Did they really get into an argument as stated......or, fall asleep at the wheels? Regardeless, me thinks they ought to be severely reprimanded, if not fired altogether.
Here's one I found. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102303617.html
With all the warning systems and so forth, there are 3 possibilities: 1) Asleep- this is possible if they are deep sleepers. 2) Arguing- not very likely as the tower would be calling. 3) Boinking- It's certainly not unusual for a couple of pilots to be enjoying a stewardess in the ol' cockpit. A little menage a trois can get pretty darn loud.
Delta said Friday it plans to give flight vouchers worth a few hundred dollars to each of the passengers. Witness tampering?
They didn't witness anything though, only two or three passengers asked why the day? Others were busy doing what passengers do, sleeping, reading book, drinking something, talking, etc. I'm not sure what happened but personally I think it could be 3 things, either sleeping, the radio was off (but then they have other measures they can take and they didn't), 3rd is they were making love and now are making the excuse that they were arguing the whole time. When they enter the destination on the plane's computer, when they're about 20 miles out, it'll start beeping, telling them to prepare the landing checks that they do and basically get ready to descend. It's hard to believe they were arguing while all these things were happening (radio, computer) and did so for 1+ hr.
My guess: they fell asleep, woke up, realized what they had done, and proceeded to make the flight last long enough so as to erase the evidence because the flight recorder only records the last 30 minutes...
Sounds plausible, and exactly what I would do in the same circumstances. Well, after I did a loop de loop with the plane.
Could be, either way they'll be fired, unless it was indeed a mechanical issue. What gets me though is both pilots were in the 50s, so well experienced, etc. Glad nothing serious happened like a crash.
This story reminds me of one of my favorite skits: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=705213
Pretty good one, but the best Man Show skit IMO is hard to find on the internet. Viacom takes it off whenever they can, must be a woman in charge. http://www.kontraband.com/videos/12474/Help-End-Womens-Suffrage/