Upclose and personal with an Airbus A320
NOTE: This blog was updated, see below.
The good news is the pilots were not sleeping on Northwest Airlines flight 188 that missed Minneapolis by 150 miles. The bad news is they still missed the airport and the real reason is not enough to save their jobs.
The Airline Biz Blog has a great run down of the complete text of the current NTSB text on the incident. Some of the bigger points:
* The Captain, 53 years old, was hired in 1985. His total flight time is about 20,000 hours, about 10,000 hours of A-320 time of which about 7,000 was as pilot in command.
* The First Officer, 54 years old, was hired in 1997. His total flight time is about 11,000 hours, and has about 5,000 hours on the A-320.
* Both pilots stated that they were not fatigued. They were both commuters, but they had a 19-hour layover in San Diego just prior to the incident flight. Both said they did not fall asleep or doze during the flight.
* Both said there was no heated argument.
* Both stated there was a distraction in the cockpit. The pilots said there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from ATC even though both stated they heard conversation on the radio. Also, neither pilot noticed messages that were sent by company dispatchers. They were discussing the new monthly crew flight scheduling system that was now in place as a result of the merger. The discussion began at cruise altitude.
* Each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure. The first officer, who was more familiar with the procedure was providing instruction to the captain. The use of personal computers on the flight deck is prohibited by company policy.
* Neither pilot was aware of the airplane’s position until a flight attendant called about 5 minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked what was their estimated time of arrival (ETA). The captain said, at that point, he looked at his primary flight display for an ETA and realized that they had passed MSP. They made contact with ATC and were given vectors back to MSP.
* Both pilots said there are no procedures for the flight attendants to check on the pilots during flight.
It is against Northwest Airline’s policy for pilots to access laptops while in flight and these pilots have been doing their job long enough to know this. They had the radio on, but were engrossed in their conversation and laptops to notice people were concerned they lost contact and missed the airport. It is too bad that one incident like this will ruin these pilot’s careers, but with so many lives and Northwest Airline’s reputation at stake, there needs to be serious consequences for their actions.
UPDATE 4:33pm:
Airline Biz Blog is reporting that Delta Air Lines (parent of Northwest Airlines) is stating the pilots will lose their jobs. The airline’s policy states that using laptops while in flight will lead to a pilot’s termination. Delta CEO Richard Anderson said: “Nothing is more important to Delta than safety. We are going to continue to cooperate fully with the NTSB and the FAA in their investigations.”
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Image: AV8NLVR
An EgyptAir Boeing 737
A man tried to use an in-flight knife to hijack EgyptAir flight 736 from Istanbul Turkey to Cairo. 30 minutes into the flight the man used his knife to threaten a flight attendant. The hijacker demanded the flight be diverted to Jerusalem. Luckily there were air marshals aboard who were able to detain the man. The 26-year-old said he wanted to “liberate” Jerusalem, a security official at Cairo airport told AFP.
The Boeing 737 landed on-time and all 87 passengers and 8 crew safely landed unharmed in Cairo.
Often, it has been joked about how airline security can be so tight, yet airlines provide knives on board. However, I doubt the people on the flight would have been in any real danger against a plastic knife. However, this is a great reminder on how Air Marshals can come in very handy.
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Image: Drewski2112
Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 in flight
Last December we reported on a Go! Airlines flight where the pilots fell asleep and missed the airport. Today a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 flight missed their destination of Minneapolis by 150 miles.
The flight crew said they became engrossed in a conversation about airline policy (and honestly, who couldn’t?) and lost track of their location. However, the FAA is investigating if pilot fatigue played any roll in this event.
The flight from San Diego to Minneapolis had 144 passengers onboard and none of them were aware of what happened, until the aircraft was swarmed by police once they finally arrived. The police kept all passengers onboard until they were allowed to question the flight crew.
The FAA lost contact with the aircraft while it was traveling at 37,000 feet and they notified the Air National Guard, who then put two fighter jets on alert. They were never given the order to take off.
Andrea Allmon, a passenger who had been traveling from San Diego on business, stated, “When I do my job, I do my job. These guys are supposed to be paying attention to the flight. The safety of the passengers should be first and foremost. (It’s) unbelievable to me that they weren’t paying attention. Just not paying attention.”
She is right. No matter if they were awake having a heated debate, they should have still been paying attention to their flight and of course the radio. The FAA is investigating the incident and the two pilots have been suspended from flying. Hopefully it is not found that the pilots fell asleep during flight.
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Source: Minnesota Star Tribune Image: AV8NLVR
- Aer Lingus A320
The flight crew of an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Paris gave their passengers who knew French a little scare. About 20 minutes into the flight all 70 passengers that were aboard the Airbus A320 were played an automated message in English letting them know the aircraft was about to pass through some turbulence. It was directly followed by a second message that was only in French. As the passengers who knew English were making sure their seatbelts were fastened tightly, others that knew French were getting a very different message.
The new message told passengers the plane was about to make an emergency landing and that passengers should take note of the emergency exits. At the time, the aircraft was flying over water and people feared the worse.
A passenger aboard the plane explains that all the French started freaking out, some cried and some started shaking. It took a few minutes for the flight crew to realize what happened before calming the passengers. The airline apologized and explained that mis-playing messages is a rare occurrence.
Source: Mirror Image: benallsup
American Airlines Boeing 757
Last Friday, American Airlines flight 414 from San Diego, CA to Dallas, TX made an emergency landing at LAX after passengers reported hearing odd noises and seeing pieces of the right wing falling off. The emergency was declared after the aircraft had already reached 29,000 feet.
The Boeing 757 safely landed at LAX. The ground crew found that lamination on the wing had come off. The 194 passengers aboard were placed on another flight and no injuries were reported.
Image: AV8NLVR