The big question is “why”.

Why did those Northwest pilots traveling from San Diego to Minneapolis Wed. night overshoot their landing by 150 miles (you read that right – I was wrong when I first reported “100 miles”).

There is speculation that they were sleeping – at this point, that’s all it is, speculation – but there were tense times during saga when air traffic controllers feared the plane had been hijacked! That’s because when the pilots finally made radio contact – after being incommunicado for more than an hour – air traffic controllers described the crew’s responses as “vague”.

The pilots’ excuse?

According to an official press release from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which is investigating the incident, “The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness.”

That must have been some argument.

The pilots, meanwhile, have been suspended – and the NTSB says it is scheduling an interview with them.

You may recall some recent posts I’ve done – about the possibility of allowing pilots to nap in the cockpit – and now, it seems, the subject is more timely than ever.

That’s because of this incident that happened just last night: Pilots on a Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego to Minneapolis temporarily lost radio contact with air traffic controllers and overshot their destination by 100 miles.

According to the Wall St. Journal, the pilots are being investigated for possibly falling asleep. No one was injured in the incident.