Oct 26, 2009 8:40 pm US/Central
Northwest Pilots Say They Were Using Their Laptops
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS News) ―
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A Northwest/Delta Airbus A330-200 is pushed back from the gate to start a flight to Japan Wednesday June 10, 2009, at the Salt Lake International Airport. (File)
CBS
Two Northwest Airlines pilots told federal investigators that they were going over scheduling using their laptop computers while their plane overflew their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles.
National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Monday that the pilots said in interviews that they were not fatigued and didn't fall asleep, as many aviation safety experts have said was likely.
The board said pilots Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., the first officer, and Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., told investigators the first officer was instructing the captain on monthly flight crew scheduling. Cole and Cheney told investigators that they both had their laptops out while the first officer, who had more experience with scheduling, instructed the captain on monthly flight crew scheduling.
The board said the use of laptop computers in the cockpit is prohibited. The pilots were out of communication with air traffic controllers and their airline for over an hour.
The two Northwest Airlines pilots previously denied falling asleep in the cockpit, according to a source familiar with NTSB investigation, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.
In separate interviews with federal investigators the Captain and First Officer told virtually identical stories - indicating they had "lost situational awareness" and did not notice repeated radio calls and emails from air traffic controllers and other aircraft.
The pilots said they finally realized their mistake when one of the flight attendants used the plane's intercom to ask them why the plane had not yet descended, Orr reports.
There is nothing obviously helpful on the jet's cockpit voice recorder, which only captured the last 30 minutes of flight. The recording apparently begins after the plane had turned around and the two pilots made no verbal references to the mistake (whatever it was) that caused them to miss the Minneapolis airport, Orr reports.
Investigators still must readout the jet's flight data recorder but don't believe it will shed much light on the mystery.
The NTSB is expected to release a brief summary later this afternoon.
Northwest Airlines is cooperating and doing its own internal investigation, said Chris Kelly, a spokesman for Northwest Airlines' parent company, Delta Air Lines Inc.
Air traffic controllers tried for more than an hour Wednesday night to contact the Minneapolis-bound flight, which later turned around and landed safely. First officer Richard Cole has said he and the captain were not sleeping or arguing in the cockpit, but hasn't explained their lapse in response and the detour. The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Sunday that the pilots planned to repeat their story to safety investigators during Sunday's interview.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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