The NW overflight, what REALLY happened

Mxsmanic wrote:
Jim Logajan writes:

Actually the posting explicitly claims they didn't actually overfly
their destination - they at first thought they had. Radar records
would indicate whether this was true.

Here you go:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N...135Z/KSAN/KMSP

Thanks. According to the detailed tracklog,

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N.../KMSP/tracklog

they were almost directly overhead MSP at 9:04 PM traveling ~604 MPH. The
tracklog shows a turnaround begin at 9:14 PM. If they did start checking their
location at around 9:04 to 9:06, then it seems likely they would have spent a
couple minutes first verifying their wayward location and then a few more
realizing and then correcting the frequency setting problem. Though
8 to 10 minutes to resolve those problem seems a tad on the long side,
though not improbable. So the e-mail's claim about when they became aware of
their lax navigation could indeed be true, just not verifiable or exculpatory
even if true.

Looks like the FAA has placed time-stamped transcripts and audio files here
that indicate they made contact with Minneapolis center at about 9:14:

http://www.faa.gov/data_research/acc...nt/2009-10-23/