Comments on Aircrew Buzz: Northwest pilots lose situational awareness, overf...

It seems that Santa is also prone to becoming "dis...

2009-12-19T15:49:16.748-10:00

It seems that Santa is also prone to becoming "distracted" while aviating. Oh dear...
http://juniorflyer.com/cgi-bin/sar-page.cgi?tf=tf1&pg=colour-xmas-view

From what I remember in my Air Force flying days o...

2009-12-15T19:41:54.981-10:00

From what I remember in my Air Force flying days on the C-141 as an air crew member, the last way point programmed into our INS was the landing destination. the waypoint loaded before the last was our starting decent position. The co-pilot (usually) contacted approach control for decent instructions just prior to the next to last waypoint unless others were loaded depending on where we were going. So,, bottom line is someone has to be paying attention to the instruments. Newer aircraft probably have more bells and whistles than the C-141-B model I was flying back in the mid 1990's.

What routing the aircraft flys depends on how the ...

2009-11-05T15:45:17.767-10:00

What routing the aircraft flys depends on how the flight plan is loaded in the FMS. In many cases the last waypoint in the flight plan is simply a heading to fly after overflying a fix as you await radar vectors to the final approach for landing. If you are out of radio contact the aircraft may just fly the heading indefinitely until you give it a different input. Very hard to imagine being that distracted for that long.

As a retired Flight Engineer who used to fly INS e...

2009-11-03T20:17:48.950-10:00

As a retired Flight Engineer who used to fly INS equipped B747 Classic's I am wondering what happens on a FMS equipped A320 when it reaches the last waypoint of the programmed route.The B747, provided the A/P was coupled to the INS, would make a 180 and return to (the old) waypoint 1 unless the next waypoint down the route had been entered into this position.
Normally, an unexpected 180 turn woujd alert the crew to the fact that someting had to be done. But what will the FMS aircraft do? Just fly straight and level after passing the destination?
If there's someone out there who could tell me I would appreciate it.

This is all puzzling. Most instruments pilots get ...

2009-10-28T07:16:10.386-10:00

This is all puzzling. Most instruments pilots get nervous when there isn't much chatter from ATC. I know I do. Hypoxia seems like a plausible explanation...meaning they were in fact dozing. Alarm failure? It beats the laptop/heated-debate story? I assume NTSB will consider O2 issues.

I agree, there is no excuse for their complacencey...

2009-10-26T09:35:35.243-10:00

I agree, there is no excuse for their complacencey. However, in the defense of all airline pilots, they are being pushed to the maximum allowable flight time like never before. In this day in age it may not always be a late night out that causes one to be drousy in the cockpit. At 37,000 ft with the sun beaming in and a slight droan of the engines, any stressed, overworked employee could dose off.
Again, there is no excuse for it. However I would not say that it has anything to do with SWA, Delta, a late night out, or any manufacturing oversight that should have placed a radio in the cabin.

I am surprised that the ATCs (or dispatcher) have ...

2009-10-25T03:11:20.302-10:00

I am surprised that the ATCs (or dispatcher) have no radio access to the filght attendant's cabin, especially since the cockpit is now "sealed" from outsider. I'd think that after more than 10-15 minutes (or some reasonable number within arrival time) out of radio contact, both the ATC and Dispatcher should have alternate way of contacting the main cabin.

Well this just goes to show you how good those hig...

2009-10-24T08:00:06.822-10:00

Well this just goes to show you how good those highly paid pilots perform to transport the general public across the friendly skies. IMHO, I think they fell asleep and are covering up their rear end. Having flown NWA numerous times and as lately as July 2009 back to Minneapolis,, I can honestly say this airline company sucks. Do a google search of NWA poor customer service and you will be amazed at the number of sites that you will find regarding this subject. Even though Delta Air has bought NWA, the tarnished image NWA has will never go away. I feel sorry for the employees that have to deal with extremely poor upper level management and the poor CEO decisions just because the company has to make a profit - off of us the public. Guess that's why they call NWA "North Worst Air"

I would like to know where this crew spent their e...

2009-10-23T12:56:06.441-10:00

I would like to know where this crew spent their evening before? In a bar all night. The reason I say that is because it appears the flight attendants were just as guilty. How long were they just gonna sit and do nothing until they ended up on the East Coast? There are step the flight attendants could have taken. I say union stunt or they had been partying heavy the night before. Regardless, these clowns should not have a job with that kind of responsibility, let them work at burger king or something.

This is way worse than a plane landing late. This ...

2009-10-23T06:56:01.137-10:00

This is way worse than a plane landing late. This is the flight crew being TOTALLY UNRESPONSIVE until the flight attendant called them from the main cabin.

Is there any way this can be a good thing? Is there any way that this flight crew looks good?

Order Meds - You can end up somewhere else regardl...

2009-10-22T14:02:49.127-10:00

Order Meds - You can end up somewhere else regardless of which airline you fly. Planes sometimes do divert to alternate airports for various reasons. In this particular case, the aircraft landed where it was supposed to land -- it just did so later than it might have.

So, are you telling me that if I fly Northwest, I ...

2009-10-22T10:56:55.877-10:00

So, are you telling me that if I fly Northwest, I could end up landing somewhere else?