Washington: The US National Transportation Safety Board has said it is investigating a flight that overshot its destination by 150 miles when pilots reportedly got into a "heated discussion" on airline policy.
The NTSB said the Airbus A320 became a "no radio communications" flight on Wednesday evening as it travelled at 11,300 meters from San Diego, California, prompting fears it had been hijacked.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that four military fighter jets were readied to chase down the plane before contact was re-established.
The flight was carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew and was supposed to land at Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport.
But instead, the plane flew over the airport and continued to fly northeast for another 240 kilometres before air traffic control at Minneapolis airport managed to regain contact.
"According to the Federal Administration (FAA), the crew was interviewed by the FBI and airport police," the NTSB said in a statement.
"The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the statement added.
The NTSB said they plan to interview the crew and that the plane`s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder are being sent to their laboratory for analysis.
Bureau Report
