Pilot locked out of cockpid DURING flight

[Killyp]

Link

OTTAWA - The pilot of a Canadian airliner who went to the washroom during a flight found himself locked out of the cockpit, forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in, the airline said Wednesday.

The incident occurred aboard a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg Saturday. The regional jet, capable of carrying 50 people, was operated by Air Canada's Jazz subsidiary.

Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stewart said that with 30 minutes of the flight to go, the pilot went to the washroom, leaving the first officer in charge. But when he tried to get back into the cockpit, the door would not open.

"The door malfunctioned.... This is a very rare occurrence," Stewart said, adding that the crew's decision to remove the door had been in line with company policy.

A report in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper said that for about 10 minutes "passengers described seeing the pilot bang on the door and communicating with the cockpit though an internal telephone but being unable to open the door".

Stewart said the paper's report was "a bit dramatic" and stressed that at no time had the plane or passengers been in danger. She did not say how many people had been on board.

Air Canada is a unit of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc.

At no point was anybody in danger? What are they talking about?!?!?!

Makes you wonder how much thought they've put into the simple things. First a plane takes off from the wrong airport and secondly they managet to get the door stuck...

 

[sjpetry]

First a plane takes off from the wrong airport and secondly they managet to get the door stuck...

You know and wall that Jazz. It would have been bad if it happened on a large plane.

 

[EricNau]

At no point was anybody in danger? What are they talking about?!?!?!

The first officer was still in the cockpit, and it only takes one person to fly a plane. Why would anyone be in danger?

 

[Bobdude161]

No danger at all. Everything is perfectly fine. No need to worry. Everything is under control. Everything is happy and great. What? The co-pilot is passed out? OH NOES!!!!

 

[ITASOR]

No danger at all. Everything is perfectly fine. No need to worry. Everything is under control. Everything is happy and great. What? The co-pilot is passed out? OH NOES!!!!

Well, I mean thats hard to say. Just by going up in the plane they're putting themselves in "danger"...even if there's 50 people capable of flying the plane. So there is 1 person flying instead of two now. There's a little more "danger" but it's not like it's going out of control or something...

 

[plinden]

... forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in

Erm, can someone remind me again of why the cockpit door is locked ... ?
Is it that easy to remove it from its hinges?

 

[iMeowbot]

Erm, can someone remind me again of why the cockpit door is locked ... ?

To keep the bogeyman out!

Is it that easy to remove it from its hinges?

They seem to have done it from inside, that seems okay...

 

[iAlan]

Unlike a car...

you can't slide a coat-hanger in the window...unless the pilot wanted to take a stroll at 50,000 feet!

 

[Kingsly]

They seem to have done it from inside, that seems okay...

Thank goodness for Autopilot! Otherwise... well lets just say the door removal would've been 'interesting.'

you can't slide a coat-hanger in the window...unless the pilot wanted to take a stroll at 50,000 feet!

A regional jet like that wouldn't be flying at such an altitude.

The cruising altitude of a normal commercial jet airplane today is around 12,000 m (35,000 ft).

 

[Killyp]

The first officer was still in the cockpit, and it only takes one person to fly a plane. Why would anyone be in danger?

They have two pilots for a reason....

 

[Thomas Veil]

Erm, can someone remind me again of why the cockpit door is locked ... ?
Is it that easy to remove it from its hinges?

I read this story last night, and that's the first thing I thought of! If it's that easy to do...uh...can't terrorists do it?

 

[monkeydo_jb]

Maybe the hinges are only accessible from the inside and the first officer helped get the door off. Eh?

 

[Chris Bangle]

Thats the kind of thing you would expect form an epsode of Father Ted

 

[emw]

On the plus side, at least the locks work.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Maybe the hinges are only accessible from the inside and the first officer helped get the door off. Eh?

CNN version says vaguely that the "crew" removed the door, which is why I thought the hinges are on the outside. One first officer alone in the cockpit doesn't really constitute a "crew".

 

[yippy]

That is really funny.

Although if you can remove the hinges from the outside then it kind of beats the purpose of the door locking.

 

[Abstract]

Link



At no point was anybody in danger? What are they talking about?!?!?!

Makes you wonder how much thought they've put into the simple things. First a plane takes off from the wrong airport and secondly they managet to get the door stuck...

It could have been worse. At least there were no snakes......on the plane.

 

[monkeydo_jb]

CNN version says vaguely that the "crew" removed the door, which is why I thought the hinges are on the outside. One first officer alone in the cockpit doesn't really constitute a "crew".

Quite right.

 

[SilentPanda]

Thank goodness for Autopilot! Otherwise... well lets just say the door removal would've been 'interesting.'

Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Define "interesting".
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: [deadpan] Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?

 

[Bobdude161]

It could have been worse. At least there were no snakes......on the plane.

I knew that was coming sometime

 

[IJ Reilly]

They have two pilots for a reason....

Workload reduction and redundancy, mainly. Not because one person isn't capable of flying the airplane. Not so very long ago, the minimum crew complement on passenger aircraft was three.

 

[Dafke]

Erm, can someone remind me again of why the cockpit door is locked ... ?
Is it that easy to remove it from its hinges?

Dudes relax, it was the toilet door they had to break open, not the cockpit door!

 

[notjustjay]

Dudes relax, it was the toilet door they had to break open, not the cockpit door!

I'm not so sure about that.

 

[bearbo]

Thank goodness for Autopilot! Otherwise... well lets just say the door removal would've been 'interesting.'

if he can remove the hinge, why can't he open the door the normal way?

 

[Kingsly]

if he can remove the hinge, why can't he open the door the normal way?

Lock jammed.