Oops. We overshot Minneapolis - by 150 miles

[ZenGum]

Just thinking about this.

The pilots seem to be coming up with implausible stories to avoid admitting they were asleep.

I don't care, and in fact the excuses seem worse to me than merely sleeping.

How could you spend an hour and twenty minutes (possibly more - that is just the "overshoot" time - had they been asleep earlier?) discussing rostering and checking stuff on computers, and not once come back to the matter at hand and check where you were. If that is true it scares me more than two tired pilots on long shifts just dozing off.

But regardless, I don't really care if they were asleep, arguing, or gang-banging the flight attendants, they were in charge of a plane full of people and they weren't paying proper attention to what they were supposed to be doing. These excuses aren't worth a damn, even if they are true.

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Just thinking about this.
How could you spend an hour and twenty minutes (possibly more - that is just the "overshoot" time - had they been asleep earlier?)

This was not two pilots who always flew together. Pilots and co-pilots constantly fly with different partners. These two were probably doing what was routine when any other NW pilot was their partner. Only these two got caught in a mistake.

Apparently it is routine for pilots to take short naps, read a book, work on a laptop, etc. since everything is automated and since they are now locked up in a compartment without any other distractions.