WASHINGTON (AP) – The two airline pilots who overshot their destination by 150 miles (240 kilometers) have prompted the Obama administration to broaden its look at distracted driving to include distracted flying, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

The use of mobile devices and laptops while driving any type of vehicle is unsafe, LaHood told a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

"We're not going to equivocate on this. Any kind of distraction, whether it's trains, planes or automobiles is a distraction and we should figure out ways to get these cell phones, the texting, and the use of laptops out of the hands of people who are supposed to be delivering the public to somewhere safely,'' LaHood said.

The pilots of Northwest Airlines Flight 188 told safety investigators they lost track of time and place while using their laptops to work out crew schedules. They said they were out of communications with air traffic controllers and their company's dispatchers for 91 minutes while cruising at 37,000 feet (11,200 meters), unaware that they had flown their Airbus 320 jet past their destination of Minneapolis in the upper Midwest until a flight attendant called them on an intercom.

The incident "raises serious safety concerns,'' said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat and chairman of the committee.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, noted that the Federal Aviation Administration does not specifically prohibit the use of laptop computers above 10,000 feet (3,050 meters) and asked whether the Transportation Department might regulate the use of laptops by pilots.

"I have my own ideas about this, but I'm going to work with the folks at the FAA and our department to deal with this issue,'' LaHood said. "We're going to take a very close look at that entire issue.''

Afterward, LaHood told reporters that FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt is exploring whether there should be a uniform prohibition on the use of laptops and other personal electronic devices during flight. Some airlines already have policies governing their use. "We can't have these kinds of distractions in the cockpit. We can't,'' LaHood said.