Northwest pilots who overflew Minneapolis fight to get their revoked licenses back

November 5, 6:32 PMSan Diego Airport ExaminerJoel Siegfried

Previous Next

18 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the San Diego Airport Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The two Northwest Airlines pilots who claimed that crew scheduling concerns had caused them to become distracted on their laptops and overfly Minneapolis by 150 miles, have filed appeals with the National Transportation Safety Board, seeking reinstatement of their air transport licenses.

NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said that the appeals were filed late yesterday. Typically, such appeals go before an administrative law judge within 120 days.

Captain Timothy Cheney, age 53 of Gig Harbor, Washington, and First Officer Richard Cole, age 54 of Salem, Oregon, had their pilot's licenses revoked by the FAA on October 27. According to Laura Brown, FAA spokesperson, "The emergency revocations cite violations of a number of Federal Aviation Regulations. Those include failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly."

A slide show follows this article with images of the top twenty best computer games.

CAPTION: (ABOVE LEFT) Northwest Airlines aircraft at MSP with Minneapolis in the background (Photo credit - AP)

Recent articles: Be sure to read expanded coverage on recent news events below.


Bumped mom and tot get an apology
San Diego and floating airport
Glass and wire airport art exhibit
Love sick pilot lives in airport
Airlines may add stand up seats
Southwest fares as low as $25
Laptop computers distracted pilots
NW 188 pilots lead ordinary lives
Mystery why NW 188 overshot MSP
Pilots may have both fallen asleep
Headshots show Heene's many faces
Falcon Heene +  lawn chair balloonists
Disturbing profile of Richard Heene
Photos show damage to Heene home
Foolish airline fees and armed pilots
Fight or Flight: Air India does both
Vegetarian busted for food comments
Terminal Man visits San Diego
San Diego makes airports top 10 list
Passenger with hand grenade detained

CAPTIONS: (ABOVE RIGHT TOP) Northwest Airlines aircraft at MSP (Photo credit - AP) and (ABOVE RIGHT BOTTOM) Northwest Airlines aircraft landing at San Diego (Photo credit - AP)

In speaking before an international aviation club yesterday, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said that the Northwest incident is the result of an erosion of professionalism among commercial airline pilots. He has also urged veteran pilots to mentor those less experienced. Babbitt is a former airline pilot and pilots union president. He stressed that the pilots forgot their first job was to focus on flying the Airbus 320.

Both pilots, Cheney and Cole, don't fall into the "less experienced" category. They have logged over 31,000 hours of commercial flight time between them. Even so, they failed to communicate with anyone on the ground for 91 minutes, on their October 21 flight from San Diego International Airport to Minneapolis, despite repeated attempts by air traffic controllers and their own airline to reach them. That's not a rooky mistake. It put 144 passengers and the aircraft's five member crew in jeopardy.

CAPTION: (ABOVE LEFT) FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt (Photo Credit - FAA)

Even senior officials at the White House had been notified of potential national security concerns, and Air National Guard fighters were on high alert to launch two separate missions to intercept the aircraft.

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, introduced a bill today to ban nonessential electronics, including personal laptops, from the cockpit. "We simply want to ensure that, with all of the electronic distractions available these days, flying the plane remains the one and only focus," Menendez said in a statement.

There was no comment from either Cheney, Cole, or their attorneys.

We'd like to know your thoughts. Do you think these pilots have learned from their mistakes, and can be rehabilitated and entrusted with the lives of passengers again?

CAPTION: (ABOVE Right) Senator Robert Menendez (Photo credit - United States Senate)

Please leave comments below or by email and subscribe to get future updates.