Al Franken Wants Computers Out Of The Cockpit

@16 bebeholmes

You know, you have come up with an angle that I haven't heard before! The fact that the CVR continuously recorded in 30 minute loops is well known now, and I wouldn't be surprised if the pilots knew that. So perhaps you may be right that they wanted to cover up something that happened earlier in the flight, so they extended it to make sure it would be recorded over. That also makes sense because the flight crew is apparently not allowing anyone to examine their laptops. Good call bebe!

As for Franken, we'll just have to disagree on him. I think he's doing a good job, and is a credit to our state....unlike the major embarrassment of Michele Bachmann.

@14.Uffdaguy

Now I don't mean any harm, Uffdddggghh, but to make fun of Alabamans the other day for having Jeff Sessions as a Senator or Congressman when your state has this clown Al Franken seems a little disingenuous.

@14.Uffdaguy

Sure, they admitted to the NTSB about being distracted by their laptops and not noticing the ATC trying to contact them for about an hour. But do you really believe that cock and bull story? So distracted that they don't hear the radio calling out their call signs? You can't really believe that? Now I'm not sure if this is correct, but I've heard somewhere that the cockpit voice recorder only covers the last 30 minutes of a flight and records over previous conversation or whatever. Sounds to me like there might have been something on that recording that they didn't want heard so they made the flight last at least 30 minutes longer in order to hide what might have really been going on. I agree, that they should be punished or fired for what they did. No argument there, but to introduce legislation for everything that goes wrong only for name recognition, highlights the kind of clown he really is.

Certainly makes more sense than the FAA deciding to deny pilots guns in the cockpit in July 2001.

@bebeholmes

You ask how we Minnesotans feel about having Al in the Senate? Pretty damn good. He's doing a terrific job, unlike Coleman, who was nothing but a Bush bootlicker.

The pilots have admitted to the NTSB that they were distracted by using their personal laptops in the cockpit....so distracted that they didn't notice ATC trying to contact them for almost 90 minutes, too distracted to notice they had flown 150 miles past their destination. CNN contacted the major airlines, and all of them prohibit laptops in the cockpit, along with such things as any reading material that is not related to the operation of the aircraft. Apparently they didn't care enough about their own safety and the safety of their passengers to follow company policy. Therefore, they absolutely need to be fired, but even more so, they deserve to be prosecuted for their recklessness and negligence. I am all in favor of a law to put some real teeth into these company policies.

@5.dtaylo75

Okay....junior, using that argument, let's make sleeping illegal. Pilots sleep in the cockpit all the time and I'm sure airlines have a policy against that to no avail. So just criminalize sleepimg. Al Franken is a buffoon, plain and simple. I can only wonder how the voters in Minnesota must feel having elected a clown to Congress. Oh wait, on second thought, they're all clowns in Congress....he fits right in.

sounds like a reasonable public safety concern and a reasonable action on the Senator's part (though a calculated one to take advantage of the opportunity to get a headline). my guess is that these particular pilots, who we have in the media crosshairs, may have been engaged in using their laptops, but that computers were not involved, if you get my drift.

it is disapointing to see the kneejerk anti liberal/democratic/franken posts - people who are more concerned about labels and party politics than about issues of public safety. but it is what one comes to expect from the neonazis, anarchists, Randians and other assorted traitors of the "new" right.

@dtaylo75

Name calling is so cute. It really makes your point.

Just curious how you know what the policy infraction penalty is. I heard it is quite severe! But maybe you have more information about this than you indicate.

So seriously - you just believe excuse that someone tells you just because they said it in an interveiw? LOL And only innocent men who were in the wrong place or framed are in jail, right?

My point was that there are a multitude of reasons why these guys overshot the airport. If I were to come up with some excuse, I'd probably think that being distracted on my laptop sounded less irresponsible than falling asleep. Bottom line, facts have to be determined as much as possible before leaping. Laptop and company server logs will confirm or refute.

And no, the "most likely asleep" was not my conclusion. Three other pilots as well as a former NTSB investigator said this was "most likely" and the only way they can see how the crew missed the dozens of calls from the tower, the separate radio calls from the company, etc.

@Uffda

LOL How'd Wall Street get into this? Just a little bit of extra answer left over from a previous post or a reminant on your clipboard you couldn't figure out what else to do with? Not obeying the rules has got more to do with yogurt than it does to do with markets. On the other hand, I guess government regulation and laws are very effective at making people behave <snort>

So far what we have are two statements that will easily be proven or disproven by looking at the computers they were supposedly using. If they weren't obeying the rules, they should be fired. Think that won't make a nice statement to all other pilots out there?

You can't pass laws against everything and legislate against every possible infraction that anyone could possibly do. If they don't care about the rules, they will care little more for the law you pass.

What's your answer if they break Al's new law? Pass a different one? Sentence them to prison? Maybe we should have a National Airline Laptop Offenders List and make all convicted pilots register with local authorities if they move. I wonder if I have any living in my community.

Not all "rules" are the same, PapaDope. There's a rule against jaywalking, but most people will do it without giving a second thought. There's also a "rule" against murder, and most people obey that one. A little "company policy" that is punishable by a slap on the wrist followed by a stern talking to will not get the same level of adherence as a law that may have fines and/or other punishments attached to it.

You say "these guys were most likely asleep...", then you say "let the investigation happen" first. So you jump to your own conclusion about them sleeping, then chastise us for making the crazy leap to believe what they said about using their laptops.

Al IS relevant here. Unlike Coleman, who is now just a footnote.

So if people don't pay attention to one rule, they will pay attention to another? Let the investigation happen and then punish those involved based on what they did. It's called 'holding people peronally responsible'. Irresponsible people can find any number of things to be irresponsible with. Pulling toys away from people doesn't make them act responsibly. They just find another toy.

And no, I have no problem with 1 of 3 pilots at a time updating their FB page when they are at cruise altitude and just killing time. Each of these pilots can fly, there are computers galore keeping track of each plan in the sky, and they are on multiple radars with multiple controllers. These guys were most likely asleep as none of them responded to any radio call.

Bottom line - Al needs to feel relevant here.

@papadoc 1000

Yes, let's just sit back and let the market take care of this. It did such a bang up job on Wall Street after all. Those companies would never, ever do anything risky. Alan Greenspan admitted to being shocked, shocked I tell you, after he saw that in fact, their greed outpaced their common sense, or even their obligation to their shareholders.

The idea to ban laptops in the cockpit came directly from interviews the NTSB held with the TWO pilots in the plane. You see, it has been only TWO pilots for several years now, as airlines cut costs by eliminating the flight engineer position on almost all flights, (the "third" pilot you speak of). As the use of laptops in the cockpit was against company policy, but interviews indicated laptops may in fact have been in use, causing the hour and a quarter dead time, it would appear that some stronger prohibitions need to be put in place.

Northwest has always had a pretty poor reputation for service and equipment, so none of this surprises me. The only bad thing is, for every crappy pilot Northwest fires, there are two more crappy ones left to take his or her place.

Papadoc and Bebe.... did you read the article? Using a laptop in the cockpit is ALREADY against company policy. Whole lot of good that policy did! By making it illegal maybe they'll actually pay attention and obey it.

So next time either of you fly, you're totally ok with having one or more of the pilots surfing the net, updating their facebook status, or sending a tweet "look ma no hands", while flying your plane?

Seriously, this is common sense stuff here!

Oh, for a second, I thought I was reading about an old Al Franken SNL skit where he's playing the part of a US Senator that has to get his name on something... anything... so that he sounds relevant! Let's ban Jello! It jiggles too much.

Thank God we have ol' Al! First to the rescue when with 50,000 flights per day, a crew gives a questionable story to make it sound like they didn't all take a nap. How about waiting for the investigation Al? Maybe it will come out that they were all playing Parcheesi and you can ban that instead. Or maybe they were reading books.

Here's an idea Al! Ban mouthwash. I got some of that in my eye once and it was horrid. Imagine what would happen if air crews were having a mouthwash fight and everyone was blinded. It would be an emergency. Pass a law Al. And include pens in that. I mean, I just thought about what could happen if some pilot went postal with his pen and started stabbing everyone. [Shudder]

Better yet... how about just letting the process discipline the crew (or even fire them) for acting incompetantly. It beats the heck out of trying to take everything away from people that they might misbehave with.

Oh and Al - driving isn't flying. Planes have 3 pilots, two of which are generally doing nothing and get bored quickly. I want my air crews to stay mentally stimulated so they can perform well when called on to do so. Cheez - I thought Republicans had something to be ashamed of when Sonny Bono was there.

In many states, it is now illegal to use a cellphone or text while driving, and after the big commuter train wreck in LA caused by the engineer texting, it is now illegal to text while driving a train. Why shouldn't the same be true for pilots? They were probably so engrossed in internet porn that they forgot they were supposed to be doing other things.....like answering the freaking radio and landing the plane! Fire their asses, pass this law.

Who takes this moron, Franken serious and gives a crap what he thinks?

Is Senator Franken on a roll, or what?