Federal officials are investigating whether pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight fell asleep at the controls Wednesday, after their plane fell out of contact with air-traffic controllers for more than an hour and overshot its destination by 150 miles.
美國西北航空公司(Northwest Airlines Corp.)一架班機(jī)周三在飛行過程中與空中交通管制員失去聯(lián)絡(luò)一個(gè)多小時(shí)，并且飛過目的地150英里；聯(lián)邦官員目前正在調(diào)查飛機(jī)駕駛員是否在飛行過程打瞌睡。
But the pilots told law-enforcement officials who interviewed them upon landing in Minneapolis that they had been engaged in a 'heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness,' according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
美國全國運(yùn)輸安全委員會(huì)(National Transportation Safety Board)稱，飛機(jī)降落在明尼阿波利斯之后，執(zhí)法官員隨即找駕駛員進(jìn)行了面談。但駕駛員們說，他們當(dāng)時(shí)正在熱烈談?wù)摵娇展镜恼?，因此?duì)當(dāng)時(shí)的情況全然不知。
During the 78-minute radio silence, controllers became so concerned about the fate of the 158 people aboard that they asked pilots of other aircraft in the vicinity to see if they could rouse the Northwest crew, according to industry and government officials. When that failed, the Federal Aviation Administration began to consider having military jets scrambled to intercept the twin-jet Airbus A320, these officials said.
美國航空業(yè)和政府官員說，在飛機(jī)與地面塔臺(tái)失去聯(lián)絡(luò)的78分鐘內(nèi)，空中交通管制員對(duì)機(jī)上158名乘客的安全非常擔(dān)憂，他們因此請求附近其他飛機(jī)的駕駛員看看能否喚醒這架西北航空公司航班的機(jī)組人員。這些官員說，在呼叫失敗之后，美國航空管理局(Federal Aviation Administration)開始考慮讓軍用飛機(jī)升空攔截這架雙引擎的空客A320飛機(jī)。
The incident -- which pilots and safety experts consider a bizarre break from routine procedure -- had the plane crossing various air-traffic control zones and being passed to different groups of controllers without any verbal response. It comes as federal regulators, lawmakers and airlines are focusing on the issue of pilot fatigue and debating possible changes to rules that spell out how long pilots can fly or be on duty in a 24-hour period.
這起事故導(dǎo)致飛機(jī)飛越了諸多空中交通管制區(qū)域，數(shù)組不同的管制員曾先后試圖聯(lián)絡(luò)飛機(jī)，但都沒有得到口頭應(yīng)答。飛行員和安全專家認(rèn)為這起違反飛行程序的事故相當(dāng)怪異。時(shí)下，聯(lián)邦監(jiān)管部門、國會(huì)議員和航空公司正在關(guān)注疲勞駕駛的問題，并展開爭論，對(duì)飛行員在24小時(shí)內(nèi)能夠飛行或值班多長時(shí)間的管理規(guī)定做出可能的調(diào)整。
Northwest Flight 188, which took off from San Diego and had been flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet when contact was lost, eventually circled back and landed safely in Minneapolis. None of the 147 passengers nor the unspecified number of crew members were injured.
這架西北航空公司188次航班是從圣迭戈起飛的；與地面塔臺(tái)失去聯(lián)絡(luò)時(shí)，飛機(jī)正飛行在37,000英尺的高空。飛機(jī)最終折返，安全降落在明尼阿波利斯。機(jī)上147名乘客和數(shù)目不明的機(jī)組人員均未受傷。
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（來源：天星教育網(wǎng)，英語點(diǎn)津編輯）
