Northwest Airlines Flight 188 Pilots Asleep at Controls?

The professionalism of two Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles is seriously in question. While all the facts are not known, it’s quite possible that the pilots fell asleep at the controls. Anyone can make a mistake. But pilots in particular need to be accountable and take responsibility when mistakes are made.

There’s a political adage dating to the Watergate break-in that “It's not the crime that kills you,...

it's the cover-up.” If it turns out that the pilots lied to cover up falling asleep at the controls, then their professionalism will have suffered an even greater blow than falling asleep.

What is known is that plane dropped out of radio contact with controllers about 7 p.m. CDT, while cruising at 37,000 feet. The jet flew over its destination, the Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport just before 8 p.m. It re-established communications at 8:14 p.m. and returned to land safely at MSP. Passengers were kept on the plane briefly while 2 policemen boarded the aircraft to talk with the crew. Delta, which owns Northwest Airlines, relieved the pilots from active flying pending an NTSB investigation.

During the 78-minute silence, the pilots missed four frequency changes that should have occurred. Controllers feared that the crew was incapacitated or that some terrorist attack was in progress. Finally, the controllers hit upon a strategy for reaching the crew. They asked two nearby aircraft to try calling the Northwest plane on the original frequency the crew was using prior to the loss of communications. The crew responded to one of the calls and re-established communications with ATC.

When ATC asked what had happened, one of the pilots reportedly said that they’d been distracted. Later the pilots explained that they had been "discussing a company issue." While both answers smack of the “dog ate my homework” type of excuse, what really happened can’t be known until the NTSB examines the cockpit voice recorder, which has been sent to Washington.

As we reported last week, the House has passed a bill that among other things requires the FAA to issue regulations that specify limitations on the hours of flight and duty time allowed for pilots to address problems relating to pilot fatigue. Some countries allow their pilots to nap in the cockpit and it’s possible that the new regulations may permit it in the U.S.

While sleeping in the cockpit is not currently permitted, U.S. airline pilots will occasionally announce to the other pilot that they plan to “meditate,” a code word for taking a nap without admitting so on the cockpit voice recorder. Airlines often schedule their crews up to the limits of FAA regulations, often leaving them fatigued. Just last year, two Go! Airlines pilots fell asleep for at least 18 minutes and overshot their destination in Hawaii.

Earlier this week, I met Captain Sully Sullenberger, who testified before Congress about his concerns about whether the airlines will still be able attract and retain a high caliber of pilots. Captain Sullenberger is an outstanding industry spokesman who represents the 99%+ of pilots that operate with the highest level of professionalism. If it turns out that the crew of Flight 188 not only fell asleep in the cockpit, but then lied about it, we will have witnessed the opposite extreme in airline pilot professionalism.

Comments

[Sylvia]

I can see "losing situational awareness" when having a heated conversation about company politics - briefly. But for 78 minutes?! It just doesn't make sense to me that you could so thoroughly lose track of your surroundings.

On the other hand, they *must* have known that the cockpit recorder would be checked, so it seems a stupid lie.

I'm very interested in what comes out of this.

[Robin]

I'll be curious to see the outcome of the investigation, but don't think the voice recorder will tell anything. The last time I saw one, it had an erase button that flightcrews habitually punched when they left the cockpit.

[Jeremy]

The voice recorder only had 30 minutes of data on it, so it sounds like it will be pretty useless. By that time they would have already been in contact, and on their way back to MSP.

While I agree this incident needs to be investigated, why is it getting so much more press than the much more serious incident of a Delta 767 landing on a taxiway in Atlanta? That one had the potential to be a major catastrophe. In the Northwest case, there were many opportunities for the pilots to be awakened (from their sleep or whatever other condition caused them to be uncommunicative). Eventually, two of those worked - the flight attendants reached them as did ATC, as outlined above. So although the mistake was serious, the safety systems worked appropriately to correct the mistake and the plane landed fine with no danger to anyone.

But in the Delta case, the pilots apparently missed multiple cues they were lined up with a taxiway, and continued on to a complete landing. It was only a massive dose of luck that there were no planes waiting there (though I understand if they were there, they might have been visible to the crew and altered the outcome). The safety systems of aviation did NOT work right here, and that is the incident that deserves the outrage of the media, not the Northwest incident.

[Douglas Leamon]

I cannot defend the crew of NWA 188 regarding their actions while airbourne' however, by all accounts they were very cooperative with the FAA, NTSB, and their employer. After the FAA announced the revocaton of their certificates pilots around the country are asking, "Why cooperate? It is apparent that there is nothing to be gained in doing so." What would you do??

[Jim FitzGerald]

Fall asleep? Come on guys. When I fly IFR I don't get the least bit nervous when I hear no talk on the radio for 74 min. Switch radio frequencies - no, just leave it on 121.5. Nor do I keep an eye on the GPS to get that warm feeling that I know where I am at the moment.