FAA revokes licenses of two 'reckless' Northwest Airlines pilots

Two Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew their destination airport at Minneapolis-St Pauls have lost their licenses. The FAA told the chief pilot he was engaged in a "frolic" of his own while he was not communicating for 91 minutes.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration has revoked the licenses of two Northwest Airlines pilots who toyed with their laptops, argued over company policy and forgot all about landing the plane at Minneapolis-St Pauls International airport. Northwest Flight 188 with 144 passengers overflew the destination airport by 150 miles while the pilots maintained radio silence for more than an hour. The FAA said it was revoking their licenses because they had flown the aircraft in a careless and reckless manner. In a harshly worded letter, the FAA told the pilot in command: "You have demonstrated your lack of regard for or inability to adhere to your responsibility to exercise the highest standard of care, judgment, skill and responsibility as expected of an airman serving as Pilot in Command of a scheduled. passenger carrying flight in air transportation." " Your lack of awareness that W188 had overflown the airport to which it had been dispatched and cleared until the aircraft had reached Wisconsin (approximately 150 miles beyond MSP). is completely unacceptable. This is particularly true because the overfight resulted in NW188's failure to comply with its clearance as issued. Aggravating your overflight is the fact that you were not communicating with Air Traffic Control," said the FAA letter. The FAA sent Dijital Journal a copy of letters written to both pilots. "You engaged in conduct that put your passengers and your crew in serious jeopardy. NW188 was without communication with any Air Traffic Control facility and with its company dispatcher for a period of 91 minutes (over 1.5 hours) while you were on a frolic of your own," the FAA letter said. "Failing to comply with ATC clearances or instructions while engaged in air carrier operations is extremely reckless. Not only did you not comply with clearances or instructions. you did not even monitor the aircraft's air-ground radios. You were disengaged and impervious to the serious threat to your own safety. as well as the safety of people for whom you are responsible. This is a total dereliction and disregard for your duties," said the letter to the chief pilot. The co-pilot received a similar letter describing his actions as reckless as well. “The pilots were out of contact with air traffic controllers for an extended period of time and told federal investigators that they were distracted by a conversation,” said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown in a press release. “The emergency revocations cite violations of a number of Federal Aviation Regulations. Those include failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly,” she said. The revocations are effective immediately. The pilots have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocations to the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB was told by the two pilots they were distracted by a conversation about company policies, were on their laptop computers and paid no heed to air traffic controllers who were repeatedly calling for their attention.