I don’t know about you, but I have had a few bad flying experiences in the past. Rockin’ and rollin’ in snow storms; a wing that missed the ground by mere inches on a landing; and one nauseous experience in a sardine-can commuter flight, are but a few. Now we learn that the pilot and co-pilot of a Delta Northwest flight, not only overflew their destination but were out of touch with controllers for 78 minutes. It took a flight attendant to say something like, “Hey! Wadda ya doin’?”
It gives me some consolation that the licenses of these two pilots have been revoked. But not much. Their statements, unseemly alike, were that they were both using their personal laptops and checking out newly implemented schedules. Sure. If they were using their laptops, we can all use our imaginations as to what they were looking at, and I doubt it was new schedules. Come on, Investigators. Get to the hard core of the matter.
Unfortunately we are scheduled to use this very same airline in January. It’s bad enough that I already had some trepidation about this. Flying in January can be risky business, given the weather that time of year in the Northeast. My thoughts had roamed to how well maintenance is done on planes these days. I have read articles on airline screaming me me’s about adding new charges and the need to eliminate a lot of flights due to impact from the economy. Cripe, it has been eons since they offered those little bottles of booze they gave my parents, and I’m sure I couldn’t get through security with some in my carry-on. Just tell me that you check all the nuts and bolts, okay? And no duct tape. I don’t want to think about maintenance workers using duct tape to patch holes.
I demand Sully! Clone him; do what you have to do, but put him at the helm of our flight. It will my luck that I’ll get a Leslie Nielsen-type from the film Airplane. The NTSB better take a hard look at this industry. Maybe they can clean it up before January. Yeah, sure, when pigs fly.
—cher
Tags: airlines, bottles of booze, co pilot, commuter flight, consolation, duct tape, eons, flight attendant, imaginations, leslie nielsen, little bottles, maintenance workers, Northwest, northwest flight, NTSB, nuts and bolts, personal laptops, risky business, rockin and rollin, sardine, snow storms, trepidation
This story really spooked me, because me husband does about 70% travel, all of which involves flying. I don’t understand the need for laptops in the cockpit. I would think with a good old fashioned printout of a schedule plus the constant access they have to a radio that they have everything they need. Although I guess these pilots could have used an airplane version of a TomTom that tells them “land now” instead of “turn now.”
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Tweeeeeeet! Movie foul!
Do remember that Leslie Neilsen’s character was a Doctor… Dr. Rumac. He tended to the passengers rather than the plane. Which was probably a good thing.
Cockpit was ably commanded by Peter Graves’ Captain Oveur.
(Over. Roger. Huh?) When he wasn’t quizzing little boys about naked men.
My recommendation for your flight… hit the airport bar early and often. You may not be able to get the little bottles on the plane, but you can do a work-around, and with any luck, be out cold by the time you’re “wheels up.”
At least until they start pointing things out that you’re flying over…
“Ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the left side of the plane, where you can see a cloud shaped like a duck.”
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Tina T,
There are all kinds of things these pilots missed, including text messages from the controllers. Did you know the White House was called? I don’t want you to be spooked and I don’t want me to be scared! Let’s hope the NTSB has spies incognito on the planes now to monitor this stuff.
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bluzdude,
But a good long stop at the airport bar sounds fine. Then maybe I won’t give a duck about the clouds!
Well, shut my mouth! I was indeed wrong about that so thanks for pointing it out. See what a mess I am?
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Ahh, the joys of flying. I just recently flew for the first time in 10 years. It was quite a different experience than the previous flight.
Of course the previous flight was one month after 9/11. Needless to say that coast to coast flight required an assembly of liquor.
All in all, going up in a metal cylinder just seems wrong on so many levels. Something just doesn’t make sense. But if texting is bad while driving, I can only imagine how it might be if you’re flying an airplane. And even worse, looking at nudie girls.
Good luck!!
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Thanks, BBP. I cannot imagine what it must have felt like flying right after 9/11. Liquor should have been complementary to all passengers who so desired.
I am not certain yet what these latest pilots were up to, but something here is rotten. I will be waiting to hear. I’m sure the hard drives on laptops can be downloaded. I just hope they don’t try to hush it up.
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In all seriousness, it’s probably the best time to fly. All the pilots should be on the ball, given all the flap in the news this week. Oops… you’re flying in January… never mind. They’ll have forgotten about all this by then.
Ok, in even more seriousness… it’s not helpful to worry about things you can’t control. If driving is out of the question (and in January, driving around the northeast would be much more dangerous), so just let it fly. Don’t live life by worrying about all the bizarre things that could happen to anyone at any minute.
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bluzdude,
Logic tells me you are right. I guess more than anything I want to draw attention to this matter because it is serious. I saw on the news a bit ago that there was “frolic” in the cockpit. What the heck that means, I don’t know.
I just put up a video with background by Moby. There used to be a great flying video done to this song, but it is no longer available.
Thanks for the advice, my friend.
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Call me quaint and old fashioned…but does anyone remember when flying was a wonderful, special occasion? We’d wear our good clothes and think it was such a special treat? Nowadays, I’d RATHER just let the pigs fly because it’s really a huge hassle, uncomfortable (especially if you’re sort of tall), and after hearing about these pilots, I mean, who needs hijackers? The pilots can do a fine job messing up the flight without the assistance of terrorists!
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“Frolic??”
Now that would get my attention too. Rule 1 in the cockpit: No Frolicing!
Sounds like a night in Hef’s grotto at 30,000 feet.
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bluzdude,
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — The Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots who overshot their destination by 150 miles had their licenses revoked after the Federal Aviation Administration concluded they flew “carelessly and recklessly” during a “frolic.”
There you have it, directly from Bloomberg. Will someone please define “frolic”? I mean, is it in Pilot’s Manual 101? The term conjures up all kinds of images, doesn’t it? I loved your reference to “Hef”!
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WillOaks Studio,
You are so right. When my parents used to fly, it was a big deal. They wore finery and there was a sense of class about the whole experience.
Imagine, we worry about terrorists (rightfully) and hijacking (rightfully). These pilots had Air Traffic Control so concerned that the White House put the National Guard on stand-by thinking this was a possible hijacking. Now that’s serious. I hope these guys are never allowed to pilot again.
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I was flabbergasted when I first read about that flight. Pilots have such a high-profile job, and it’s such a huge responsibility, and usually it’s a position that commands a lot of respect. I really don’t understand how they could fail to pay attention for SO LONG–and then lie about it. I believe when the story first came out they said that they had been “distracted by an involved conversation” and now they’re saying laptops.
But the silver lining is that those two are out of the cockpit before the skies become even fuller with holiday travelers–and hopefully this story (which, after all, had no injuries or deaths) will serve as a timely wake-up call to the rest of the folks in the airline industry: heads up! You can’t just “phone it in” when you’re flying a jet!
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As you know, I had a bad experience with “mechanical problems” on both of the flights I took home in September (on the same day no less). I really liked Northwest. The flight going to Michigan was wonderful, great plane, great service and most of all absolutely delicious dinner served that day.
I thought I would fly Northwest from now on instead of American, but after the return trip incidents and certainly after this last fiasco I’ve decided to go back to American Airlines.
I don’t blame you for feeling edgy about NW, I’m sure they’re taking a lot of heat on this one. What is starting to bother me is that there is no way of knowing what’s going on in the cockpit that we DON’T know about.
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Tamara,
“You can’t just “phone it in” when you’re flying a jet!” What an apt statement. They get paid a lot to whine about sleep deprivation, which is one of the excuses being bandied about. The NTSB needs to take stern measures, preventative measures, so this sort of thing does not happen again.
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Gloria,
How well I remember your terrible experience. Your point about what else we don’t know is also frighteningly true. As those who must fly, we are subject to appropriate security measures. I have never minded that since I feel it is necessary in these times.
But who checks the pilots? Would someone please tell us that!
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Maybe they should replace the cockpit doors with bulletproof glass… the kind you see at dodgy convenience stores. They forget that they’re working for US. We should be able to keep them honest.
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bluzdude,
Absolutely right! This airline has been doing poorly as it is. Let’s see what happens to them after THIS episode. I have put up with bad fights, lost luggage and delayed departures. We should not have to put up with crumby, unethical behavior by pilots who have a job to do which happens to involve the safety of transporting passengers.
I wish we had not already paid for these tickets. I would cancel out of principle but it would cost us—not them. I’m still riled up! It’s the Irish in me….
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Isn’t this stuff disgusting, I’m so sick of people not doing their job…and my husband and I rarely fly we almost always choose to drive no matter how far we have to go.
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
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Dorothy,
We drive as often as possible. This trip is just too long, so we have to fly, darn it. And you’re right; it is disgusting.
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I totally understand your mistrust and fear with flying. I was married to an air traffic controller and I heard many horrifying stories as to what goes on behind the scenes and it is seriously not comforting.
Everything seems to be changing for the worse…people pleasing has taken a backseat that that bottom line.. ‘PROFIT’
I have a friend that never misses an opportunity to write the airlines with her issues when flying and she flies a lot…I have to say she gets compensated to the nines. She has also said, that if everyone wrote in with their issues, things might be taken more seriously, but as we know people are ready to spout out words but rarely take the most effective route which is action towards the airlines in question !
Good luck on your flight girlfriend
Hugzzz~D~
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DorothyL,
Your insight through the eyes of an air traffic controller is very telling. I have read that they have a high incidence of burn-out, given the intensity of the job.
I also like your idea of writing to the airlines when we have a bad experience. Perhaps we should be more proactive, rather than taking this flying down.
Hugzzz back, my friend.
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I just read a very informative article about the incident in Salon, written by a pilot that has a semi-regular
column for them.
You can check it out here:
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/...../col/smith
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bluzdude,
“And yes, it is common for pilots to temporarily lose contact with ATC: We copy down the wrong frequency or mistakenly leave the volume down; we miss a handoff. But these are innocuous gaffes that generally resolve themselves after just a minute or two. For an hour to pass? On a short-haul domestic flight? Had they not noticed the absence of ATC? Were they not monitoring their position relative to the flight plan waypoints, right there on the plane’s navigation screens?”
Great info from an insider, but frightening too, isn’t it? Thanks for sending this along, bluz. BTW, your post today was hysterical.
Visit bluzdude every day for grins, giggles and football through the eyes of a fanatic fan we love to read.
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cool article
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blogging tips,
Thanks so much for stopping by!
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