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The pilots of a commercial passenger jet that overshot its destination by 150 miles - sparking fears of a hijacking - have claimed that they were on their personal laptops and lost track of time.
Air traffic controllers and dispatchers attempted to contact Flight 188, a Northwest Airlines Airbus A380 with 144 passengers travelling between San Diego and Minneapolis, for more than an hour with the plane at 37,000 feet.
They now claim in an interview with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that they lost track of time while talking about crew scheduling arrangements. They were also on their personal laptops, which violates the company's safety policy.
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Both have now been relieved of active flying duties pending the outcome of the investigations.
“The pilots said there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from (air traffic controllers) even though both stated they heard conversation on the radio,†the NTSB said, after the interviews. “Both said they lost track of time."
The pilots claimed that they were only made aware of the plane’s wayward state when a flight attendant asked them about their scheduled arrival time. The captain looked at his flight display data, realised the mistake and then contacted controllers for permission to turn around.
The plane landed without incident in Minneapolis.