An inquiry has begun after a US plane heading from San Diego to Minneapolis missed the airport it was meant to land at by 150 miles (240km).
Contact with the Northwest Airlines plane was lost for an hour as it flew at 37,000ft, sparking hijack fears.
The crew said they had been distracted by a "heated discussion" but officials will check if they had fallen asleep.
Flight 188, carrying 147 passengers, landed safely at Minneapolis after contact was resumed.
A statement released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said: "The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and lost situational awareness."
Board spokesman Keith Holloway said that reports that the pilots may have fallen asleep were "speculative" but the investigation would look at "fatigue issues". The plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been taken from the plane and are being sent to the board's laboratory in Washington, DC.
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