New bill targets ‘distracted flying’

Sen. Robert Menendez, spurred by revelations that two Northwest Airlines pilots were tapping away on laptop computers when they overshot an airport by 150 miles, announced Thursday that he will introduce “distracted flying” legislation to prohibit the use of nonessential portable electronics in the cockpit.

The New Jersey Democrat’s bill would require the Federal Aviation Administration to start writing new rules to prohibit pilots from using laptops and other personal electronics in the cockpit, unless the devises are used for safety purposes or for flying the aircraft.

It also would initiate an FAA study on distracted flying and its effect on safety.

“With dozens or sometimes hundreds of lives in their hands, we need to ensure that pilots are focused on one thing only: getting their aircraft from point A to point B safely and efficiently,” Mr. Menendez said. “Electronic devices make our lives a lot easier, but they also can cause dangerous distractions.”

He said that anyone who drives a car knows that today’s electronic gizmos can pull the driver’s focus from the road.

“What’s true in a car is generally true in an airplane, and we need to address distracted flying, just as we are addressing distracted driving,” he said. “The fact that there isn’t already a prohibition on ’texting while flying’ for airplanes seems reckless.”

FAA rules currently prohibit pilots from using electronic devices at altitudes below 10,000 feet, but rules for higher altitudes vary by air carrier. The Northwest Airlines pilots on Flight 188 that overshot the Minneapolis airport last week were using their laptops at 37,000 feet.

The FAA said Monday that the pilots — Capt. Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., and First Officer Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., whose licenses are at risk — admitted to using laptop computers at the time of the mishap, in violation of the airline’s rules.

Federal investigators initially suspected that fatigue was a factor. But the pilots told the FAA that once they reached cruising altitude they lost track of time while reviewing a new flight-scheduling system on their laptops.

Air traffic controllers were unable to communicate for more than an hour with Flight 188, flying from San Diego to Minneapolis-St. Paul, prompting officials to put armed F-16 military jets on standby to intercept the airliner in case it had been hijacked.

The airliner, an Airbus A320, had 144 passengers and three flight attendants on board. It ended up over Wisconsin before the pilots finally turned around and were contacted by air traffic controllers.