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  • Nappy-nappy

    Link.....

    Wandering Flight Spurs Nap Probe

    Federal officials are working to sort out whether pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight dozed off or were simply distracted Wednesday night when they fell out of contact with air-traffic controllers for more than an hour and overshot their destination by 150 miles.

    The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, among other things, whether the two pilots fell asleep at the controls. The pair told law-enforcement officials who interviewed them upon landing in Minneapolis -- and apparently told fellow pilots later -- that they had been engaged in a "heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," according to the NTSB.

    Whatever the reason, the plane may have flown out of range of one air-traffic control center and failed to take the appropriate steps to get back in radio contact with controllers, according to industry and government officials close to the situation.

    During the 78-minute radio silence, controllers became so concerned about the fate of the 149 people aboard that they asked pilots of other aircraft in the vicinity to see if they could rouse the Northwest crew, according to industry and government officials. When that failed, the Federal Aviation Administration and military official began to consider having fighter jets scrambled to intercept the twin-jet Airbus A320, these officials said.

    When an aircraft fails to respond for such a long time, it is routine procedure to send fighters to try to determine the problem.

    The incident -- which pilots and safety experts consider a bizarre break from routine procedure -- had the plane crossing various air-traffic control zones and being passed to different groups of controllers without any verbal response. It comes as federal regulators, lawmakers and airlines are focusing on the issue of pilot fatigue and debating possible changes to rules that spell out how long pilots can fly or be on duty in a 24-hour period.

    Northwest Flight 188, which took off from San Diego and had been flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet when contact was lost, eventually circled back and landed safely in Minneapolis. None of the 147 passengers nor the unspecified number of crew members was injured.

    Once on the ground at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the pilots were interviewed by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and airport police. The plane's cockpit voice recorder -- which may be able to store up to two hours of data -- will be analyzed by federal investigators.

    Northwest's parent company, Delta Air Lines Inc., said, "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."
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    Dr. Mordrid
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    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps
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