Heated cockpit discussion takes flight 150 miles past airport Special

A heated discussion in the cockpit of a Northwest Airlines flight resulted in crew losing "situational awareness." The Airbus A320 with 147 passengers overflew Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport by 150 miles.

WASHINGTON - A heated discussion in the cockpit distracted crew of a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 resulting in the flight flying past its destination airport at Minneapolis-St Paul International by 150 miles. The crew told the FBI they were involved in a heated argument about "airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the National Transportation Safety Board said. NTSB said the the aircraft was redirected to its destination airport after controllers finally managed to raise the cockpit crew and told them they had overflown the airport by 150 miles. The FBI interviewed the crew after the plane landed safely. "On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, at 5:56 pm mountain daylight time, an Airbus A320, N03274, operating as Northwest Airlines (NWA) flight 188, became a NORDO (no radio communications) flight at 37,000 feet," the NTSB said in a press release. The flight originated from San Diego, California and was carrying 147 passengers in addition to crew members. "At 7:58 pm central daylight time (CDT), the aircraft flew over the destination airport and continued northeast for approximately 150 miles," said the NTSB. "The MSP center controller reestablished communications with the crew at 8:14 pm and reportedly stated that the crew had become distracted and had overflown MSP, and requested to return to MSP." "According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the crew was interviewed by the FBI and airport police. The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the NTSB press release said. "Certainly nothing comes to mind about whether this has ever happened before," said NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz when contacted at his Washington, DC. office by Digital Journal. He said the NTSB can investigate an incident but can't recommend disciplinary action, a task that falls within the mandate of the Federal Aviation Authority. NTSB has scheduled interviews with the crew and the cockpit voice recorder as well as the data recorder have been seized and crew discussions will be reviewed at the NTSB lab. Northwest Airlines said it will issue a statement shortly.