Flight 188, Where Are You?
There's a hold-up in the Bronx, Brooklyn's broken out in fights; there's a traffic jam in Harlem that's backed up to Jackson Heights; there's a scout troop short a child; Khrushchev's due at Idlewild...* Flight 188, Where Are You?
By Mike Botta
It appears that Toody and Muldoon have stopped bickering with Mrs. Bronson and have taken to bickering in the cockpit.
According to press reports, Northwest Airlines pilots Richard I. Cole – we’ll call him Toody – and Timothy B. Cheney – the new Muldoon – may have been snoozing as their aircraft carrying 144 passengers, continued some 150 miles beyond Minneapolis Airport before communication was again established with the pilots.
How is Such a Thing Possible?
All sorts of authorities at the state, local and federal levels, airline executives and a plane-load of others are trying to figure out how Northwest flight 188 overshot its intended destination by so many miles.
That’s like missing LaGuardia and landing in Cape May, NJ, by mistake. “Please remain seated, folks, while we taxi up the Jersey Turnpike, hang a right over the Goethals Bridge and wind our way to Queens. There may be some delays, please keep your seat belts safely fastened until we reach the gate.”
Certainly the seats up in the cockpit must be a hell of a lot more comfortable than the padded bricks the rest of us must endure during most flights these days. Now we know where all those pillows that disappeared from the main cabin have gone.
Not Good to Bite the Hand That Feeds You
According to press reports, the pilots claim to have been arguing about Northwest Airlines company policies – not sleeping – as they were making their final approach. Probably not a good thing to claim to their bosses, no matter what they were doing.
Of course, both pilots were suspended by the airline.
By the way, since things often happen in threes, you might want to book your Hertz car in Cleveland on your next flight to Detroit.
* Opening theme song to the 1960s NBC TV hit: “Car 54 Where Are You” about two bumbling cops in the fictional 53rd Precinct in the Bronx.