November 28, 2009
Even after air traffic controllers re-established contact with the crew of a Northwest Airlines plane that flew past Minneapolis last month, they still weren’t certain that the crew was in control of the cockpit.
Transcripts released today by the Federal Aviation Administration reveal that the controllers repeatedly asked the crew what had happened — and that the crew would only say that there were “distractions.”
First, there was nearly 90 seconds of conversation about the route they should take back to their destination of Minneapolis. Then, a controller said, “I just have to verify that the cockpit is secure.”
A pilot said, “It is secure, we got distracted.” He said he and the other pilot never heard a call from the ground.
A different controller took over, and after about five minutes of talk about routes, the controller asked for an explanation of what happened.
A pilot responded, “Cockpit distractions, that’s all I can say.”
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Controllers ultimately had the pilots perform several turns to verify that they were in control of the plane. It landed safely in Minneapolis and was met at the gate by police.
The pilots have told the National Transportation Safety Board that they were looking at their company’s complicated new crew-scheduling program over their laptop computers.
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