that information will come out then."

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: northwest; pilot
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To: expatpat

You’re correct, there is a list of relevant freqs on the IFR enroute chart, but the freqs are not listed specific to exact location, they listed specific to a sector that might be 100 square miles and there are 20 or 30 freqs listed. Nailing the right freq for a specific location is impossible without the pilot having made notes on his or her chart from past experience (which many do).

In a lot of cockpits nowadays, with dual INS/GPS/RNAV, enroute charts are rarely examined, unless the route is new to the pilot and the waypoints and airways are unfamiliar.

No doubt this crew was very familiar with the route. Complacency and routine was the essence of their problem.


101 posted on 10/25/2009 1:46:36 PM PDT by downtownconservative (As Obama lies, liberty dies!)
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To: old curmudgeon
<>i>"But it could be something as simple as the crew putting the wrong way point into the navigation system and not realizing what they had done until they got to that point, or near it, and found out there was no MSP there."

But, what about the radio? You're right, an odd incident.

102 posted on 10/25/2009 1:53:25 PM PDT by jackibutterfly
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To: grame

That’s pretty funny, but what does that have to do with THIS story???


103 posted on 10/25/2009 2:00:11 PM PDT by jackibutterfly
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To: jackibutterfly
nothin’ but your in your picture the ‘autopilot’ guy was named “Otto”. Made me think of it.
104 posted on 10/25/2009 3:03:51 PM PDT by grame (To God be the Glory!)
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To: CARTOUCHE
It wasn’t long ago on a Southwest flight that I went forward and observed a flight attendant sitting in her jump seat and talking on her cell inflight.

Are you sure it was her cell phone?

Southwest used to have "air phones". I don't know if they still do -- a lot of airlines have dropped them because they weren't getting enough revenue to justify the weight of the equipment (and the gas to fly it around).

Some of the air phone systems had a "crew phone" -- a cordless phone that was reserved for the crew for company business.

105 posted on 10/25/2009 3:26:25 PM PDT by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.)
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To: justlurking

No, not and airphone.


106 posted on 10/25/2009 3:49:01 PM PDT by CARTOUCHE (OBambi's mother was a buck short.)
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To: darkwing104
"lost situational awareness"

A polite way of describing that in which their heads must have been.

I mean, how do you just breeze past the twin cities and not notice?

107 posted on 10/25/2009 5:27:18 PM PDT by Clinging Bitterly (MMM MMM MM!)
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To: darkwing104

Brett who?


108 posted on 10/25/2009 6:35:02 PM PDT by norton
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To: freespirited
"They were FReeping."

hee hee, lol. good one

109 posted on 10/25/2009 6:40:52 PM PDT by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: Don Corleone

Perhaps that is why they overshot - they had to get 30 extra minutes of silent flight time so that whatever was on the tape could get “lost”.


110 posted on 10/25/2009 7:44:36 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: grame

Oh. OK. :-)


111 posted on 10/25/2009 8:48:41 PM PDT by jackibutterfly
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To: rickomatic
I smell a sex scandal. What other reason would there be for such secrecy? Perhaps a little mile high action distraction?

Man, I'm thinking the same thing.

112 posted on 10/26/2009 10:10:32 AM PDT by fedupjohn (If we try to fight the war on terror with eyes shut + ears packed with wax, innocent people will die)
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To: Sacajaweau
It is bizarre. One poster mentioned the possibility of some type of sexual activity in the flight deck. That may be true. The pilots said that they were distracted by their laptops. That doesn't explain why they didn't answer their radios.
113 posted on 10/26/2009 12:54:43 PM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I think I know what the problem was.

northwest cockpit

114 posted on 11/03/2009 7:07:19 AM PST by zipper
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To: IllumiNaughtyByNature
Last night, on the news we saw the video clip of the pilot who stated "we were not fighting and we were not sleeping. We'll tell you more next week." Mrs. IllumiNaughtyByNature said, "they must have been having sex."

Maybe they fought first, made up & had sex, then fell asleep cuddling.

115 posted on 11/03/2009 7:20:22 AM PST by Sloth (For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of the International Olympic Committee.)
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To: The Comedian

That kid is such a crybaby. They’re clearly on approach — a few more minutes and he’ll be safe.


116 posted on 11/03/2009 7:28:17 AM PST by Sloth (For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of the International Olympic Committee.)
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To: The Comedian

All that time they were chasing a kid in a balloon.


117 posted on 11/03/2009 7:35:18 AM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: leapfrog0202

Let’s assume for a horrifying moment that this plane had been hijacked and took out half the skyline of Minneapolis, killing 1,500 people.

From the inept and sketchy reporting, it seems like the plane was out of touch for 60 minutes BEFORE it got to Minn (total non-contact was 77 minutes).

People might be justified in asking why, after 9.11, the FAA did not contact any flight attendants, or passengers on the flight to resolve the time-out. Surely Northwest has many of these records.

Further, we might ask why the military was not running fly-bys of this jet long before it could become yet another bomb on a major city.

The coverage and reaction on this story is absurd. If indeed this was a hijacking, the FAA would be explaining to the people how despite 9.11, their new procedures could neither prevent or EVEN RESOLVE the same type of issue within an hour. Where is the inquiry here?


118 posted on 11/28/2009 6:03:45 AM PST by Whiskeyjim (Minneapolis plane story is FAA ineptness for safety)
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To: Feckless
Maybe the last hot stewardess was on that flight.....

If there had been an attractive younger female flight attendant... This could only happen by crossing a time warp!

119 posted on 11/28/2009 6:48:32 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT (The best is the enemy of the good!)
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