NTSB: Pilots were using personal laptops

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

MINNEAPOLIS — The pilots aboard Northwest Flight 188 were using their personal laptops and were able to hear radio chatter when the plane dropped out of radio communications and overflew the Twin Cities airport by more than 100 miles, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report out Monday.

The NTSB said it’s against company policy to use personal computers in the cockpit.

Contrary to speculation about how they could be out of radio communications for so long, the pilots told investigators they were not asleep. In fact, they confirmed an earlier report that they had been on a 19-hour layover in San Diego before the flight.

The pilots, Capt. Timothy B. Cheney, 53, of Gig Harbor, Wash., and First Officer Richard I. Cole, 54, of Salem, Ore., were interviewed in the Minneapolis area Sunday for a total of five hours combined, the NTSB said. The flight attendants are being interviewed in Minnesota today.

The pilots said there was “a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from [the air- traffic controllers] even though both stated they heard conversation on the radio,” the report said.

The pilots said they were discussing the new monthly crew flight scheduling system that was in place because of the merger between Delta and Northwest. Cole, who was more familiar with the procedure, was providing instruction to Cheney, the captain, the report said.

“The use of personal computers on the flight deck is prohibited by company policy,” the report said.

Here are excerpts from the NTSB update:

U“Both pilots said they had never had an accident, incident or violation.

U“Neither pilot reported any ongoing medical conditions.

U“Both pilots stated that they were not fatigued. They were both commuters, but they had a 19-hour layover in San Diego just prior to the incident flight. Both said they did not fall asleep or doze during the flight.

U“Both said there was no heated argument.

U“Both said they lost track of time.”

Delta Air Lines, which operates Northwest as a subsidiary, said Monday afternoon that its investigation is continuing.