Hearing Set For June 22

Michael Hughes is in trouble.

The Northwest Airlines pilot was flying a DC-9 from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) to Sioux Falls (SD) June 24th when he ran into some weather. He's now accused of trying to land in the midst of severe thunderstorms, hail and funnel clouds.

In fact, NWA Flight 1462 was flying into the worst outbreak of tornadic weather South Dakota had ever seen in one day. There were 67 reported funnel clouds -- tying the record for the most any state had seen in a single 24-hour period.

The FAA said Hughes, who was the pilot in command, was told that severe weather was lurking about the airport while on approach, but did not turn back. The FAA said Hughes was warned minutes later that a wall cloud was headed toward his aircraft and he didn't turn away. The FAA said Hughes was then told that funnel clouds were approaching the airport and that a wind shear alert had been issued for the runway and still he didn't turn back.

"Rather than discontinue the approach and turn away from the severe weather system that was approaching, you continued the approach, encountering severe wind shear that resulted in a substantial loss of altitude, loss of control around the longitudinal axis, and required immediate application of full power and aggressive flight control inputs to regain control of the aircraft," the FAA wrote in its letter to Hughes.

Dr. Gary Timmerman was a passenger on Flight 1462 when the aircraft ran smack into the wind shear. "Our right wing got lifted up about 25 feet and it slammed us down, as though someone picked up the end of a table and dropped it. People screamed and then that happened again, and we were still heading down," he said in August. "You could hear people doing the Lord's Prayer, Hail Marys. People were sobbing in the background."

That's apparently when Hughes turned back. He landed the aircraft in Omaha (NE) without further incident.

Northwest stands by its man. The airline says company policy dictates an aircraft avoid an area if storms are within five miles. Northwest's director of flight safety says the storms in question were eight miles out.

Now, the FAA wants to suspend Hughes for 45-days, a blot that would certainly stain his flying record and affect his livelihood. Hughes appealed the original notice of suspension, leading up to the hearing, which is scheduled for June 22nd. The hearing is set to take place in Minneapolis.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.nwa.com