They can't dispute the fact that they flew their Northwest passenger jet more than 100 miles past its intended destination, but the two pilots are appealing the revocation of their licenses.

It was Oct. 21 when Flight 188, headed for Minneapolis-St. Paul from San Diego, was over Wisconsin before the pilots realized their mistake. They say they were looking at Northwest's new scheduling policy on their laptops (a violation of company rules) and lost track of time. Afterward, the National Transportation Safety Board pulled their licenses.

Both Captain Timothy Cheney and First Officer Richard Cole were suspended — with pay — by the airline. Their appeal means there will be a hearing before an administrative law judge.

Yesterday, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration — Randy Babbitt — cited the Northwest incident as one of several examples recently of unprofessional behavior by pilots.