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.

FMI: www.mesa-air.com, www.faa.gov