The mystery of Northwest flight 188

Personally, I think they fell asleep. A former NTSB agent said this morning that it was possible they didn't recognize their call sign because they aren't required to wear their headsets all the time. And it is possible they forgot to turn up the volume to where they could hear the radio transmissions. To that I say bull chit!!! I would think a properly trained pilot would hear their call signs like a mother hears her baby crying over 5 others....INSTINCT!!! Maybe I'm wrong, but my gut says I'm not!!! Say that explains away them not responding to the radio calls. Why the hell did they miss the airport by 150 miles??? That had absolutely NOTHING to do with the headsets!!! They just weren't paying attention & that is totally unacceptable!!!

I suggest that the plane went through an electric like storm that stopped the radio equipment working. It the radio began working again the plane must have flown into better weather conditions. I don't think the pilots were arguing and I am certain that the pilots weren't sleeping. It was lucky that the airline didn't run into difficulties in a storm and then crash. I am so pleased that the North West Flight 188 is safe.

hi dragnon54 I have a therory that they might have ran into' some sort of magnetic storm similar to the things that happned to ships in the Bermuda Triangle. the magnetism may have made their instruments go beserk for so many minutes then all of a sudden return to normal. just my theory of course.

were they off the hooked already and will not face any fine or punishment for whatever reason they traveled 150 further. i hope that they get some disciplinary action or be given another pilot tests or even just training before they are asked to get back to their work. cause i think that they are taking their job too light just because they are already veteran on this work.

That truly was a very strange situation, it was like something out of the Twilight Zone! There was mention that the pilots were having some kind of dispute and that it was so heated that they overlooked everything else. If this was the case then this wasn't very responsible on their part and they should both be sacked! However, if it's true that they both fell asleep due to fatigue then this is also a very serious matter but they should not be sacked. Pilots have been complaining for years about long hours and not enough rest in between flights. The law should immediately be changed if it was established that they were both sleeping. Andrew

I think it's aviation's dirty Little secret that pilots fall asleep all the time. I know when riding in a car in the passenger seat I doze off all the time and I have no idea how long I have been asleep. Once the airplane is on autopilot there is really nothing to do it can become quite boring. I think it is something like in the army and people are on the night watch and they frequently fall asleep. It is actually difficult not to. The pilots are probably going to be fired either way which is a shame because it is difficult now to get good pilots with the low wage scales they're getting.

Dozing off seems like the most logical answer. Dozong off with or without heir headsets on and being in a deep enough sleep that the radio did not wake them up would cause both of the problems; not answering radio calls, and not landing on schedule. I have trouble believing that they would even admit to falling asleep on the job because, let's face it, people get fired for falling asleep on the job. I doubt that they were arguing because they would have still had a noticable tension between them if they has been,

Very interesting story this one. Experts say the pilots may have fallen asleep, while the pilots deny that. Its unfortunate that the flight recorder could not record any more than the last 30 minutes. The world might not even know what actually happened. Anyway whatever the case an inverstigation needs to be done into this issue and see why they lost contact for such a long time.