FAA seeking final word
The Federal Aviation Administration has revoked the licenses of two Northwest Airlines pilots who shot 150 miles past their Minnesota destination.
Captain Timothy B. Cheney, and first officer Richard I. Cole, both seasoned pilots with more than 30,000 hours of flight time between them, claim that they were using their laptops and discussing work schedules. The FAA is investigating how it is possible that not only did the pilots ignore 78 minutes of attempts from ground crew to reach them, but that none of the flight attendants were concerned when the flight extended more than an hour past its scheduled landing time.
Backed by union membership in the Delta Air Lines Union, the pilots have ten days to appeal the decision of the FAA. The union is urging caution against a rush to judgment.
Earlier this year, in a story reported by TheStreet.com, a US Airways’ pilot was reinstated after being fired 18 months earlier. Captain James Langenhahn accidentally discharged his gun in the cockpit. He credits his union with getting him back to work.
Also this year, captain Gilbert Ponder is seeking reinstatement after failing an alcohol test. In a suit against Frontier Airlines, the Frontier Airline Pilots Association is claiming that the airlines is refusing to abide by an arbitrator’s recommendation that the pilot would be better served if he were given a chance for conditional reinstatement.
Whether or not Cheney and Cole will be reinstated remains to be seen, but to date officials still have a lot of questions and little confidence in the responses that have come from the pilots thus far.