FAA revokes licenses of Northwest pilots

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles (240km).

The pilots — Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., the captain, and Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., the first officer — admitted they were distracted because they were using their personal laptops.
According to the FAA, the pilots, who were out of communications with air traffic controllers for 91 minutes, failed to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operated carelessly and recklessly.

"You engaged in conduct that put your passengers and your crew in serious jeopardy," FAA regional counsel Eddie Thomas said in a letter to Cheney.

"Northwest Flight 188 was not in communications with controllers or the airline dispatchers "while you were on a frolic of your own. ... This is a total dereliction and disregard for your duties."

The pilots said they only realized that they had flown 150 miles in the wrong direction when a flight attendant contacted them on the aircraft's intercom.

At that stage they were flying over Wisconsin at 37,000 feet and had to turn the Airbus A320 with its 144 passengers around to land safely in Minneapolis.
The revocations are effective immediately and the pilots have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocations to the National Transportation Safety Board. If that fails, they will be able to reapply for a new certificate after one year.