Northwest 188, where are you?

**Ray1936** · October-23-09, 08:14 PM

Funny, if scary, story about Northwest flight 188 overflying their destination by 150 miles. Going from San Diego to Minneapolis/St. Paul, when they got to MSP they just kept going at 37,000 feet until other aircraft finally got their attention via radio. Sounds to me like the crew fell asleep. Anyway, for those with an interest in the story, here's the actual flight path coming in to MSP that they took. The wavy white line in the middle is the MN/WI state line.

**vetalalumni** · October-23-09, 08:30 PM

Extremely concerning. One of the pilots spoke [[from his front door) to a reporter today and insisted sleeping nor arguing were factors. The flight recorder only records the last :30? Certainly the pilots are aware of this as well.

**Downriviera** · October-23-09, 08:57 PM

Maybe these pilots are looking to pitch a TV show like the balloon boy folks.

**Gannon** · October-23-09, 11:14 PM

Downriviera,

You may not be far from the mark there.

One of my old friends is an A320 pilot for Northwest and is putting his energies into screenwriting...he lives down in Phoenix now.

As soon as I heard this was a 320, I wondered what these pilots were distracted by...heh.

Glad it turned out OK.

Cheers

ccbatson · October-23-09, 11:30 PM

You have a friend doing screenwriting Gannon? My G-d man, this is a golden opportunity, are you doing anything in that regard?

**MikeM** · October-24-09, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

One of my old friends is an A320 pilot for Northwest and is putting his energies into screenwriting...he lives down in Phoenix now.

As soon as I heard this was a 320, I wondered what these pilots were distracted by...heh.

Your buddy and every other pilot has his fingers into something else; they have to make up for a huge pay cut, lost pension, and lost seniority. Could both of these guys have been occupied with work from their second jobs?

Temporarily losing radio contact is a common occurrence, happening hourly somewhere over the country. Losing contact for more than 15-20 minutes [[about the average interval between radio contacts) is still at least a daily occurrence. Passing your destination is usually a result of being asleep at the wheel. When I first heard about the incident I was sure it would be a red-eye flight, but I see it was an afternoon/evening flight, the first of two they were to fly that day. Maybe a salty crew meal, a warm cockpit, and flying into the dusk put them into a food coma?

Even so, if someone dozes off, it's usually only for a few minutes, but for both of them to be asleep for nearly half an hour during the day seems unlikely to me. I feel the radio controls of the Airbus are easy to mess up, cutting off communications without realizing it. And once you pass the last point on your route, the airplane keeps flying the heading it was on, with little warning, and it won't descend unless you intervene on the controls. So along they go, distracted by their conversation to the point where "time flies" and they've passed their descent point, but the airplane is flying nice and straight, and no controller is telling them to descend [[because they can't hear him) and so nothing seems wrong.

**Downriviera** · October-25-09, 07:58 PM

Will the passengers get the extra World Perks miles?

ccbatson · October-25-09, 08:05 PM

Sure, 300 miles, usable on red eyes off season valid for 3 months and decreasing by 10% for every day after that 3 months and subject to fees and exclusions.

**rb336** · October-26-09, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by MikeM

When I first heard about the incident I was sure it would be a red-eye flight, but I see it was an afternoon/evening flight, the first of two they were to fly that day.

how far did they deadhead to make their flights?

**Ray1936** · October-26-09, 03:37 PM

Saw an artcle in an AP story about it that Northwest was giving each passenger a $200 voucher. Cutting off the lawyers at the pass, probably.

**Meddle** · October-26-09, 04:01 PM

^^^ I just heard $500.

Originally Posted by Gannon

One of my old friends is an A320 pilot for Northwest and is putting his energies into screenwriting...he lives down in Phoenix now.

As soon as I heard this was a 320, I wondered what these pilots were distracted by...heh.

Story now is that they were 'using their laptops' and lost track of time. Maybe they were submitting personal stories for the book/screenplay?

ccbatson · October-26-09, 07:27 PM

Voucher? Why, a few minute delay? Heck, if they did that all of the time, we wouldn't have any airlines at all.

**Ray1936** · October-26-09, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by ccbatson

Voucher? Why, a few minute delay? Heck, if they did that all of the time, we wouldn't have any airlines at all.

As I suggested earlier, Bats, heading off the lawyers at the pass.

ccbatson · October-26-09, 07:49 PM

No damages, no case...a waste of money.

**MikeM** · October-26-09, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

how far did they deadhead to make their flights?

They live on the west coast so I assume the day before [[Tuesday), or maybe even Monday night, they commuted to Minneapolis, then flew their first flight to San Diego on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday's flight from San Diego to Minneapolis was the first of two flights they were scheduled to fly that day.

Story now is that they were 'using their laptops' and lost track of time. Maybe they were submitting personal stories for the book/screenplay?

When I heard they were arguing about new company policy I thought they might have had their noses buried in the books looking for answers. That's a drawback of mergers; lots of emotions and lots of distractions.

Originally Posted by ccbatson

No damages, no case...a waste of money.

Have to agree with CC on that one.

**Downriviera** · October-27-09, 11:05 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhrqsnvPaco

ccbatson · October-27-09, 06:46 PM

Bad link Downriviera

**Sstashmoo** · October-27-09, 08:21 PM

Quote: "Voucher? Why, a few minute delay? Heck, if they did that all of the time, we wouldn't have any airlines at all."

More common sense. Does Greyhound pay hush money after having a flat? Pay them for what? Silly.