Transcripts Detail Bid to Contact Pilots [Northwest Airlines]

Wall Street Journal ^ | 11/29/09 | ANDY PASZTOR

[BunnySlippers]

After the crew finally resumed radio contact, their first communication responding to controller messages was: "Ah, roger, ah, we got distracted and we've flown over ah Minneapolis. We are overhead Eau Claire [Wis.] and would like to make a one-eighty..."

...

Soon after radio chatter resumed, a controller said, "I just have to verify that the cockpit is secure." The pilots responded: "It is secure, we got distracted..."

As previously reported, the controllers were concerned about a range of scenarios, including the possibility of terrorists being aboard the plane. During the long silence, air-traffic control managers had contacted the military about scrambling jets to possibly intercept the plane. But no fighters ever took off to intercept Northwest 188, and that is one of the issues under investigation.

...

According to some union officials, FAA chief Randy Babbitt has privately told them he revoked the licenses partly because he was getting pressure from officials at the White House and the Department of Transportation to take strong and swift action. Union press officials have declined to comment.

[bigbob]

I still bet there was pr0n involved ;-)

[VeniVidiVici]

Union stuck their neck out for these guys, didn’t they?

[buccaneer81]

I want to know why those fighters sat on the ground throughout the entire 77 minutes of no contact.

Orders from above, perhaps?

[healy61]

Regarding “pr0n”: do you mean “p0rn” like a cowboy movie, or do you mean “prawn” like a thingy at Red Lobster or just plain old “pwned?”?

[RetSignman]

My guess, they were in the middle of a “Mile High” moment.

[USNBandit]

I know it is suspect because it came from the “news,” but last week I heard the FAA didn't contact NORAD until after the aircraft failed to descend for Minneapolis.

[buccaneer81]

I heard the FAA didn't contact NORAD until after the aircraft failed to descend for Minneapolis.

Doesn't surprise me a bit. Who knows how much the protocols have changed in the past 10 months.

[WesternPacific]

My guess, they were in the middle of a “Mile High” moment.

In the clouds instead of on the prairie? Brokeback Mountain VS Head in the Clouds!

[USNBandit]

The pilots' story still doesn't pass the giggle check. They say they were going over a company line bidding program and forgot all about the radios, and the navigation?!

Anybody here have any Airbus time? I just can believe that the auto pilot would keep flying that far past the destination without some kind of warning. Additionally, they must have turned all their radios off. I would like to know what really happened.

[buccaneer81]

As a frequent passenger, all I can imagine in that scenario is female companionship (ala the Air France incident a few years ago) or total instrument and communications failure (what, a billion to one shot?)

[USNBandit]

I've never been an airline pilot, but I've flown jet aircraft in the military and civilian world. All the people I've ever flown with get pretty good at holding conversations where you stop automatically to listen to the radio traffic.

The main frequency they would be listening to would be ATCC or " Center." If I go more than a couple minutes without hearing traffic on "Center" I start calling them. It is a pretty constant flow of radio traffic.