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Lost Northwest Pilots Were Using Laptops, Ignoring Everything Else

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A lot of us use our PCs and relax at 30,000 feet, but that’s probably not such a good idea if you’re actually flying an Airbus with a couple hundred people on board. The two Northwest pilots that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles last week were using their laptops instead of paying attention to actually flying the plane.

I’m actually on a flight right now and just watched a CNN piece about the idiotic pilots. Apparently, both pilots admitted to using their personal laptops in the cockpit and removing their headsets so they could talk to each other.

Calls from air control and messages from Northwest went unanswered. It wasn’t until a flight attendant asked why they hadn’t started their descent did they close their laptops and turn around.

The pair of pilots have been suspended, but Northwest seems to be waffling on whether or not they’ll be fired. I really don’t think the company has a choice here though. Would you fly on an airline that allowed these guys to return to work?

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Warner Crocker

    10/26/2009 at 9:34 pm

    Hey, it could be worse. They could have been texting.

  2. Ben

    10/27/2009 at 3:51 am

    Cut them a break. They were probably just finishing off some uber mob with their guild in WoW.

  3. Sumocat

    10/27/2009 at 7:19 am

    Sounds like highly mobile computing to me.

  4. Xavier Lanier

    10/27/2009 at 9:33 am

    My first thought was Micforosft Flight Sim…

  5. mr anon

    10/28/2009 at 12:00 am

    Probably trying to download some windows 7 drivers for their dell…

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