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Whoops - Missed The Airport By 150 Miles (w/pic)

gadling.com — This one will stay in our minds for quite some time. Two Northwest Airlines pilots overshot the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles. Ignoring all radio contact and text messages from their dispatcher, these guys were "distracted" when they failed to notice they were miles away from their original destination.

Who dugg this? Made popular 17 days ago

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  • thebeginning, on 11/15/2009, -1/+86So was the texting thing a joke? Do the dispatchers really contact the pilots that way?

    'u missed us roflol"
  • niselat, on 11/15/2009, -0/+77That's the problem with male pilots: they refuse to stop and ask for directions
  • chkdg8, on 11/15/2009, -2/+694 8 15 16 23 42
  • BaoUnit, on 11/15/2009, -0/+62WE HAVE TO GO BACK
  • Norse77, on 11/15/2009, -2/+52Breaking News

    The Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their landing in Minneapolis last
    week say they were distracted, not asleep. Turns out Brett Favre was a
    passenger on the plane and he couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to
    go to Minneapolis or Green Bay.
  • sqtab, on 11/15/2009, -3/+44How old is this "news".
  • gleepskip, on 11/15/2009, -0/+35Not cellular text messages... It's an onboard messaging system called ACARS.
  • WELLDOITLIVE, on 11/15/2009, -0/+23WE HAVE TO GO BACK!
  • chipxsd, on 11/15/2009, -1/+24THEY TOOK MY SON!
  • zippy757, on 11/15/2009, -2/+24wow...breaking news!
  • monodelasno, on 11/15/2009, -0/+1925 days
  • jeffness, on 11/15/2009, -0/+19I on the other hand see it as a success. The people involved realized it was not terrorist activity and instead of wasting money scrambling jets, they did not.
  • KevinRowz, on 11/15/2009, -5/+22Wow, that's plane crazy. Guess it didn't fly with their supervisor.
  • fxu1989, on 11/15/2009, -0/+17WAAAAAAAAAAA-AAHAHHAAAA-AAAALT!
  • monodelasno, on 11/15/2009, -0/+13500 miles, more or less.

  • narfboy93, on 11/15/2009, -1/+14This happened weeks ago...
  • Stoyanov, on 11/15/2009, -0/+12Guys, where are we?
  • Greg2k, on 11/15/2009, -0/+11You have to follow flight paths, can't just fly however you want.
  • Narquel, on 11/15/2009, -0/+10Looks like they were using this:
    http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Office-WM-01-Laptop-S ...

    Their comment on it:
    These worked great in the cockpit for our tanscontinental flights!, November 4, 2009
    My copilot and I both used these during our "daily grind" transcontinental flights from San Diego to Minneapolis. We had to modify them a bit to fit snug against the instrument panels (when we bought them we didn't realize the planes we fly don't have steering wheels!), but in the end it did the job. With our laptops firmly in place we were able to focus our attention on what really mattered, participating in raids with our WoW clan. During our last flight we were so immersed in trying to take down Eranikus that we overshot Minneapolis by a full hour and a half before some annoying flight attendant interrupted us, babbling something about "FAA and F16 fighters."

    We'll definitely use this product again at our next gig, whatever and whenever that happens to be...

    Highly recommended!

    (Link to comment: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3HESUQA4KOLP5/ref=cm ... )
  • SomeJunk, on 11/15/2009, -1/+10news? more like "olds".


    ...that was awful, i'm sorry everyone.
  • beloitpiper, on 11/15/2009, -1/+10Whoops - Missed The Story By 2 Weeks.
  • kaykfrink, on 11/15/2009, -0/+9Do a barrel roll!
  • Nothlit, on 11/15/2009, -0/+9Fighter jets were scrambled, but right as they were about to take off, the pilots of the wayward plane had realized their mistake and were talking to ATC again.
  • Eldorian, on 11/15/2009, -0/+9Fighter jets would have been there before they even got close to the Sears Tower if that was to happen. The system did not fail - I don't think you know what you're talking about.
  • monodelasno, on 11/15/2009, -1/+9All that there fancy equipment doesn't do you any good if the pilot decides not to turn the plane.

    And if you paid attention to the news you'd know they've had their flight certification revokes.
  • jeffness, on 11/15/2009, -0/+7I also heard that ATC instructed them to fly in a way other than normal so they could confirm control was truly with the pilots.
  • reticulate, on 11/15/2009, -0/+7Fake Amazon reviews now appear to be some sort of artform.
  • Kakemonstere, on 11/15/2009, -0/+7WHY?!
  • steviesteveo, on 11/15/2009, -0/+6Presumably every couple of weeks some joker sends the message "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that" on ACARS.
  • Pinkertinkle, on 11/15/2009, -5/+11They were reading digg on their laptops.
  • driftwood07, on 11/15/2009, -1/+7Guys, when are we?
  • Bmarofsky, on 11/15/2009, -0/+6flying at ~300 MPH= ~1.5 hours
  • numb, on 11/15/2009, -0/+6"They were asleep, both of them, for at least 90 minutes. They only woke up when the stewardess contacted them and asked wtf was up. There is no other explanation."

    Someone picked the wrong day to quit amphetamines.
  • monodelasno, on 11/15/2009, -0/+6They knew where it was, just not what it was doing.
  • noahgelman, on 11/15/2009, -2/+7As fast as airplanes go, they overshot it by only about 20-25 minutes which is still pretty bad I suppose. What I want to know is why they had to do some double inverted loop to get back.
  • 350Zed, on 11/15/2009, -1/+6They should have tried U-U-D-D-L-R-L-R-A-B-Select-Start.
  • aviazn, on 11/15/2009, -0/+5ATC probably sent them that far out because they were still at cruising altitude (35,000ish ft), and it takes airliners a looong time/distance to descend. A jet arriving from the east would typically have flown the Eau Claire Eight arrival, but you're supposed to have already descended to 18,000 by the time you hit Green Bay.
    http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0911/00264EAUCLAIRE.PDF

    Looks like maybe they first looped south on their own as soon as they realized they'd flown by since that was the quickest way back, but upon contacting Minneapolis Center, ATC sent them back north to fly the Gopher Five arrival:
    http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0911/00264GOPHER.PDF
  • mousewarmer, on 11/15/2009, -6/+11wow, this happened again? Didn't another plane make this exact same mistake a month ago? Thanks for bringing this to the front page.
  • MrPingu, on 11/15/2009, -0/+5NOT PENNY'S BOAT!
  • cyrix, on 11/16/2009, -0/+5WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!
  • shaunj66, on 11/15/2009, -0/+5DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!
  • db0255, on 11/15/2009, -0/+5Someone picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue.
  • itdood, on 11/15/2009, -1/+5air traffic control did that on purpose to make sure it wasn't hijacked and would follow directions.
  • lanemik, on 11/15/2009, -0/+47 miles per minute is a good rule of thumb. They were 20 or so minutes past their destination. That alone is a massive problem. When you combine that with the fact that they hadn't talked to anyone since they were over Denver, that adds up to making national news.

    This has nothing to do with complacency due to new fancy pants systems. They didn't answer the radios for an hour and a half. There is zero chance they could have missed all those radio calls (from center, center on guard, other aircraft in their vicinity, and messages from their company) without both of them being asleep. It's absolutely impossible that they missed it because they were having a discussion.

    They were asleep, both of them, for at least 90 minutes. They only woke up when the stewardess contacted them and asked wtf was up. There is no other explanation.
  • SirPessimism3rd, on 11/15/2009, -0/+4at 500mph, 150 miles off course is only like 18 minutes of silence...Thats enough time for a quicky with the stewardess.


    I'd put up with the delay so long as the pilot high fives me afterward.
  • Nicklogan, on 11/15/2009, -1/+4Could it be that the extra flight time was used to scrub the last 30 or minutes from the flight voice recorder and/or data recorder? just me adjusting my tin foil hat ;)
  • mishabear, on 11/15/2009, -0/+3It's more about WHY they missed it.
  • Bmarofsky, on 11/15/2009, -1/+4they were instructed to do multiple turns to verify that they were in control of the plane.
  • time256, on 11/15/2009, -4/+6Maybe they were watching an Indian movie because they're sinfully long.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJWcrRgQse4#t=49s
  • mrshickadance9, on 11/15/2009, -1/+3There is no way this will get dugg up as much as it should.
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