Delta Flight 1651 from Minneapolis to Las Vegas was forced to make an emergency landing after the plane’s pilot was locked out of the cockpit. Cell phone video footage captured the moments that the pilot joined the passengers in the back of the plane.
CBS News reports that Delta Airlines is investigating exactly how the captain was locked out of the cockpit mid-flight. According to the report, the plane was carrying 168 passengers from Minneapolis to Las Vegas when the incident occurred.
Cell phone footage captured by a passenger on the Delta flight shows the captain as he speaks with passengers about the incident. According to the video, the captain had exited the cockpit to use the restroom. When he returned, the cockpit door had malfunctioned and he was unable to return to his pilot’s seat. The incident happened as the plane was halfway through its two-and-a-half hour flight.
Passenger Jesse Dougherty told ABC News that there was very little panic but some confusion.
“About half way through [the 2.5-hour flight] there seemed to be some talking at the front of the plane. You could see the captain out there. There wasn’t a huge panic but some confusion.”
In the cell phone footage uploaded to YouTube , the captain can be seen speaking to passengers in the back of the plane. The passenger recording the event notes that “that’s our pilot. He just got locked out. We are going to land with the First Officer. The pilot is in the back of the plane… pretty crazy. Pretty exciting.”
Following the incident, Delta crews noted that the door malfunctioned and the first officer had to do an unassisted landing.
“There was a door malfunctioned that locked the captain out so the first officer had to do an unassisted landing. We take everything very seriously. This was an unusual landing. He called the airport so that we would have ground response available.”