October 26, 2009

  • On the current events front...

    ....don't you know those pilots are mortified who had to finally admit to having been on their laptops while in the cockpit of whichever Northwest flight it was, lost track of time, and that's why they overshot their destination by 150 miles? 

    From now on I want to hear the pilots on any flight I'm on periodically assuring the passengers that they're still awake and paying attention. 

Comments (5)

  • Heads will roll, I think. There are so many levels to this: Were they on the Net? If so, how come I can't be on the Net too? Where were the other members of the crew? The navigator? The flight attendants? Why didn't they say something? How can you not hear when you are being addressed by the flight controllers on the ground-- these guys are wearing headphones? Alot of questions need public answers.

  • Call me cynical, but I don't believe it.

  • Heard about it on NPR, they had a retired pilot comment on the situation. They didn't have the headphones on, and they were checking duty schedules-- or so they said. There was only the two pilots and three attendants. It was a completely numbskull thing to do-- pretty surprising for two guys who had the seniority they did. I'm thinking, however, that they are probably not going to suffer too much. Pilots like that usually have a pretty good retirement package set up, and savings besides, if my BIL is anything to go by.

  • From what I understand, ever since 9-11 the cockpit door remains locked, so the flight attendants wouldn't necessarily have known what was going on in the cockpit. FWIW.

  • The horrifying thing about this is that jetliners don't carry lots of extra fuel, and burning up 300 extra miles' worth could lead to very nasty stuff. Of course they have enough reserve in case they have to circle the airport for a landing delay, but that means that they didn't HAVE that reserve by the time they got their stupid selves to the airport.

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