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Two Northwest pilots fly 150 miles past their destination, don't answer repeated calls, and claim they were engrossed in their llaptops. Do you beilieve their story?
The pilots of Northwest flight 188 told the National Transportation Safety Board that they were so engrossed in a complicated new crew-scheduling program on their laptops — a cockpit violation of airline policy that could cost them their licenses — that they lost track of time and place for more than an hour until they were brought back to alertness by a flight attendant on an intercom.
By then, the Airbus A320 with its 144 passengers and five crew members had cruised past its Minneapolis destination and was over Wisconsin, at 37,000 feet.
The pilots — Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., the first officer, and Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., the captain — denied they had fallen asleep as aviation experts have suggested, the safety board said in recounting investigators' interviews with the men over the weekend.
Instead, Cole and Cheney said they both had their laptops out while the first officer, who had more experience with scheduling, instructed the captain on monthly flight crew scheduling.
No,,,, I don’t think so. Something else was going on and it wasn’t laptops dealing with scheduling. Sleeping is more likely then dealing with work schedules.
Unless they were members of C-D forums and checking on the new posts?
I'm sure there is way more. If they were on the laptops, why didn't they answer the radio or ever look up to see the messages?? Really, really bad. They should be fired.
I'm sure there is way more. If they were on the laptops, why didn't they answer the radio or ever look up to see the messages?? Really, really bad. They should be fired.
That's what I was thinking too. Working on their laptops doesn't explain why they didn't answer their radio transmissions so I don't buy their story either.
This makes me very nervous! It's bad enough that we know the crew gets little rest, but that they have poor judgement like these two...! Remember the days that pilots were respected and looked up to, along with judges and doctors. Now we don't know who to trust.
It doesnt? Hmm...my math skills are way off. Time to go back to school..
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I don’t think so. Something else was going on and it wasn’t laptops dealing with scheduling. Sleeping is more likely then dealing with work schedules. 
