Airline Issues Statement On Northwest Flight 188 Investigation

There is likely to be considerable turbulence in the wake of Northwest Flight 188 traveling nearly 150 miles beyond its destination of Minneapolis last week. Delta issued a statement Monday regarding the company's cooperation with the NTSB and the FAA in their investigations of the incident.

In the statement, Delta and its Northwest operating subsidiary say they are continuing to openly and fully cooperate with the NTSB and FAA to complete the investigation. The pilots in command of Northwest Flight 188 remain suspended until the conclusion of the investigations into this incident.

"Using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots' command of the aircraft during flight is strictly against the airline's flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination," Delta said in the statement.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson said: "Nothing is more important to Delta than safety. We are going to continue to cooperate fully with the NTSB and the FAA in their investigations."

The NTSB released the initial findings of its investigation into the incident Monday, including evidence that the pilots involved said they were distracted at cruise altitude between San Diego and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The NTSB's press release stated that the pilots said in interviews that "there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from ATC even though both stated they heard conversation on the radio ... neither pilot noticed messages that were sent by company dispatchers ... both said they lost track of time ... (and) each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure."

FMI: www.delta.com