The two pilots said they got distracted during a heated discussion, and lost track of where they were. But federal officials are investigating if pilot fatigue may be to blame.
"This bears all the earmarks of a crew that's gone to sleep. I would say actually that there's less than a 1 percent chance that there was anything else going on," said ABC News Aviation Consultant John Nance.
The flight was turned around as soon as the pilots noticed their mistake. None of the 147 passengers even realized the error, until the plane landed and was swarmed by police.
Four National Guard jets were also put on alert, but never took off.
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