The Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their destination by 150 miles have told investigators that they were distracted because they were using their personal laptops. First Officer Richard Cole was allegedly helping Captain Timothy Cheney understand a new crew scheduling program while they lost track of time, according to a statement from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). So how exactly could something like this happen? Many aviation experts have speculated that the tw
Wayward pilots say they were busy using laptops WASHINGTON – Not sleeping, the pilots say. They were engrossed in a complicated new crew-scheduling program on their laptop computers as their plane flew past its Minneapolis landing by 150 miles — a cockpit violation of airline policy that could cost them their licenses. They were so focused on the scheduling — quite a complicated matter for the pilots after Delta Air Lines acquired Northwest Airlines a year ago — that they were out of commu