I would like to believe that when pilots are locked into the cockpit of a commercial airline and we’re thousands of feet above ground traveling hundreds of miles an hour that these folks are focused completely on the task at hand. Recent developments with a flight bound for Minneapolis have revealed a disturbing picture not just of momentary distraction – but rather of complete off-the-job behavior that had the aircraft over-shoot its destination by more than a hundred miles.
Of course, the scandal-driven media wanted the story – what was going on in that cockpit that had these two highly trained professionals completely checked-out of the task at hand? Were they asleep? Drunk? Or up to something really interesting? Come on – lots of you were wondering! It turns out, that these highly trained professionals with thousands of hours of commercial flying time, in the confines of that tiny room, gave in to temptation, and quite unwisely decided to whip out their—laptops!
Apparently, both men made the decision to take out their laptops and engage in a bit of an in-flight software training session. Supposedly, the co-pilot was providing the pilot with a tutorial on how to use the airline’s new scheduling software. Ignoring the fact that these guys were flying a plane with a hundred or more innocent lives quite literally in the palms of their hands (and I know, that’s a lot to ask) what these men say they were doing is something that goes on in businesses every hour of every day . In virtually every industry, professionals waste time muddling through their employer’s latest required, poorly designed systems instead of doing what they’ve been trained and hired to do. Who of us has not stolen a rare, deserted moment at the workplace to buttonhole a coworker for help with software? If we’re lucky, we find an intern or an ally – someone who won’t tell everyone how “bad” we are at the latest way to log in hours, recognize revenue, or generate our latest sales projections.
Who knows? By the time you’re reading this, the entire story could have changed, and this rather dull explanation of inexcusably careless behavior will prove to be a complete falsehood—but to my point—it’s not an unbelievable one.
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November 6, 2009 at 11:45 am
Chris Cavallucci
I can certainly understand how momentary lapse in pilot attention might be acceptable. However, in my opinion, being off task indicates a serious problem.
You post hints at a systemic issue. What is rather frightening to me is the potential for catastrophe. I wonder if this event will slip from the minds of consumer consciousness over the next year or if airline competitors will use it to their advantage in some sort of twisted marketing campaigns.