Pilots who overshot destination blame air traffic controllers

The two pilots who overshot their destination in the US have placed the blame on air traffic controllers in their part for the incident, claiming that controllers violated procedures.

Captain Timothy Cheney, 54 and First Officer Richard Cole, 54, said in documents that controllers did not follow rules and practices contained in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) air traffic control manual and didn’t coordinate effectively with Northwest dispatchers, however the documents did not offer any details on the violations.

Cole and Cheney have appealed the FAA’s revocation of their licenses. The pair had lost radio contact with air traffic controllers for 77 minutes on October 21 as their aircraft carrying 144 flew over 100 miles past Minneapolis. The Airbus A320 was flying over Wisconsin before controllers were able to regain contact.

The pilots later informed authorities that they had been working on crew schedule software on their laptops and didn’t realise they had missed their destination until a flight attendant asked when the flight would be arriving.

Cole has said in his filing that he shouldn’t be punished or his punishment should be mitigated because he relied on Cheney as the pilot in command of the airplane to fulfill his responsibilities.

Both of the pilots had extensive flying experience and said to investigators that they had no previous incidents or violations. Cheney was hired by Northwest in 1985 and had about 20,000 hours of flying time, with about 50 per cent on the A320, while Cole had 11,000 hours of flight time, including 5,000 hours on the A320.