WASHINGTON (October 27, 2009)--Federal regulators Tuesday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles last week.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday the pilots violated numerous regulations, including failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly.

The pilots, 1st officer Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., and Capt. Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., told investigators they lost track of time and place while working on their laptop computers.

The pilots' union had cautioned against a rush to judgment.

The pilots, who said they had no previous accidents or safety incidents, have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocation.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not confiscated the laptop computers that the two claim they were using when they overshot their destination on a flight last week.

As the plane cruised past Minneapolis on autopilot, the radio remained tuned to a frequency used by Denver air traffic controllers even though they were well out of range, leaving the pilots out of touch for more than an hour.

The pilots have told NTSB investigators that they were engrossed in a complicated new crew-scheduling program on the laptops and lost track of time and place.

Aviation experts have suggested the pilots may have fallen asleep, but the pilots deny it.

Asked why the NTSB had not examined the laptops to try to verify the story, an agency spokesman said since the pilots have acknowledged they were using them, it's not clear how an examination of the computer would further the investigation.

There are no federal rules specifically banning pilots' use of laptops, but the airline says it's a violation of the flight deck policies that could cost the pilots their jobs.