Pilots' Use of Laptops Violated Company Policy, Investigators Say

Pilots’ Use of Laptops Violated Company Policy, Investigators Say
OCTOBER 26, 2009, 5:34 P.M. ET

By ANDY PASZTOR

Federal safety investigators said the pilots of Northwest Flight 188 violated company policy by opening up laptops in midair, as the distracted pilots discussed work-scheduling issues while failing to monitor the airplane or calls from air-traffic controllers.

In an update of its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday said the two pilots – who were both experienced and had more than 5,000 hours of flight time in the Airbus A320 model — became so involved in the discussion that they also failed to notice messages sent by company dispatchers to try re-eestablish communication with the ground.

According to the board, “neither pilot was aware of the airplane’s position until a flight attendant called [on the intercom] about five minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked” about their estimated time of arrival. At that point, the board said, the captain looked at his primary cockpit display and realized the aircraft had flown past Minneapolis.

The finding came after the pilots on Sunday told investigators that a bathroom break, chatting with a flight attendant in the cockpit and then taking out their laptops to discuss work schedules created distractions that led to more than an hour of radio silence with air-traffic controllers, according to people familiar with the statements.

The sequence of events laid out by the pilots in interviews with the NTSB, these people said, refutes the notion that the pilots nodded off at the controls. Instead, the pilots’ statements highlight how a combination of seemingly mundane human factors can combine to create major distractions and mental lapses by cockpit crews. In this case, the jetliner stayed on autopilot and cruised past its destination airport by more than 100 miles.

While investigators from the safety board and the Federal Aviation Administration are still pursuing possible theories that the pilots nodded off at the controls during last Wednesday’s flight, the interviews are likely to refocus attention on the importance of cockpit discipline and safeguards to ensure that pilots stay in touch with controllers.

The strange odyssey of the Northwest Airbus A320 — which flew past Minneapolis at 37,000 feet before the pilots realized their mistake and circled back to land safely — has turned into a high-profile national incident. It has stoked a public debate over issues such as cockpit fatigue, updated federal rules for pilot work hours and how pilots can stay alert and engaged while monitoring highly automated jetliners on long flights.

The safety board and Northwest’s parent, Delta Air Lines Inc., have declined to discuss details of the investigation.

The safety board’s staff, which is continuing to gather information and is slated to interview the flight attendants of Flight 188 Monday, could release an update on the probe soon.

Though pilots say it happens relatively infrequently, cockpit crews sometimes do open up personal laptops while cruising in good weather during quiet periods when automated flight-management systems are fully engaged. According to some pilots, members of some crews have even been known to play DVDs on laptops in the cockpit to pass away the time on particularly long overwater and international flights.

Federal safety rules don’t prohibit laptops in cockpits. But the rules call for crews to always remain attentive, monitor cockpit displays and listen for transmissions from ground-based controllers.

Indeed, a number of big airlines, including JetBlue Airways Corp. have pilots using onboard laptops for routine flight calculations and duties.

But according to some pilots, the Northwest incident raises questions about whether laptop screens can block or hide some cockpit-instrument displays in the Airbus A320 and perhaps other jetliner models.

Air-safety experts have said investigators may never be able to conclusively back up the version of events laid out by the Flight 188 pilots, partly because the cockpit-voice recorder captured only the last 30 minutes of conversation. Investigators also are looking at other factors — including the plane’s routing and the actions of controllers — before coming to conclusions about what transpired.

Losing radio contact with controllers for more than an hour is highly unusual. But experts point to a similar event several years ago involving a United Airlines Airbus A320. That jetliner’s cockpit crew went radio silent for about 45 minutes, according to pilots familiar with the incident, during an otherwise uneventful part of an early morning flight to Denver from South Florida. The crew said they simply lost track of time and where they were amid the smooth air and good weather. Some investigators suspected the pilots dozed off. The pilots weren’t fired and were allowed to continue normal work responsibilities.

The airline’s investigation, according to other pilots, determined that the crew failed to change to a new air-traffic-control frequency as required, lost track of time and didn’t notice warning messages on cockpit displays indicating that United’s own dispatchers were trying to contact the plane. In response, according to these pilots, the carrier distributed a safety alert reminding crews to check in with controllers every 15 or 20 minutes in the event they hadn’t heard from ground radar facilities.

According to what the crew aboard Northwest Flight 188 told investigators, the pilots may have had additional distractions to contend with. The crew initially may have missed controller instructions to change radio frequencies during a series of events that began when one of the aviators left the cockpit briefly for a bathroom break. A flight attendant, who stood by the cockpit door as required by security rules, then brought food into the cockpit and stayed to chat, according to people familiar with the crew’s statements.

As the flight progressed, pilots became engrossed in a heated discussion about work schedules — a highly charged topic because of seniority and other issues complicated by the recent combination of Delta and Northwest.

According to people familiar with the pilots’ statements, a flight attendant called the cockpit on the intercom to inquire about when to prepare the cabin for landing. At that point, the pilots realized they had overshot Minneapolis and reestablished contact with controllers.

Source: Pilots’ Use of Laptops Violated Company Policy, Investigators Say