an incident aboard . Northwest Flight 188 -- carrying 144 people and five crew members -- flew past the Minneapolis airport during a mysterious 78 minutes of radio silence beginning about 7:56 p.m. ET Wednesday night . The Airbus A320 was carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew members , according to the National Transportation Safety Board . Air traffic controllers re-established radio contact after the plane had flown about 150 miles past its destination . Watch how Flight 188 drama unfolded '' The National Transportation Safety Board , which is investigating the incident , is hoping the plane 's cockpit voice recorder will either confirm the pilot 's account or provide evidence of another possible explanation , including whether the captain and first officer had fallen asleep . However , approached outside his home Friday , the first officer told CNN affiliate KGW that `` nobody was asleep in the cockpit and no arguments took place . '' Cole was referring to NTSB 's earlier statement that said , `` The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness . '' `` There 's a lot of misinterpretation going
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Police met a wayward jet that overshot the runway by 150 miles -- while not responding to control tower communications -- and said the pilots were `` cooperative , apologetic and appreciative . '' Authorities are reviewing the plane 's cockpit voice recorder as well as its flight data recorder . The Minneapolis-St . Paul -LSB- Minnesota -RSB- Airport Police report on the incident , released Friday , said officers asked flight attendants to keep passengers in their seats while they checked out the cockpit , where , they said , `` the door was standing open . '' The police report identified the pilot as Timothy B. Cheney and the first officer as Richard I. Cole . `` The pilot ... indicated they had become involved in conversation and had not heard radio communications , '' the report said . `` They indicated there had been no involvement from anyone in the cabin . '' `` Both volunteered to a preliminary breath test with the result being .000 for both parties , '' the report said . The lead flight attendant , the report said , told officers that she was unaware there had been