Northwest Overshoot / Cert Action....

[JEP]

Pilots argued as NWA flight to Mpls. overshot destination

By SUZANNE ZIEGLER and PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune
Last update: October 22, 2009 - 3:23 PM

Federal investigators are trying to determine why a Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego to the Twin Cities lost radio communications and overshot its destination Wednesday night.

The National Transportation Safety Board said today that Flight 188, with 147 passengers and its crew, continued northeast for about 150 miles and into Wisconsin past the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Airbus A320 crew members, once they had reestablished contact with air-traffic control, said they "were in a heated discussion over airline policy [and] lost situational awareness," the NTSB said in a news release.

The flight landed about 75 minutes later, and there were no injuries, the agency said.

"The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority," said a statement from Delta Airlines, which owns Northwest. "We are cooperating with the FAA and NTSB in their investigation as well as conducting our own internal investigation. The pilots have been relieved from active flying pending the completion of these investigations."
The NTSB intends to interview the crew, a pilot and copilot, and examine the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.

The Wall Street Journal reported today, citing unnamed government and industry officials, that the pilots had fallen asleep. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinari said that he could neither confirm nor refute the Journal's report.

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said that would be "speculative" to say at this point. "We don't know. We are looking into everything," he said, adding that nothing has been ruled out.

Star Tribune staff writer Suzanne Ziegler contributed to this report.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

 

[subpilot]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

oh boy...That must have been some discussion.

 

[Baronman]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

At least there was nice wx straight ahead....

I can only imagine "being in a heated discussion" only to suddenly find myself staring at some nasty WX!

 

[OldTownPilot]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NWA188/history/20091021/2135Z/KSAN/KMSP


And zoom into the MSP area. whoops.

 

[JEP]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NWA188/history/20091021/2135Z/KSAN/KMSP


And zoom into the MSP area. whoops.

 

[HeyEng]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

WTF?!? That is whacked out. Been a bad couple of days for the Delta peeps.

 

[WestIndian425]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Whoa!!!

 

[Murdoughnut]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

They probably weren't very familiar with MSP - hadn't flown in there much.

 

[sdfcvoh]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

I wonder who woke them up ...

 

[Nigel Croker]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

does anyone really believe they were jabbering and missed by that much....I give em credit they got their stories straight before they landed...lets hope the CVR doesnt say zzzzzzzzzzzz.......:dunno:

 

[falconvalley]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

How ironic that they were disagreeing over airline policy and that resulted in their own screw-up. I had a CKA bust an altitude restriction while yelling at me for something one time...

 

[PGT]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Must have been a pretty heated argument.

 

[mtsu_av8er]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

And you expect me to put my family on one of these things?

[/sarcasm]

 

[TFaudree_ERAU]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Why would you broadcast something like that on frequency? Just say you had a communications issue and be done with it.

 

[troopernflight]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Don't the CVR's only record the past 30 minutes of flight time? If that's the case, they may be lucky that it didn't record what really happened.

 

[JEP]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Don't the CVR's only record the past 30 minutes of flight time? If that's the case, they may be lucky that it didn't record what really happened.

May be true, but ATC has a record of the conversations and/or lack thereof...

 

[Murdoughnut]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

I wonder who woke them up ...

 

[Mike H]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Don't the CVR's only record the past 30 minutes of flight time? If that's the case, they may be lucky that it didn't record what really happened.

Depends on the CVR, I suppose. The regulation only says that the last 30 minutes of the flight must not be erased

I'm guessing that it took more then 30 minutes to get back to their destination

 

[Speed Pilot]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

"Where did who gooooooo??"

 

[ozziecat35]

Re: DeltaWest Overshoots Destination....

Why would you broadcast something like that on frequency? Just say you had a communications issue and be done with it.

Ok, communications issues, throw the good 'ol 7600 in the box and follow your filed flight plan right as close to the projected eta's right?