The mystery of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles has deepened after the first officer insisted that he and the pilot were not asleep or arguing.
Richard Cole refuted two explanations put forward for the strange case of NW flight 188 when the cockpit crew was out of radio contact for more than an hour after flying past Minneapolis, their final stop on Wednesday evening.
"Nobody was asleep in the cockpit. No arguments took place," Mr Cole told a local television station from his home in Oregon. "But other than that, I cannot tell you anything that went on because we're having hearings this weekend, we're having hearings on Tuesday. All that information will come out then."
He failed to provide any light on what did happen, but did insist that there has been "a lot of misinformation...Things are being said that didn't happen, but I can't go into any details".
The Airbus A320, carrying 144 people and five crew members, flew past the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport beginning while en route from San Diego, California, on Wednesday evening. There were 78 minutes of radio silence before air traffic controllers re-established radio contact after trying to contact the pilot and first officer by radio, mobile phone, text messages and email.
Police who met the wayward jet said the pilots were "cooperative, apologetic and appreciative". The two men passed a breathalyser test. They were initially said to have explained that they had been involved in a heated debate about the airline, which was recently taken over by Delta.
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