White House monitored wayward plane

[Contrary1]

A bit better than you clowns did, huh, Darth?

"MINNEAPOLIS - There was concern at the White House about that wayward Northwest Airlines jet that flew past its scheduled destination in Minneapolis.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told The Associated Press on Saturday that senior White House officials were alerted by the White House Situation Room and they closely monitored the incident.

Shapiro didn't say if President Barack Obama was informed about the wayward plane.

Northwest Flight 118 was out of communications with air traffic controllers for over an hour Wednesday night. The plane carrying 144 passengers and five crew members was destined for Minneapolis but overflew the airport by about 150 miles before controllers were able to re-establish contact..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33460983/ns/us_news-life/

[Stardust]

1. Do you think we'll ever really know the reason they overshot the airport? They

had to be sleeping, right? Seems some passengers were alarmed, why weren't the flight attendants? Very strange story. Thank dawg for autopilot.

[lapfog_1]

2. According to passenger reports

The pilots came on to announce they were 20 minutes from landing, then about 15 minutes later, they announced that they were 15 minutes from landing. Hard to imagine that they were sleeping while making those announcements.

The pilots claim that they were not arguing over airline policy.

I think they were simply lost and didn't want to admit it or use instruments.

Passengers also reported a thick layer of clouds such that all city lights were blocked.

This is going to be a strange one.

Twilight zone episode.

[Stardust]

3. Oh, I hadn't heard about the periodic announcements. Very interesting...

I saw one of the pilots "interviewed." It was actually more like ambushed...the guy seemed to be leaning our of a car window and to be honest, he looked like he'd been on a bender. I don't mean to be mean, but he really didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

[MajorChode]

4. I can't believe they were lost

They were flying IFR as all commercial airline flights do. Their instruments are more than even redundant as they have multiple instruments they could have used and even in the unlikely event that all of them failed simultaneously, they still had a radio they could have used to get vectors from ATC.

This was some kind of issue between the crew.

[thunder rising]

5. Phhht, you can't get "lost" with GPS. Also, ATC tells you to altitude and heading.

[lapfog_1]

6. Some airline pilot was on the TeeVee

saying that pilots "lose" radio contact frequently, mostly because they get handed off to a new ATC center but forget to change their radio to the correct frequency. I don't know, he might have been trying to make up an excuse.

As for GPS, sure, you can't get lost if you pay attention to it.

OTOH, I can't explain why the pilot would come on and tell the passengers multiple times, some 15 to 20 minutes apart, that the flight would land in 15 or 20 minutes.

The first time the announcement is made, they had to know where they were and that they were 15 minutes out.

So, after making the announcement that they are going to land in 20, both pilots either a) take a nap, or b) get involved in something else (argument, etc) that they don't notice that they flew right by the airport and that the 20 minutes passed and they aren't landing (or even descending in altitude)??? In addition, they have missed a radio handoff (as another pilot suggests AND they don't bother to try to radio the tower or ATC themselves, even to find out vital things like last minute runway / gate changes, weather, etc.

I can't explain it. I don't think they can either. But simply sleeping through it doesn't seem to be the explanation.

[thunder rising]

7. Flight path GPS is easier than ground ... follow the straight line to target.

[lapfog_1]

8. Sure, if they were awake, they had to be ignoring their GPS

and the radio calls.

OTOH, if they were asleep, they went to sleep after first telling the passengers that they were 20 minutes from landing... and then they only "catnapped" for 15 to 20 minutes when they awoke and made the second announcement.

Could have happened, it just seems unlikely.