Flying on a plane can be very scary for a portion of society and to others it can be invigorating. For those who don’t think travelling is scary you might not have heard about the news story which recently broke about two pilots using their laptops while flying a plane.
Two Northwest pilots are suspended pending an investigation into an incident where they flew 150 miles past their destination because they were focused on their laptops. They lost track of time for more than one hour until a flight attendant startled them on the intercom. Instead of landing in Minneapolis, they were over Wisconsin when they realized they had flown too far.
How can this happen? Pilots are bored, so they turn their attention to something to pass the time during the cruise phase of flight. Jack Casey a former pilot for 34 years said “it is common, but unusual for both pilots to use their laptops at the same time.”
This seems quite ridiculous that pilots are authorized to use such devices during flight. Although some airlines do not allow personal devices to be used at all, others like Northwest don’t have rules against their use.
Rules and regulations won’t stop their use because they use them to escape the boredom and monotony associated with the cruise portion of the flight. Until airlines devise a way to monitor and regulate their use in the cockpit, pilots will continue to use them.
Luckily this time the pilots were able to turn around and land at their destination, next time the outcome could be deadly.
Personally, I know that next time I fly I will wonder what exactly are those two pilots doing in the cockpit after all announcements and formalities are through?
For more information on this news story click here.
Yikes! that's scary stuff!
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