Wayward Pilots Stripped of Their Licenses

FAA Revokes Licenses of 2 Pilots Who Overshot Airport by 150 Miles While They Were Distracted by Laptops

(CBS/AP)  Last updated at 11:31 p.m. Eastern

Federal regulators have revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew past their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles last week.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday the pilots had violated numerous regulations, including failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly.

The pilots - first officer Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., and captain Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash. - told investigators they lost track of time and place while working on their laptop computers.

The pilots' union had cautioned against a rush to judgment. The pilots, who said they had no previous accidents or safety incidents, have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocation.

CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports the FAA says it took such harsh and rapid action because the Northwest pilots acted "carelessly and recklessly" - behavior that has a history of deadly consequences:

• In 1988 a Delta pilot was chatting up a flight attendant as he prepared to take off from Dallas. Distracted, the crew did not properly position the wing flaps. The plane crashed on takeoff, killing 14.

• In 1972 all three cockpit crew members on an Eastern Airlines flight became engrossed with a landing gear warning and failed to notice they were descending. The plane crashed into the Florida everglades, killing 99.

• This year, Colgan Air flight 3407 went down after the pilots, talking shop, didn't realize their plane was going too slow on final approach to Buffalo. Their chatter violated the FAA's "sterile cockpit rule," which forbids extraneous conversations below 10,000 feet.

Above 10,000 feet there is no rule, and that's where pilots like the Northwest crew can get distracted even more easily, Cordes reports.

"These planes, the fly-by-wire planes, they literally fly themselves," said former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz. "And for long flights it can be very boring. You're sitting there, the plane's doing what it's supposed to do. You can drift. And that's a real challenge."

In enforcement letters to the pilots, the FAA explained in detail why their licenses were revoked, reports Cordes.

"You engaged in conduct that put your passengers and your crew in serious jeopardy... while you were on a frolic of your own," the letters state.

The episode may have opened a new avenue of concern for safety regulators - distracting personal electronic devices on the flight deck.

"It is unsettling when you see experienced pilots who were not professional in flying this flight," said Kitty Higgins, a former NTSB board member. "This is clearly a wakeup call for everybody."

Cole and Cheney told the NTSB that they were so engrossed in a complicated new crew-scheduling program on their laptops that they lost track of time and place for more than an hour until they were brought back to alertness by a flight attendant on an intercom.

By then, the Airbus A320 with its 144 passengers and five crew members had cruised past its Minneapolis destination and was 37,000 feet over Wisconsin.

The pilots denied they had fallen asleep as aviation experts have suggested, the safety board said in recounting investigators' interviews with the men over the weekend.

Instead, Cole and Cheney said they both had their laptops out while the first officer, who had more experience with scheduling, instructed the captain on monthly flight crew scheduling.

The incident last Wednesday night comes only a month after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood held a meeting in Washington on distracted driving, bringing together researchers, regulators and safety advocates in response to vehicle and train accidents involving texting and cell phone use.

While the Northwest pilots were able to turn their plane around and land safely in Minneapolis, pilots and aviation safety experts said the episode is likely to cause NTSB and the FAA to take a hard look at the use of laptops and other personal electronic devices in the cockpit.

There are no federal rules that specifically ban pilots' use of laptops or other personal electronic devices as long as the plane is flying above 10,000 feet, said Diane Spitaliere, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.

"I think it depends upon how it's being used," Spitaliere said.

Delta Air Lines Inc., which acquired Northwest last year, said in a statement 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. The airline said violations of that policy will result in termination.

Several other airlines said they have similar policies. At Southwest Airlines, for example, "our pilots are not allowed to use any electronic device unless it's approved by the FAA and supplied by Southwest," said Brandy King, a spokeswoman for the airline. "That means no laptops, no cell phones, no PDAs."

The reality, said pilots, is that it goes on quite a bit during the sometimes boring cruise phase of a flight, as happened with the Northwest pilots.

"It's commonly done," said Jack Casey, a former commercial airline pilot for 34 years and now a safety consultant. Although, he said, it is unusual for both pilots to use their laptops at the same time. Typically, while one pilot flies the plane, the other pilot might use a laptop or some other device, he said.

That doesn't make it safe, Casey said, and it probably violates FAA regulations that broadly prohibit activities in the cockpit that don't relate to flying the plane.

"I would be very surprised if the FAA doesn't decide to review what's going on in the cockpit in terms of the new electronic world that we live in," Casey said. "The conversations have only just begun on this thing."

Indeed, the NTSB's release wasn't even cold when Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., called for a ban on the use of personal laptops in the cockpit.

"We don't tolerate texting while driving and we're certainly not standing for it while flying," Franken said in a statement.

A number of aviation experts have suggested it was more plausible that the pilots had fallen asleep during the San Diego-to-Minneapolis flight.

Air traffic controllers in Denver and Minneapolis repeatedly tried without success to raise the pilots by radio. Other pilots nearby tried reaching the plane on other radio frequencies. Their airline tried contacting them using a radio text message that chimes.

Authorities became so alarmed that National Guard jets were readied for takeoff at two locations and the White House Situation Room alerted senior officials, who monitored the airliner as the Airbus A320 flew across a broad swath of the mid-continent out of contact with anyone on the ground.

"It's inexcusable," former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said. "I feel sorry for the individuals involved, but this was certainly not an innocuous event - this was a significant breach of aviation safety and aviation security."

The Delta pilots union pointed out that at no time were the passengers, crew or aircraft in danger, and cautioned against a "rush to judgment."

"I strongly encourage all parties not to reach a hasty conclusion," Capt. Lee Moak, chairman of Delta's pilots' union, said in the statement issued late Monday. "We stand firmly behind the crew's right to due process."

Delta has suspended the two pilots pending an investigation into the incident. The FAA is also investigating and has warned Cheney and Cole their pilot licenses could be suspended or revoked.

Cheney and Cole are both experienced pilots, according to the NTSB. Cheney, 53, was hired by Northwest in 1985 and has about 20,000 hours of flying time, about half of which was in the A320. Cole, 54, had about 11,000 hours of flight time, including 5,000 hours in the A320.

Both pilots told the board they had never had an accident, incident or violation, the board said.

The pilots acknowledged that while they were engaged in working on their laptops they weren't paying attention to radio traffic, messages from their airline or their cockpit instruments, the board said. That's contrary to one of the fundamentals of commercial piloting, which is to keep attention focused on monitoring messages from controllers and watching flight displays in the cockpit.

[eldercurtis]

I am very pleased that the FAA has taken steps to convince the pilots in the airline industry to do their job in excellence consistently. I believe the message sent will act as a wake up call (oops) to the other pilots who have fallen asleep at the wheel in the past. The public needs to know our safety is still the first priority. Thank you FAA for doing your job.

[pensacola8-2009]

These pilots, crew, and passengers were very lucky just to survive the lapse of positive control of that aircraft during the distraction.

Pilots have been trained to avoid fixations on single attention robbing items in the cockpit. The three priorities are to aviate, navigate and then communicate. It appears none of those occured during the distraction.

[imnho]

It looks like there careers just took a nose dive. As Commercial pilots they just crashed and Burned. Since they have become serious liabilties to the safety of the people they must be removed from the skies. This is a costly lesson in how not to fly an airplane.

I am sure the FAA will give them a due process hearing. I don't think they have a prayer of prevailing.

[smartasss1]

150 miles, that would be at least asleep for 20 minutes. Since pilots need to prepare for landing around 10 minutes before the destination, they may be asleep for at least 30 minutes.

They should loose there license. Too irresponsible or complacent.

[gmw7777]

As I wrote last night: these guys [should] lose their licenses. They can appeal all they want: what is there to appeal??? They are guilty of gross negligence while on duty. The pilot [Sully] who had to land his plane in the Hudson river this year would be horrified. If he did what these men did, we would have been mourning the entire passenger and crew rather than heaping praises on them. There is absolutely no excuse for this unprofessional, dangerous and reckless behavior. It shows a callous disregard for life. These guys even ignored the air traffic controllers! They were acting like kids playing a computer game rather than the experienced pilots they claim to be.

[gama99]

The pilots say they did not put the plane/people at risk, but they did...
Planes were put on alert due to fear of hijacking. The scenario could
have become much worse.

[cafejenna1]

they weren't on laptops. they were sleeping. that is as plain as day. no one gets that engrossed in a laptop to not hear 13 phone calls, loud-noise text messages for over an hour. that's just common sense. here's my 90 year old father's take: THEY WERE BOTH IN LOVE AND THE COCKPIT (LOCKED) WAS THEIR ONLY TIME TO HAVE A ROMANCE. That's a 90 year old's explanation of what must have happened because nothing else, but sleep, could have distracted these two idiots. i wish my dad's story was true, but they were probably sleeping.

[JV1970]

It shouldn't have taken them over an hour to check their flight schedules. They could have done that in just a couple of minutes. These guys were playing around on their computers probably playing games, surfing the net, sending personal emails, and just generally goofing off and got so engrossed in it that they weren't paying attention to the plane and lost track of the time and place. They should lose their licenses and be fired! They deserve it! Also after this all airlines should change their policys and stop allowing laptops, cell phones, or any other kind of personal electronic device in the cockpit that the pilots can play around with and be distracted by. When they are flying the planes they should have their minds on nothing else but flying the planes! The instrument boards and their earphones should have their full attention!

[Debisme]

Nobody. NOBODY should be in a vehicle if they have consumed alcohol. No one NOBODY should be able to have an interactive advice (a cell phone or computer) while performing their profession.

Okay, nobody should be eating, smoking or talking on a cell phone at ANY time they are on someone's payroll. It is a waste of their employers money invested in them.

When will anyone get that 'a dollar earned by you in a job is costing your employeer at least 17).

[gramto8]

by Debisme October 27, 2009 9:17 PM EDT
Nobody. NOBODY should be in a vehicle if they have consumed alcohol. No one NOBODY should be able to have an interactive advice (a cell phone or computer) while performing their profession.
Okay, nobody should be eating, smoking or talking on a cell phone at ANY time they are on someone's payroll. It is a waste of their employers money invested in them.
When will anyone get that 'a dollar earned by you in a job is costing your employeer at least 17).
____________________________________________
When will people like you realize that even though people do work for others, the bosses do NOT OWN the employee body and soul? There are laws that state a person is to be allowed a certain amount of breaks and what they do on that time (and every place I have worked I have had to stay ON the clock) is my business. If I eat or smoke or talk on the phone, it is MY break. My employer cannot tell me I can't do it.

[Virgil-1]

Best to be prayed up instead of payed up before you board a plane
these days.You may not be on drugs,but what about your friendly skied
pilot and crew.

[cafejenna1]

i have to say, anyone that thinks these two losers shouldn't lose their license is completely missing a HUGE point: even if no danger, etc. etc. and if they landed safely and all that BS, the fact remains that many people are afraid to fly these days for many reasons, terrorism, mechanical failure, etc. and to have to worry about two bozos screwing around in cockpit is crazy, if nothing else, stripping them of their license show the customer/traveler that the airlines are CONCERNED about our well being! I salute the disciplinary action! way to go!