150 miles isn't that much considering the average speed of those jets. If they flew into the side of a mountain, that would be bad

Whatever, I still think that this is a cover story, you don't ignore Air Traffic Control, ever, especially controllers from three different airports. If there was a laptop used, it wasn't a new system they were going over...

They ignored Air Traffic Control? They could have easily killed those people onboard! I hope they both lose their pilot's license and that both pilots are fired. No excuse for this at all. Do research on your own time and on the ground.

Im with you dkarchon . Smell's fishy

give the guys a break, it was at least job related. Its not like they were looking at porn.

so it isnt bad to be doing something that might lead you to "fly into the side of the mountain" until it actually happens... then its bad?

Hope the pilots learn their lesson

150 miles off course, 90 minutes without communication and the military doesn't scramble a jet to intercept the aircraft???

Something else got screwed up here too.

Bull****, they were sleeping.

Umm we must be missing something because cruising speed at altitude for jet arcraft ranges from 450-570mph, so a 90 minute veer in direction would take them much more than 150 miles, unless the only veered slightly.

They were deep into a raid thanks to the wonders of verizon wireless mobile broadband. You dont give up raid gear for something as trivial as local ATC controllers in some backwater like Eau Claire!!

I really call BS.
Even the most basic planes now have advanced GPS systems take them to the destination and alert you when you're close. They were sleeping.

Post 911 ignoring traffic control is a very very bad thing to do.
They are lucky the alert 5 fighter jets weren't lauched.

There's no way this is the real story! I get that they were distracted, but there's no way their on board communications didn't scream at them when they went off course. I'm sure there were several attempts to contact the plane that could not have gone unnoticed. Something is wrong here.

Monica S
Los Angeles Computer Repair
http://www.sebecomputercare.com

Toms has only reported the basic facts .. the pilots did not communicate with the Air Traffic controllers FOR 90 minutes - not 90 minutes past their destination. Part of the problem is that nobody noticed them leaving Denver airspace and not establishing contact with the next control tower (which the airline is partly responsible for here along with the pilots). Military Jets were being scrambled, they just never left the ground before the plane resumed communication. They also blame the flight attendants because they should have realized the pilots did not ask them to start landing procedure..

Maybe it was more than just the pilots discussing their new "laptop" hardware.

must be a very complex scheduling system requiring 90 minutes of intensive one-on-one tutoring - not even the Air Traffic Controllers can disrupt them.

I dont think the FA's should be blamed (or not much at all), im no FA, but im pretty sure it's not in their job description to alert the pilots that it should be time to land. Also, (for the author), that's not the right plane in the pic It was an Airbus A320, not a Boeing 777, which the 320 would have (tht was said w/ humor, i wasnt like scolding or anything)

wow....idiots

i heard this on the news when i got back from school i find it pretty funny but 500$ refunds to everyone on the plane dang they got a free ride lol

"If there was a laptop used, it wasn't a new system they were going over..."

Now THATS the truth! I personally dont think their was a laptop at all but that they were asleep. They would have had alarms, lights, whistles, or somethin that they would be unable to ignore.
Now if they were PURPOSELY ignoring the alarms, or whatever they have, then they were definitely doing other things than flight schedules on the laptop.

They were either asleep or watching "entertainment".

If the facts are true that they ignored ATC's attempts to contact them, then they should have disciplinary action taken against them. That being said, it only takes just over 15 minutes to travel 150 miles at cruising speed. Although you would think that their autopilot system would have activated the boxing glove on a spring to alert them by that time.If the facts are true that they ignored ATC's attempts to contact them, then they should have disciplinary action taken against them. That being said, it only takes just over 15 minutes to travel 150 miles at cruising speed. Although you would think that their autopilot system would have activated the boxing glove on a spring to alert them by that time.

"Northwest Flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis reportedly went 150 miles off course because first officer, Richard I. Cole, was tutoring captain Timothy B. Cheney on a new system put in place by Delta Air Lines."

I bet he was just showing off his sweet framerates in FSX.

These days the average person just doesn't have a backbone in situations like these. Flight attendant either male or female could have and should have yelled at atleast one of them to stfu and land the plane back there at the airport. To hell with their job or anything else there are people on that plane don't just stand there like a stupid sheep and do nothing. Make someone realize just how stupid they are and make them correct their mistake especially when so many lives depend on it. This is just as bad as that other story with the kid with an axe and a knife, someone should have jumped him and kept him down until the cops showed up. If someone would have done that, that old lady would still be ok instead of nearly stabbed to death. Why are everyday people afraid to take a stand against stupid crap these days? as long as the dummy doesn't have a gun then someone should stop the dummy it's that simple.

How DISTRACTED from a laptop can you be to IGNORE Air-Traffic control saying "HELLO?" or flight attendants knocking on the door.

Most likely, both pilots were engaged in homosexual activity and were having too much of a good time.

Remember, the plane has an OLDER Flight Data recorder - so it ONLY has the last 30minutes of any activity... in which by then, the pilots were already on the way back. Newer Recorders will have the entire flight.

What the article said was that they IGNORED air traffic control for 90 minutes. I am not an air-traffic controller but I assume they would contact you BEFORE you were directly above them at full cruising speed.

They need to do a bit of a firmware update for the planes GPS to offer text to speech that will warn the pilots when it is time to begin the landing process.

that way when there busy using their laptop to post cat pictures on 4chan, the planes GPS will alarm and then give a tts message telling them that it is time to start landing.

That is the funniest thing I have read all day.

Thanks for the laugh

Yeah. This new explanation of the pilot's activities still sound fishy. I agree. I'm not sure if firing is in order but certainly make a serious point with these pilots (and others) by "removing a stripe" from their shoulders, suspending them without pay for time, then giving them some crappy routes for a year to help them remember.

And of course their high scores should be removed, from whatever game they were playing.

Distracted yes. However on board communications on a plane only work if they have their communications set properly. If their communications i.e. radio frequency was set for a differant air space then no they would not have heard anything. When flying a plane you just do not have one set radio frequency to communicate with but a range of them. When you, for example, take off from NY to Los Angeles, depending on the flight path, you might have to change your frequency mutliple times as you enter various other air spaces. So no their communications would not have gone off and the "ignored air-traffic controllers in three locations for about 90 minutes" is not exactly correct. Your not ignoring traffic controllers if you cannot here them cause you did not change your communications when you entered into their air space. Your just showed incompentence

After re-re-reading this, monicas, the incompentence remark was geared toward the pilots in this story and not at you. So do not take it the wrong way.

Luckily, no passengers got hurt or anything unfortunate happened to them. otherwise, those two pilots would not be so lucky by just being suspended...

Well, that's a pretty good lesson for the rest of the pilot community to take note of if u ask me.. (^-^)