Texting while Flying: Dead Wrong
We've all been there, fastened securely in our seats, trying to send off one last text message before the flight attendants close those doors... and finally succumbing once we hear that trademark sound of the doors clamping shut. Cell phones in the "off" position. It's all part of the deal of flying, right?
If you think for one minute that Pilots are doing the same, you're dead wrong.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB ) released their final report today on the Continental Airlines commuter flight that crashed over Buffalo, New York last February.
And the report is shocking.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-negroni/pilot-texting-on-fatal-co_b_443794.html
The report shows that co-pilot Rebecca Shaw - a young female co-pilot who was heard on the black box fretting about the rocky flight and suggesting she didn't fly well in icy conditions - actually sent Text messages from the cockpit.
Minutes later, that flight went down in flames in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY - killing ALL of the passengers on board.
To be fair, there were many other things that went wrong in the cockpit that night. According to the NTSB, the pilots had both taken lengthy commutes prior to beginning their shift in the cockpit, they were not sufficiently trained for the icy conditions, and they were discussing personal matters below 10,000 feet - a practice which breaks the FAA's rules of maintaining a "sterile environment" in the cockpit during landing.
But the fact remains that amid the other calamaties on the flight deck that night, the co-pilot was "Texting while Flying." I'm willing to stake my life that other Pilots are doing it as well. My only question is, are they willing to stake the lives of others on a simple Text message? I hope not. It's bad enough people are Texting in their cars. But in a live Airplane is absolutely, utterly Dead Wrong.
If you'd like to contact the FAA to request that stronger guidelines be issued to Pilots, please call: 1-866-TELL-FAA and tell them to put an end to "Texting while Flying."
If you think for one minute that Pilots are doing the same, you're dead wrong.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB ) released their final report today on the Continental Airlines commuter flight that crashed over Buffalo, New York last February.
And the report is shocking.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-negroni/pilot-texting-on-fatal-co_b_443794.html
The report shows that co-pilot Rebecca Shaw - a young female co-pilot who was heard on the black box fretting about the rocky flight and suggesting she didn't fly well in icy conditions - actually sent Text messages from the cockpit.
Minutes later, that flight went down in flames in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY - killing ALL of the passengers on board.
To be fair, there were many other things that went wrong in the cockpit that night. According to the NTSB, the pilots had both taken lengthy commutes prior to beginning their shift in the cockpit, they were not sufficiently trained for the icy conditions, and they were discussing personal matters below 10,000 feet - a practice which breaks the FAA's rules of maintaining a "sterile environment" in the cockpit during landing.
But the fact remains that amid the other calamaties on the flight deck that night, the co-pilot was "Texting while Flying." I'm willing to stake my life that other Pilots are doing it as well. My only question is, are they willing to stake the lives of others on a simple Text message? I hope not. It's bad enough people are Texting in their cars. But in a live Airplane is absolutely, utterly Dead Wrong.
If you'd like to contact the FAA to request that stronger guidelines be issued to Pilots, please call: 1-866-TELL-FAA and tell them to put an end to "Texting while Flying."
I AM Christine Negroni and I am an aviation writer, not a pilot. So while I appreciate your reference to the story I reported for The New York Times and other papers about first officer Rebecca Shaw who sent two text messages from the cockpit of the doomed, Colgan Air flight, I am, happily not that pilot. Please correct your reference to the story.
Thanks.
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The Street would like to correct the reference to Christine Negroni, who was in fact the REPORTER from the New York Times article - not the co-pilot on the doomed flight over Buffalo, NY as we erroneously posted. Our sincere apologies for any confusion this caused. The original post has since been corrected.
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