Northwest Airlines Pilots' Licenses Revoked
Federal safety authorities have revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their destination by more than 100 miles when flying from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul last week. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a public statement that the license revocations were issued on an "emergency" basis and cited a number of alleged violations by the pilots of federal aviation regulations, including failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and operating carelessly and recklessly. The FAA announcement did not name the pilots, but they have been identified in news reports as Captain Timothy Cheney and First Officer Richard Cole. The "emergency" label on the FAA action means the pilots are grounded and their licenses revoked immediately. (After this item was initially published, NEWSWEEK obtained the letters sent to both Cheney and Cole).
The FAA announcements noted that the pilots were "out of contact with air-traffic controllers for an extended period of time and told federal investigators that they were distracted by a conversation." As reported by Declassified yesterday, the pilots told investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board that they had "lost track of time" and failed to respond to increasingly frantic voice and text messages from the ground because they were fiddling with their laptop computers, trying to figure out a new crew scheduling system that had been imposed on Northwest crews following the airline's takeover by Delta. The airline suspended the pilots shortly after the incident was first reported.
Cheney and Cole have 10 days to appeal the revocations to the NTSB, which acts as an independent authority to investigate and adjudicate appeals of license suspensions by the FAA. The pilots can appeal an adverse verdict by an NTSB administrative law judge to members of the NTSB itself, and then appeal further to the courts. The NTSB has expedited procedures to process an appeal of an emergency license revocation within a matter of days.
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Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues.
Hosenball came to Newsweek from "Dateline NBC," where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio.
Hosenball has been honored with a number of prestigious awards. Most recently, along with a team of Newsweek correspondents, he was awarded the Overseas Press Club's most prestigious honor, the 2002 Ed Cunningham Memorial Award for best magazine reporting from abroad for Newsweek's coverage of the war on terror. His reporting and that of his colleagues earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002 for its coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. And a story he co-authored was highlighted in a citation Newsweek received by the White House Correspondents' Association when it awarded the magazine the 2002 Edgar A. Poe Award for "excellence on a story of national or regional importance. "Newsweek's September 11 coverage started long before the attacks. An article in the magazine's February 19, 2001 issue warned with chilling accuracy: 'The threat posed by (Osama) bin Laden is growing -- and coming ever closer to home."
Hosenball was a contributor to the CANAL + TV documentary, "L'Argent de la Drogue" (Drug Money), which was awarded the "Sept D'Or," the French equivalent of an Emmy. He also contributed to NBC News' coverage of the BCCI scandal, which earned a 1991 Peabody Award.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Dublin. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and son.
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