We’ve got some new information regarding those laptop-using pilots that overshot the airport last month. Unfortunately, the released transcripts do not seem to indicate that the pilots were trying to figure out the new face of Facebook. In fact, the new updates continue to just make us scratch our heads.

No juicy details are revealed, nor is any other information that could allow investigators and the public to learn what was going on. The air traffic controllers repeatedly asked the pilots what happened up there, but the pilots simply stated that “cockpit distractions” were the issue. The pilots were pressed for more details, but again they just didn’t elaborate on what was happening. ]]> kjb 2009-11-30T09:17:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/28/1610/6888

Note: These are not real pilots. Or are they?

By now, we've all heard about the Northwest Plane That Flew Too Far. But we haven't quite heard the full story on what caused these two fools pilots to stop paying attention during the landing. Until today.

Initially, the pilots said they were distracted by a "heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location." But it turns out that the pilots were not even handling the right controls.

The FAA has recently suspended the pilots--First Officer Richard Cole and Captain Timothy Cheney--because they copped to being on their laptops during the crucial moment. They still maintain they were discussing new crew schedules. But yes, their laptops. Laptops in the cockpit. Pilots diddling about on their computers while they were supposed to be landing a plane. Why not pull out your Blackberry and start playing Brickbreaker, for crissakes?

Not surprisingly, there will probably be a crackdown of laptops use by pilots in the future. Peter Greenberg even surmised that this sort of tomfoolery in the cockpit could lead to a flat-out ban of electronics for pilots. ]]> juliana 2009-10-28T16:14:18-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/