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.)一架班機周三在飛行過程中與空中交通管制員失去聯絡一個多小時，并且飛過目的地150英里；聯邦官員目前正在調查飛機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.
美國全國運輸安全委員會(National Transportation Safety Board)稱，飛機降落在明尼阿波利斯之后，執法官員隨即找駕駛員進行了面談。但駕駛員們說，他們當時正在熱烈談論航空公司的政策，因此對當時的情況全然不知。
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.
美國航空業和政府官員說，在飛機與地面塔臺失去聯絡的78分鐘內，空中交通管制員對機上158名乘客的安全非常擔憂，他們因此請求附近其他飛機的駕駛員看看能否喚醒這架西北航空公司航班的機組人員。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升空攔截這架雙引擎的空客A320飛機。
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.
這起事故導致飛機飛越了諸多空中交通管制區域，數組不同的管制員曾先后試圖聯絡飛機，但都沒有得到口頭應答。飛行員和安全專家認為這起違反飛行程序的事故相當怪異。時下，聯邦監管部門、國會議員和航空公司正在關注疲勞駕駛的問題，并展開爭論，對飛行員在24小時內能夠飛行或值班多長時間的管理規定做出可能的調整。
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；與地面塔臺失去聯絡時，飛機正飛行在37,000英尺的高空。飛機最終折返，安全降落在明尼阿波利斯。機上147名乘客和數目不明的機組人員均未受傷。
相關閱讀：
日航空公司要求乘客登機前上廁所
新西蘭航空員工全裸出鏡 示范安全步驟
寵物航班首次升空
美聯航出新規 肥胖乘客購雙座
（來源：天星教育網，英語點津編輯）
