Pilots Who Forgot to Land the Plane (CBS News 2009) http://www
Transcription
Pilots Who Forgot to Land the Plane (CBS News 2009) http://www
www.anglophonie.fr page 1/2 Pilots Who Forgot to Land the Plane (CBS News 2009) http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5423038n&tag=api (report begins after 1 minute) We begin tonight with the question a lot of people have been asking. How did the pilots of that Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego last week miss their destination? They’ve said they were not asleep. Well what were they doing when they were supposed to be landing the Airbus A320 in the twin cities and instead flew a hundred and fifty miles past? Over the weekend investigators asked them and tonight Bob Orr has their answer. In a stunning admission to federal investigators, the pilots of Northwest Airlines flight 188 conceded they were lost in a discussion of flight schedules as they raced right past their intended Minneapolis target. Instead of reviewing landing checklists and answering air traffic instructions, Captain Timothy Cheney and First Officer Richard Cole had their headsets off and their noses buried in laptop computers: a violation of airline policy. In separate interviews, Cheney and Cole gave strikingly similar accounts. They denied having a heated argument, denied being tired and denied falling asleep. It’s the same explanation Cole gave to reporters. Nobody fell asleep, nobody had an argument, nobody had a fight. Other than that, I can’t tell you anything. But the pilots with thirty-six years of experience between them, admitted that for more than an hour they missed multiple radio calls from air traffic controllers and other airplanes. And they told investigators they never noticed urgent e-mails from airline dispatchers. At least 8 messages, which should have appeared on their cockpit panel. It’s almost unexplainable for a flight crew with the experience that these 2 gentlemen had. They got distracted. It wasn’t until a flight attendant called the cockpit and asked why the plane was not descending that the pilots reacted. The jet, with one hundred forty-nine people on board and now one hundred ten miles past its destination, finally turned around. The co pilot called it an innocuous mistake but lost pilots have caused some of aviation’s worst events. One hundred fifty-nine people died in 1995 when an experienced captain from American Airlines 757 lost his way and hit a mountain near Cali Columbia. The cockpit voice recorder will not settle this issue; there’s nothing on the tape I’m told, to challenge the pilots’ stories, and nothing to indicate whether they were asleep or not. But they were clearly inattentive. And aviation sources say that that alone will likely cost them their jobs and their pilot’s licences. page 2/2 Vocabulary 1. to be supposed to do something être censé, supposé faire quelque chose 2. 3. 4. 5. investigator stunning admission to concede enquêteur stupéfiant, étonnant aveu reconnaître, admettre 6. 7. 8. 9. to race right past intended target (they) had their headsets off their nose buried in (laptop computers) dépasser à toute allure cible voulu, prévu ils avaient enlevé leur casque (à écouteurs) ils avaient leur nez plongé dans leur ordinateur 10. strikingly 11. an account 12. to deny 13. to have a heated argument 14. cockpit panel (1er sens de ‘to bury’ = enterrer) frappant récit, compte rendu nier avoir une vive dispute 15. a flight crew tableau de commandes équipage 16. a flight attendant 17. to be distracted 18. to turn around 19. innocuous hôtesse de l’air, steward être distrait faire demi tour anodin, sans conséquence 20. to settle the issue 21. to challenge a story régler l’affaire contester, mettre en question