The FAA has revoked the certificates of two Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew their destination airport last week while en route from San Diego to Minneapolis, the agency announced on Tuesday. The pilots were out of contact with air traffic controllers for an extended period of time and told NTSB investigators they were distracted while the first officer was showing the captain how to use a new crew scheduling procedure on their laptops. Air traffic controllers and airline officials repeatedly tried to reach them through radio and data contact, without success.
The FAA said the emergency revocations cite violations of a number of FARs, including failure to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly. The revocations are effective immediately. The pilots have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocations to the NTSB.
