ATW Daily News

FAA revokes Northwest pilots' licenses

Wednesday October 28, 2009

US FAA yesterday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew 150 mi. past their destination on an Oct. 21 flight from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul (ATWOnline, Oct. 27). ATC and airline officials were unable to make contact with the pilots for more than 1 hr. and the crew later told the National Transportation Safety Board that they had been using their laptop computers and were distracted. FAA cited them with a number of violations, including "failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly." The revocations are effective immediately but the pilots have 10 days to appeal to NTSB.

"It was effective immediately because of the issues involved," an FAA spokesperson told ATWOnline. "We thought the emergency revocation was appropriate. This obviously raises the question of the pilots' professionalism, which is one of the issues the Administrator has talked about over the past few months. We can require pilots to adhere to rules and standards but it's difficult to enforce professionalism."

by Sandra Arnoult

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