US agency slow to tell military about wayward jet

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Air traffic controllers were slow to notify the military when they lost contact with a Northwest Airlines jet for more than an hour last month, the top U.S. aviation regulator said on Friday.

"We should have been more agile. We can do a better job," Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt told reporters about the Oct. 21 incident that drew national attention.

The FAA has revoked the licenses of the two pilots for losing contact with air controllers and then overflying their destination by 150 miles (240 km) on a flight from San Diego to Minneapolis. The plane with 144 passengers aboard landed safely in Minneapolis.

The crew of the Airbus A320, which has appealed the FAA action, said they lost track of time while discussing company policy and using personal laptop computers in the cockpit.

The government established a process after the 2001 hijack attacks for notifying U.S. and Canadian military authorities when they suspect a serious problem with an airliner or when planes violate restricted air space.

Babbitt said air controllers, dispatchers at Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), which owns Northwest, and other pilots sought to raise the crew on the radio for more than an hour. But Babbitt said the plane did not exhibit key signs of distress or other red flags during the flight.

The FAA is supposed to notify military authorities when an airliner loses contact for 10 minutes. Almost an hour lapsed before supervisors took that step, the FAA said.

Military fighters were readied but never launched, authorities said at the time.

Babbitt said the jetliner was handled by various controllers who did not clearly convey the problem to each other during shift changes.

FAA officials said controllers initially had the wrong contact information for the carrier's dispatchers because the telephone number was switched when Delta took over Northwest operations after their merger last year.

Losing contact with an airliner for a brief period is common as pilots sometimes forget to change radio frequencies or other glitches occur, FAA officials said. (Reporting by John Crawley; Editing by Xavier Briand)