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Northwest Airlines Flight 188

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Northwest Airlines Flight 188
A Northwest Airbus A320 similar to the one used for Flight 188
Incident
DateOctober 21, 2009
SummaryPilot distraction
Pilot error
SiteMinneapolis, Minnesota
Aircraft typeAirbus A320-212
OperatorNorthwest Airlines
RegistrationN374NW
Flight originSan Diego International Airport
DestinationMinneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
Passengers144
Crew5
Fatalities0
Injuries0
Survivors149 (all)

Northwest Airlines Flight 188 was a regularly scheduled flight from San Diego, California, to Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 21, 2009. The flight landed over one hour late in Minneapolis after overshooting its destination by over 150 miles because of pilot errors. As a result of this incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revoked the pilot certificates of the involved pilots[1] and the National Transportation Safety Board issued recommendations to Air traffic control procedures and changes in the rules for cockpit crew and air traffic controllers.[2] The incident also caused American lawmakers to move to prevent pilots on U.S. airliners from using electronic devices while taxiing or flying.[3] Changes to flight deck automation have also been suggested as a result of the incident and prototype designs that could mitigate errors leading to similar incidents have been described.[4][5]

Incident

The Airbus A320 took off from San Diego International Airport at 5:01 p.m. CDT (3:01 pm in San Diego). It was scheduled to land at 8:01 p.m. CDT.[6] Just under two hours later, at 6:56 p.m. CDT, Air Traffic Control lost radio contact with the aircraft while it was over Denver.[7] Air traffic controllers at both Denver ARTCC (where contact was lost) and Minneapolis ARTCC made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the pilots. When other pilots in the area got word of the situation, they tried to help the controllers and attempted to raise the pilots as well. Northwest also sent them a chiming radio text message, which went unanswered. Authorities were concerned enough that NORAD readied fighter jets to check on the welfare of the plane. Officials at the White House Situation Room were also alerted as well.[8]

Just as the fighter jets were about to take off, Minneapolis air traffic control reestablished radio contact with the plane at 8:14 p.m. CDT, by which time the flight was over Eau Claire, Wisconsin, roughly 100 miles east of Minneapolis. The pilots weren't aware of their location until a flight attendant asked them what time they were due to land. The overshoot concerned air traffic controllers enough that they had the pilots perform a series of maneuvers to confirm the pilots were in control of the plane, as well as to verify that the transponder target they were receiving on their radar was indeed flight 188. The aircraft finally landed, over an hour late, at 9:04 p.m. CDT.[7]

Investigation

During the investigation, the pilots told investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board that they were going over schedules using their laptop computers—a serious breach of piloting fundamentals, as well as a violation of Delta Air Lines policy (Delta had recently bought Northwest). The pilots denied suggestions from some aviation safety experts that they had fallen asleep.[8]

In the United States, the FAA prohibits pilots from taking short naps[citation needed], but airlines from other countries allow short naps while outside of U.S. airspace. These airlines include British Airways, Qantas, and Air France.[9][10] The cockpit voice recorder was removed from the aircraft, but there was only 30 minutes' worth of information. Over an hour's worth of information would have been needed for all of the information of the portion of the flight past Minneapolis to be available.[11]

Findings

On October 27, 2009, the FAA revoked the pilot certificates of the involved pilots. The FAA found that the pilots were out of radio contact with air traffic controllers for more than an hour and a half. It cited the pilots for failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances, operating the plane in a careless and reckless manner, and other safety violations. The incident and subsequent investigation have led to some changes in the rules for cockpit crew and air traffic controllers.[12] [13][14]

References

  1. ^ Ahlers, Mike (5 March 2010). "Pilots who overflew airport drop attempt to keep licenses". CNN. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  2. ^ "NTSB SAYS NORTHWEST PILOTS' DISTRACTION LED TO OVERFLIGHT OF MINNEAPOLIS, NOTES ATC SHORTCOMINGS; ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS ON ATC PROCEDURES". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Northwest Flight 188 Pilots Will Not Get Their Jobs Back". Aero-News Network. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Airline safety flight issues could be mitigated by better user interface". Science Daily. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  5. ^ Geiselman, E. E.; Johnson, C. M.; Buck, D. R.; Patrick, T. (25 October 2013). "Flight Deck Automation: A Call for Context-Aware Logic to Improve Safety". Ergonomics in Design: The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications. 21 (4): 13–18. doi:10.1177/1064804613489126.
  6. ^ Northwest Airlines 188 (NWA188) flight track
  7. ^ a b FAA releases recordings of wayward jet. CNN, 2009-11-27.
  8. ^ a b NTSB: Wayward pilots were working on laptops. Associated Press via MSNBC, 2009-10-26
  9. ^ "Could pilots soon be napping in the cockpit? (Includes interview)". Digitaljournal.com. 2009-10-17. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  10. ^ Associated, The (2009-10-25). "After flight mishap, naps seen as helpful". News OK. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  11. ^ "Report: Stray jet's pilots were on laptops". CNN.com. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  12. ^ "NTSB SAYS NORTHWEST PILOTS' DISTRACTION LED TO OVERFLIGHT OF MINNEAPOLIS, NOTES ATC SHORTCOMINGS; ISSUES RECOMMENDATIONS ON ATC PROCEDURES". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  13. ^ Pilots of wayward jet lose licenses CNN, 2009-10-27
  14. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14northwest.html


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