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D.C. Dispatches by Cynthia Dizikes

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    Klobuchar chides 'distracted' Northwest Flight 188 pilots

    By Cynthia Dizikes | Published Mon, Oct 26 2009 4:27 pm

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar today admonished the pilots of Northwest Flight 188, which overshot the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport last week by about 150 miles.

    A preliminary investigation showed that they were checking airline crew flight schedules on a laptop and became distracted.

    “This may be the ultimate case of distracted driving, only this time it was distracted flying,” said Klobuchar, who is a member of the Commerce Committee Aviation Subcommittee.

    "The pilots should have been focused on safely steering Flight 188 home, instead of checking crew schedules,” she said in a statement. “It is simply unacceptable.”

    The plane flew passed the airport and into Wisconsin before turning around and landing safely at its intended destination.

    At the time, the crew stated that “they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness.”

    Washington Bureau | Mon, Oct 26 2009 4:27 pm | 1 Comment

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    minnpost.com/cynthiadizikes


    Cynthia Dizikes is MinnPost's Washington, D.C., correspondent and covers Minnesota's congressional delegation and reports on developments out of Washington that are important to Minnesota readers. She received her master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and has worked as an intern in the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau, reporting on a variety of topics, and as a reporter for the Anniston Star in Alabama. Her work has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune, Congress Daily and on National Public Radio. She can be reached at cdizikes [at] minnpost [dot] com.

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