Pilots too busy with laptops to remember flight path, go 150 miles off course
By Ross Miller 
posted October 27th 2009 1:11AM
posted October 27th 2009 1:11AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
posted October 27th 2009 1:11AM
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You sound more like an aviation-industry enthusiast than an aviation enthusiast.
Great show of playing with life. This is shameful........
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lol'd at the old skool MSFS pic :D
I'd think that would violate the FAA's "Sterile Cockpit Rule" but it wouldn't show up on the black box voice recorder. Well, maybe it would pick up the clicking of the typing on the keyboard. Still, it has to be in violation of the existing rules to leave the plane on autopilot and use a laptop (doesn't matter what the laptop is being used for).
Nah, it's fine as long as you put it in airplane mode. Everyone knows that.
that picture brings back so many good memories
Is this because Steve Ballmer said he used his laptop to look for WiFi close to landing?
What a load a crap. You can't overfly your destination AND not notice air traffic controllers are trying to raise you like that, unless you were sleeping. How else do 2 commercial airline pilots remain situationally unaware that they've overflown their destination, ATC is repeatedly trying to reach them, and company dispatchers are sending them messages for so long? What else could it be, crazy gay cockpit sex!? Ewww, that would give a whole new meaning to the word "cockpit". LOL
Notice that it said 150 miles off course, not past the destination. They just forgot to make a turn, or drifted off to one side.
Ahem, No your completely wrong. Notice how the flight path passes directly over the airport and keeps right on going... they weren't "off course". They just blew right over their destination and kept of flying. When they realized what happened they hung a 180 and flew back to the airport making several ATC directed turns along the way.
http://flightwise.com/news/348/Northwest_Airlines_flight_188_3D_Track.html
These guys are pulling every string they can to NOT admit that they fell asleep.
C'mon man you can leave a laptop on and be asleep. It's probably a back up for when you fall asleep.
20 Quatloons says they fell the F asleep.
LMAO.... this is just insane. I can't read anymore or i'll get distracted and crash the plane i am flying right now.
Oops... I missed my landing strip, maybe i'll shoot for the next one.
Rgr, Signing out.
WIFI off.
Sound like a petty excuse since almost all the course is done using the automatic pilot and 78 minutes is too much time for slip because a pilot decided to use the computer.
And in the worst case, one pilot can miss the deadline but two?.
I just had a CORNCOB 3D flashback.
Why are pilots allowed to bring laptops onto a plane in the first place? They certainly don't need them in the course of their work. All the computer stuff they need is right in front of them in the cockpit. Their job is to fly the plane, not play video games or look at porn. I say, "Fire 'em!"
I've flown in the jump seat on commercial aircraft enough times to realize how incredibly boring it is up in the cockpit. It's like driving a bus for 20 minutes on takeoff and 20 minutes on landing. Other than that, it's like sitting in front of a desk with nothing to do.
My vote has been with "sleeping" since the story broke.
Ahhh, Meigs.
T___T
AFK gots to land plane, brb
Maybe it wasn't the pilots fault. Maybe someone back in the coach section was talking on their cell phone!!!!
Hey you! Stop that! Don't you know that using an electronic device can interfere with the planes navigation system! Damn, now see what you've done!
People always talk about talking on cell phones while flying... I, personally, have NEVER EVER had any kind of service up in the air. No matter the carrier, no matter the device, no matter the airline, no matter the region. Never had service. So how do all these other people (including those on 9/11) make calls from cell phones in the air? I don't get it.
Well, it should be easy enough to find out what the true story is. Just fire up their laptops and do a search by date modified and see what files were changed during the time they were flying past the destination. Also check teh log files. There is certainly enough info that a computer forensics guy could tell if hte machine was running at that time.
As far as the total time they were not paying attention, it has to be way more than just 26 minutes as they would have had to start talking to the next control facility well before the time they were to land.
It was 78 minutes of radio silence. It's totally unbelievable that the two pilots could be awake and situationally unaware for that long. Something like 10 different air traffic controllers along their route had no luck contacting them.
I fly flight 188 ever time I go home to visit my parents, probably had these same pilots this past summer
This "using a laptop" story is a load of crap. These pilots figured they'd cook up a story that the FAA couldn't disprove that would result in a much lesser penalty than the truth, which is that they were both sleeping.
Go visit www.pprune.org. This is a forum where real commercial pilots chat. They all know the realities of being in a cockpit and are pretty certain the truth is far different than what is being reported.
A laptop might distract a pilot for 5 or 10 minutes, but not 75 minutes. You don't completely ignore the instruments and radio for that long, unless you are sleeping or dead.
yes let's make it very clear. Most commercial pilots are not 'horribly underpaid'. This is a misconception that needs to go away. Does anyone here remember the 60 minutes story about teachers that actually showed numbers, went to demonstrations etc. They were showing teachers who were earning $60k+ in the midwest, get 3 months vacation a year, who were protesting their terrible salaries, threatening going on strike. And, most important, they believed they were being abused by the system. It was stunning.
Most teachers don't make $60k. My father has been a public school teacher with his Masters for over 20 years with the same state/district. He earns less than $50k. Teachers are the most important resource we have, save for the children themselves. Teachers SHOULD earn a lot of money, and we should demand an extremely high standard of them (which would be reasonable if the pay were high.)
Without teachers we have no pilots, physicists, doctors, lawyers, or any other skilled profession. It's a fact.
Woo Hoo!
Flight Sim 4! (for DOS) I still play it!
Work scheduling software. Yeah. Sure.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/distracted-flying/
If anything American teachers should make as much as pilots do. They should also have to live up to stricter standards to maintain their teaching accreditation. This would address good teachers leaving the profession for something more lucrative, as well as weed out the crappier ones.