Asleep at the Yoke

Airliner crew flies 150 miles past airport.

A Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego, California, overshot the Minneapolis, Minnesota, airport by about 150 miles Wednesday evening, and federal investigators are looking into whether the pilots had become distracted, as they claimed, or perhaps fell asleep.

I remember a flight, this was back in the day when you could listen to air-ground communications on the in-flight headsets, when I suspected this happened. Ground control was calling our flight but there was no answer. This went on for only fifteen minutes and we didn't overshoot our destination.

There are air-ground pocket sized receivers that are available. Not sure if they're allowed on the plane. An pair of (awake) ears is better than the plane running out of fuel.