After the odd incident that occurred last week aboard a Northwest flight between San Diego and Minneapolis, in which two pilots overshot their destination by 150 miles, lawmakers are stepping in to take away their toys.

Senator Byron Dorgan, chairman of the aviation subcommittee, has stated he will be working on a bill with his staff to ban all laptops, mp3 players, DVD players, and any other electronic distraction while pilots are in the cockpit.

Call me naïve, but why were these devices ever allowed in the cockpit in the first place? Pilots have so much responsibility for people’s lives literally in their hands. Why on earth did it take this event to wake people up in Washington? Fortunately this event was not catastrophic and hopefully this bill gets passed as soon as possible.

Since the fallout from this even, the airline has suspended the two pilots and the FAA has revoked their licenses. The NTSB is still investigating the incident. Dorgan stated that the bill, which he hopes to introduce by next week, will be included in a larger aviation bill without any opposition.

The bill however will make one exception for pilots. The bill will allow some to use specially made laptops that contain navigational tools.

Source: The Associated Press