Pilot locked out of cockpit forces emergency landing

MANILA, Philippines — A pilot who took a toilet break and found himself locked out of the cockpit due to a door malfunction forced a Delta Airline plane to have an emergency landing Thursday.

Delta Air Flight 165, which was en route to Las Vegas from Minneapolis and carrying 160 passengers, was forced to make an emergency landing as the unidentified pilot “was not able to re-enter the flight deck because of a door jam,” the airline said in a statement given to Reuters.

The first officer of the flight took over control and landed the Md-90 aircraft safely at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Delta Air emphasized that the said plane “can be landed with one pilot.”

In a cellphone video taken by a passenger named Curry Russell, the pilot can be seen explaining the flight situation to the passengers.

Aviation authorities said that a probe on the mishap is underway. AJH

RELATED STORIES

F-16 fighter jets escort planes in Atlanta over bomb threats

Passengers complain of 12-hour wait on tarmac

Read more...