Q&A on the News

By Lori Johnston

For the AJC

Q: I am wondering whether the pilots who were on their computers and overshot the destination had gotten their licenses back? I know they were due to reapply about a week or two ago.

— Carolyn Chandler, Avondale Estates

A: Timothy Cheney and Richard Cole, the pilots on the Northwest Airlines flight who overshot the Minneapolis airport by more than 100 miles in October 2009, have not gotten their licenses back, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington told Q&A on the News on Friday. Their licenses were revoked, and they were able to apply for new licenses with the FAA on Aug. 29 as part of the settlement agreement. The FAA spokesman said there is no indication that they have reapplied for their licenses.

Q: We always see how fast a pitcher can throw the ball, but can they calculate the speed at which the ball leaves the bat? Is a line drive faster than the pitcher's incoming speed?

— George Cannon, Cumming

A: Alan M. Nathan, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who maintains a website called the Physics of Baseball (http://go.illinois.edu/physicsofbaseball), told Q&A on the News in an e-mail that the speed of the ball leaving a bat often is higher than the pitch. “For a very well hit ball, one that could be a long fly ball, the batted ball speed is routinely over 100 mph, and often as much as 10 mph higher [than the pitch],” Nathan wrote. He added that batted ball speed, or exit speed, depends more on the swing speed than on the pitch speed.

Lori Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).