What Were Northwest Flight 188′s Pilots Really Doing On Their Laptops?
October 27th, 2009 by K. T. Bradford 
Last week Northwest Flight 188 overshot its destination by 150 miles, staying in the air over an hour longer than it was supposed to before the pilots noticed their error. Various reasons for this oversight and the pilots’ failure to communicate with air traffic control during that time were investigated. Were they asleep or, even worse, drunk? The answer is less dire, though still disturbing: they were distracted by their laptops. According to CNN, the pilots were on their computers during “a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls.” What was so engaging that they both lost track of time? CNN says that “[T]he men were talking about the new monthly crew flight scheduling system put into place in the wake of Northwest’s merger with Delta Air Lines.” A new scheduling system. Uh huh. Why do I have the feeling that something less work-related was involved? I know whenever I get to playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook hours and hours can go by without my noticing. And I’ve missed my stop on the train more than once while heavily engaged with Chess Titans. Regardless of whether their laptop use was work-related or not, Northwest’s policy forbids their use on deck during flights. With in-flight Wi-Fi emerging, that policy may have to be more strictly enforced. These two can’t be the first to sneak in a bit of computer time after they turned on the auto-pilot.
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October 27th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
There is only one thing that I can think of, that could be enough of a distraction, to keep two people from responding to phone calls, alerts, etc…
And it doesn’t have anything to do with a computers , napping, arguing or any other of the ridiculous excuses offered up so far.
My guess? Maybe some “hanky-panky”…
October 27th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
P O R N, plain and sinple.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Watching Porn.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Thats what I said!
October 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
having sex – duh!
October 28th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
In part from CNN: “Washington (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the licenses of two Northwest Airlines pilots Tuesday in an extraordinary letter in which the agency chastised the pair, saying they endangered the public by flying an hour and half without contacting controllers “while you were on a frolic of your own.”
Do you suppose that the word, “frolic” was suggestive? I do.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:58 am
lap-dancing
November 4th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Whatever the TRUTH is, it’s something that they think would be more damaging to them —or the airline— than 1) fighting amongst themselves, 2) using laptops to check their schedules, or 3) sleeping. My guess is they were having sex.