Posted at: 11/04/2009 8:07 PM

Print Story  Email to a Friend

FAA Chief: Pilots Must Refocus on Professionalism

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's top aviation official says the Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot Minneapolis are part of a larger problem of professionalism among commercial airline pilots.

Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Randy Babbitt told an international aviation club on Wednesday that aviation is facing an "extreme need to refocus on professionalism."

He pointed to Northwest Flight 188, which overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles because the pilots were working on their laptops. He also noted the regional airliner that crashed earlier this year near Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50 people.

A former airline pilot and pilot union president, Babbitt says that in both cases the pilots forgot their first job was to focus on flying the plane.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)