Many people are wondering about a news report about a Northwest airliner flying over 100 miles past their destination airport. How could this happen you maybe wondering? Well it shouldn't happen! Pilots are suppose to know where they are at all times. We know when we are close to our destination so if an air traffic controller forgets to descend you then it come the pilots responsibility to question the controller to get the airplane descending. Sometimes its common for a pilot  to miss a hand off from the previous air traffic controller. This sometimes happen because of miscommunication, work related distractions or simply not hearing your radio call for your flight because there are so many airlines flights with similar call signs. But most professional pilots will periodically ask for a radio check with the air traffic frequency their on especially if they notice the radio has been quiet for 5-10 minutes. It's uncommon for a radio to be silent for long periods. Most of the time a pilot will quickly reestablish communications by going back to their previous sectors radio, or by looking at their navigation chart that tells you what frequency you should be on based upon where they're at. Also, the airline company's dispatcher will try to reach you on the company frequency if theirs any communication problems. Remember since Sept 11 all commercial traffic must be accounted for otherwise the government will start calling in the military. But I think its inexcusable to not know how far you are away from your destination & losing communications for such a long period which leads me to think that there will be more facts to come out on this incident.