Arguing pilots fly 150 miles past runway

firstdown

So does that mean the passengers earned an additional 300 air mile points.

Daseal

Sleeping Northwest pilots fly 150 miles past runway | World news | guardian.co.uk

Fixed.

Haha FD, that one cracked me up.

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GMScud

Flying scares me to death. Reading stuff like this only makes it worse.

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KLHJ2

The cruising speed of a 747 is approx 565 MPH. At that speed it only takes 16 min to travel 150 miles. I'm sure that several of us have been distracted for 15-20 min on a regular car ride and missed a turn or an exit. It's not as bad as people are making it out to be.

Edit: This was an Airbus A320, the cruising speed is between 504-540 MPH. This changes the flight time to 17-18 min to travel 150 Miles.

Airbus A320 | Airliners.net

firstdown

So its not that bad that two guys with a hundred or more peoples lives in their hands get distracted for 16 minutes?

GMScud

Um, they are 7 miles up in the air going nearly 600 mph with hundreds of lives in their hands. Distracted for 15-20 mins isn't a big deal??

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SmootSmack

I'm no pilot, but I'm not sure how you compare missing an exit on a highway with missing a runway

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Trample the Elderly

Me either, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

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KLHJ2

They just kept flying. Just like you would keep driving. There is a better form of cruise control up there as well. Thay call it "Auto Pilot".

Eveyone thinks that just because they are flying in a plane that they are paying more attention. The truth is that after you get comfortable doing something, you get complacent. It happens to everyone; no one is immune, especially when you have a job as redundant as flying or driving. I am suprised that this sort of thing does not happen more often. You may disagree with the comparison, but I have seen things like this fist hand.

FRPLG

Sorry, it's not the same. Becoming distracted while flying a plane is undoubtedly more dangerous. The comparison may work from a purely functional standpoint but pilots get paid a pretty good amount of money to be doing what they are doing. And for good reason. Their ability to fly that plane, and all the skills required to do so, gives them responsibility for dozens if not hundreds of lives. In the end the potential consequences of the two aren't nearly the same. Just because something like this happens more often than we'd like to know doesn't make it any better. They should be fired and lose their licenses.

Mattyk

I don't know... when pilots lose their 'situational awareness' for more than a few minutes, I'm thinking it's a big deal.

When jet fighters are put on notice because ground control loses contact with the plane for an hour... kind of a big deal.

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KLHJ2

It is not more dangerous, don't you read those statistics where it is safer to fly than drive? I understand that in a car crash you could die, while in a plane crash you probably will die.

No they don't, not for a long time anyway.
WikiAnswers - How much money does an airline pilot earn

Regardless, you are expecting somebody to be as diligent at doing something their 451st time as they were on ther 1st. It just doesn't work that way. Human nature doesn't work that way. You can preach on and on about money, severity, danger, ect. until you are blue in the face. That does not change the fact that you are human, will get complacent, and eventually will make a mistake.

Now before you guys start wondering what airline I work for...I don't, I am not a pilot. I have ridden in planes and I have walked out of planes. That is not what I am basing my experience on.

My experience has come from being tired, hungy, and traveling in convoys at night across a combat zone. At no other time than this would you expect to be on your toes no matter what. After doing it for you 50th time, in the middle of the desert, while looking through a set of NVG's, wearing the hottest pieces of clothing US Tax dollars can buy, sitting inside of the cockpit of an armored track vehicle, while the engine compartment is letting off some intense heat, you fall asleep while driving. minutes later you wake up startled, wondering how in the hell you managed to drive as long as you did without getting into an accident. Sadly, this happens more than once, on more than one night, and to more than one driver.

If we can get complacent in a combat zone, what makes you think that it can't or shouldn't happen on a plane?

Hog1

Apparently they were traveling from San Diego to Minneapolis. 1527 miles. Missed it by 150 miles. So, for about 90% of the time they were....Good! 90% is an "A" on a straight scale. NOT TO SHABBY, right?
Maybe the pilots will want to us this same, sound reasoning in the de-brief with the NTSB?

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