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Oct 23, 2009 7:10 pm US/Central
Minn. Pilot Reacts To MSP Incident
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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According to the airport police report, the pilot is Timothy Cheney and the first officer is Richard Cole.
CBS
The cockpit voice recorder from a Northwest plane that overshot its destination by 150 miles is now in the hands of airline safety officials. They are trying to determine if fatigue or the pilot's explanation that they were in a heated discussion caused them to veer off course.
Flight 188 from San Diego California lost radio contact with air traffic controllers after flying over the Colorado Rockies.
According to the airport police report, the pilot is Timothy Cheney and the first officer is Richard Cole.
Instead of landing at MSP international, they ended up over Eau Claire, Wisconsin before turning back.
Attempts from air traffic controllers, other pilots and even a flight attendant on an intercom failed to get through to northwest pilots who were 150 miles off course.
Fearing the plane was hijacked, four armed F-16 military planes were ready to take off but they were never launched.
WCCO reached pilot Kathleen Bangs, who was vacationing in Arizona, to find out what may have happened.
"When I flew, did I see pilots fall asleep? Yes," said Bangs. "Pilots have been falling asleep in cockpits for decades."
However, Bangs also thinks the pilots may have been telling the truth when they said they were involved in a discussion about airline policy.
"I've seen pilots from many airlines who are so distracted and so upset by what they view as the company's most recent persecution or what's happen ingwith the unions or their frustration with the merger that they find it very difficult to concentrate on the task at hand," said Bangs.
Two pilots from another flight finally contacted the off course plane on another radio frequency.
Air traffic controllers instructed them to do test maneuvers to verify they were in control of the flight before they returned to Minneapolis.
Cockpit control voice recorders may not be very helpful to investigators because they only recorded the last 30 minutes of the flight.
National aviation policy requires both pilots be awake at all times in the cockpit.
Both pilots have been suspended until the investigation is complete.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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