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The two Northwest Airlines pilots who missed their destination by 150 miles two weeks ago have been suspended. The FAA suspended the two for “operating in a reckless manner that endangered the lives and property of others,” according to the Washington Post.
It is presumed that Delta, Northwest’s parent company, will fire them, but I believe that the pilots, found to have been so egregiously negligent, should serve jail time.
The incident occurred on Oct. 22. Two days later, the co-pilot was quoted as saying that the two were not arguing or sleeping, as many had speculated.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the pilots’ union, has a strict “no comment” policy regarding in-flight incidents.
The loose-lipped pilot made another terrible decision by straying from the policy. In my opinion, this only underscores his recklessness.
If they were not sleeping, and they were not arguing, what were they doing? The two pilots claimed to be in a “concentrated period of discussion.”
They claimed to have been discussing the flight scheduling procedure and admitted to using their laptop computers, according to a Delta Air Lines press release. I cannot see how they would be so enthralled with a flight scheduling procedure that they would both lose track of time.
Delta’s Oct. 26 press release also states that “using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots’ command of the aircraft during flight is strictly against the airline’s flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination.”
Credit Delta for firing these two, which I’m sure they will, but is that sufficient? We should be proactive and increase the penalty for such wanton acts.
Chris Railey, a senior at the prestigious Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said, “[Pilots] must be in constant communication with their dispatcher according to FAA Regulations.”
Don’t the pilots know how long the flight will be prior to departure? “Yes, based on the winds and the performance of the plane, we can pretty accurately predict how long the flight should be.”
“In fact, [that’s] how the dispatcher knows how much fuel to put on the plane-they can’t just fill it up or it would be overweight…[they’re] lucky that they had enough fuel to fly for another two hours after they missed the airport,” he added.
The Delta Pilots Union issued a statement saying that “At no time were the passengers, crew, or aircraft in danger.”
I think running out of gas could be dangerous. Not to mention the fact that two fighter jets were alerted, but never took off.
After all, why send fighter jets after a wayward aircraft if blowing it out of the sky is not a possibility? These people were very much in danger.
This is criminal negligence. There should be legislation allowing for prosecution of pilots who put others’ lives in danger. In almost every major tragedy, authorities look back to a point in time when something could have been done to prevent it.
If we do not act, then we are left to react, and the consequences will be fatal.
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