A Chatauqua Airlines pilot caused a terrorism alert this week after becoming stuff in the lavatory during an in-progress flight.
During a trip from Asheville to New York City the pilot exited the cock-pit to use the bathroom when he became trapped, after a passenger heard the pilot banging on the door he told the passenger to tell his co-pilot and the cockpit crew what had happened.
Speaking in an accented voice the passenger told the co-pilot what was happening at which point the co-pilot contacted air traffic control and said:
“The captain disappeared in the back, and, uh, I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to access the cockpit. What I’m being told is he’s stuck in the lav, and, uh, someone with a thick foreign accent is giving me a password to access the cockpit.”
Not convinced by the passengers accent the controller told the co-pilot to declare an emergency (the plane had been sitting in a holding pattern above the airport), the co-pilot was then instructed to “just get on the ground.”
Eventually the captain was able to break free from his confines, enter the cock-pit and land the airplane with no further incidents.
[Image via ShutterStock.com ]