In slot #618 AB cites a link that included the Captain's characterization of the NORDO event aboard an NWA A320 on 21Oct09:
the f/a brings the meal up, he will step back to use the restroom
returned, the F/A left the cockpit and he began to eat his crew meal
. f/o had received a frequency change
not the correct frequency
f/a's called the cockpit on the interphone
no one was fighting
pilots filed an NASAP Report
company tried to contact them on ACARS, but the 320 does not have a chime
about laptops
NWA's
operation manual
does not say we can't use a laptop
Delta's
does
.
http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/11/what-happened-on-northwest-air.html
This may be one example where the "web" provides appropriate corrections to errs and omissions in Preliminary Reports offered by both the "regulator" and the authorized investigating authority (FAA and NTSB).
The excerpt above includes several Cockpit Housekeeping "red flags" noted in previous major accidents.
http://www.pprune.org/safety-crm-qa-...sekeeping.html
Note the fact that NWA's Operations Manual NEVER included any prohibition against "laptop" in cockpit. Note the often repeated post-mishap rumor about a "fight in the cockpit" [this old rumor keeps appearing in post-mishap Pilot-Gossip]. The ASAP report mentioned above alludes to weaknesses in the current ASAP EVENT REVIEW process (no review by outsiders so company's own weaknesses remain uncorrected, ERC errs go unidentified, any good ERC analysis goes unrecognized by the NTSB, and FAA-errs go unrecognized).
The new role of the "web" in affecting (mis-directing) Aircraft Accident Investigation first appeared in July'96, when an email message from an ex- UAL pilot posed a "missile scenario" -- before any evidence had been pulled off the ocean floor. That rumor, from the usual Retired Pilot Gossips was almost unstoppable. Now, perhaps the "web" can correct a few investigative mistakes from the FAA and the NTSB.