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Lost Northwest Pilots Were Trying Out New Software
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew about 110 miles past their destination to the skies over Wisconsin as more than a dozen air-traffic controllers in three locations tried to get the plane's attention had taken out their personal laptops in the cockpit, a violation of airline policy, so the first officer could tutor the captain in a new scheduling system put in place by Delta Air Lines, which acquired Northwest last fall. 'Both said they lost track of time,' said an interim report from the National Transportation Safety Board countering theories in aviation circles that the two pilots might have fallen asleep or were arguing in the cockpit. 'Using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots' command of the aircraft during flight,' said a statement from Delta Airlines, 'is strictly against the airline's flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination.' Industry executives and analysts said the pilots' behavior was a striking lapse for such veteran airmen who have a total of 31,000 flying hours of experience between them. In the case of Flight 188, 'Neither pilot was aware of the airplane's position until a flight attendant called about five minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked what was their estimated time of arrival,' the interim report said."
Mayday!
Anonymous coward calling karma whore!
Anonymous coward calling karma whore!
Mayday!! Mayday!!
Wow in Flight has to much LAG. Can't raid. Daily quests maybe!
Ah I got it. Auction house bidding war. And they were the two idiots out bidding each other.
Nuff Said.
Doubtful. They were swapping handjobs.
Or having another kind of raid. These guys were having sex with each other.
- Bus driver texting rear-ends a car
- Subway/metro driver using cellphone rear-ends another train in D.C. - kills several passengers
- Airplane drivers using laptops - fortunately nothing happened but it could have. A few years ago the same event caused a plane to miss a runway and killed most of the passengers.
I prefer to have my own car, with my own hands on the wheel, because I trust myself more than I trust some underpaid stranger. I'll take an airplane if it's long-distance, but if it's within 1-2 day's drive (Example Oklahoma City to Baltimore) then I'll just do it myself.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I cringe when I see this, because I've done this - taught Captians while flying about PBS. So have many other F/O's. You just prioritize it where it belongs - below aviating, navigating and communicating. These guys made everyone else look bad.
So you're saying that it makes everyone else look bad purely because they got caught? It had nothing to do with them violating the airline's policy. It's only bad because they got caught?!?
Bullshit. They were abducted or something equally strange.
The head of one pilot was in the lap of the other pilot.
How obvious does it have to be?
>>>Funny, then, that the method of travel which you insist is the safest actually results in the most deaths per mile traveled...
Yes but *per trip* the car is safer. I want to know what are my odds of dying every time I sit inside a car, train, or plane. The odds for the car *for each trip* is lower.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
You're making a common mistake in applying statistics to an individual.
It doesn't really matter to my personal survival what is the death rate per mile for the entire population.
My risk assessment takes into account my own personal driving skills, the vehicle I drive and it's relative merits in it's current operating environment and a multitude of other factors.
My reaction times aren't what they were when I was a teenager, but my ability to detect and avoid dangerous situations is much better than most people. That much is obvious to me when I'm a passenger.
The average driver is only minimally engaged with his vehicle.
So I'd say that generally speaking, my odds are better than most people's are when I'm driving.
OTOH - my odds are probably better than most people in an air crash that's not immediately fatal to all on board, as I'm perfecting willing to claw my way over women and children to get to an egress point.