Yesterday, the FAA released several recordings from Northwest Flight 188, the plane that overshot Minneapolis-St. Paul by over 150 miles. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, they reveal the pilots initially weren't willing to talk about what happened.
Once an air traffic controller did make contact with the flight at about 8 that evening, the controller asked, "Do you have time to give a brief explanation of what happened?"
The Northwest flight responds, "Ah, (just) cockpit distraction, that's all I can say."
[snip]
Later in the Oct. 22 transcripts, when they're asked again about the distraction, one of the pilots says, "Ah, we're just dealing with some company issues here, and that's all, ah, that's all ... I can tell you right now at this time."
As the plane turned around to head back to the Twin Cities, an air traffic controller is heard saying, "I just have to verify that the cockpit is secure." The pilot responds, "It is secure. We got distracted."
This despite the fact the plane overshot MSP by 150 miles while flying at full speed, and had MSP air traffic control concerned about the possibility of a hijacking.
How great was the concern in the MSP control tower? Fighter jets were ready to scramble when radio contact was finally reestablished.
There's another investigation underway--the MSP air traffic controllers may have waited too long to call the jets.
The FAA has said that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, controllers have been told to alert the military when a plane goes out of contact for five to 10 minutes. They waited for 69 minutes in this instance, a delay that FAA head Randy Babbitt has called "unacceptable." The agency has said it will strengthen procedures for alerting the military when controllers lose contact with planes.
Considering the circumstances, those pilots might not be the only ones who need to update their resumes.
Update: Several people mentioned in the comments that the pilots' story--that they were checking their flight schedules on their laptops--doesn't sound believable. Trial Lawyer Richard, a trained pilot, mentioned that pilots are specifically trained NOT to do this. Which means that somebody better be having a look at those hard drives.