Mon, Feb 25, 2008
Flight Crew Under FAA Investigation
Two pilots under suspicion for napping on an inter-island go!
Airlines flight have been suspended by the carrier, pending the
completion of an FAA investigation.
As ANN reported, go! Flight
1002 overshot the airport at Hilo, Hawaii February 13, and flew out
over the ocean at FL210 -- out of contact with air traffic
controllers for over 20 minutes -- before finally turning back
towards Hilo. The aircraft then made an uneventful landing.
Officials are investigating a number of explanations for the
anomalous flight, including the possibility of a communications
problem... but the evidence strongly suggests the pilots may have
dozed off during the short morning flight from Honolulu.
FAA investigators noted to Honolulu's KITV-4 if the plane had
suffered a communications failure, standard procedure dictates the
aircraft stick to its flight plan, and land at the destination
airport at the scheduled time.
The carrier, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, announced Friday
the pilots in question have been taken off the flight line.
"The issue is currently under investigation and we are
cooperating fully with the Federal Aviation Administration. Both
pilots have been removed from flight duties pending the outcome," a
go! Airlines representative said in a written statement to
KITV.
The aircraft's cockpit voice recorder could provide some
answers... although most CVRs only record the last 30 minutes of
cockpit communications, and the pilots could have awakened prior to
that cutoff -- if that is, in fact, what happened.
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