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| Air India air plane |
A pilot was locked out of the cockpit after he left for a toilet break.
An Air India flight was forced to land after the pilot shut the door of the cabin to go to the bathroom.
When the pilot returned to the cockpit he was unable to open the door as the cockpit door was jammed. The flight, which was en-route from New Delhi to Bangalore, was diverted to Bhopal airport where the co-pilot was able to land safely.
"The pilot had left the cockpit for a short time to go to the bathroom and upon returning to the cabin the door was locked," an Air India spokesperson said.
"The door was jammed and all efforts to open the door, even from within failed. The co-pilot, after taking permission from ground control, diverted the flight to Bhopal and landed at 17:55 hours," he added.
“It must have been nerve wracking for everyone on the plane including the pilot and co-pilot. Thankfully it all ended well,” Sam West, 27, of Huston, Texas told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the incident. The door was fixed by maintenance engineers on the ground and the plane continued its journey three hours later.
In another incident, a commercial aircraft was forced into an emergency landing after the pilot suddenly passed out mid flight.
An aircraft was required to perform an emergency landing Thursday after a mid air mishap threatened to turn the flight into turbulence. The pilot passed out in the hallway when he was supposed to be flying the plane in the cabin.
The pilot of Flight 473 of Alaska Airlines, from Los Angeles to Seattle, opened the cabin door and collapsed in the hallway in front of the passengers.
"The stewardess was going up and down the aisle saying, any paramedics, doctors, nurses, someone who can come help," one passenger said.
The co-pilot took control of the aircraft and safely returned the plane with 116 passengers and five crew to land in an emergency landing at the Portland International Airport, just after 9:00 pm local time, according to Alaska Airlines.
An ambulance took the pilot, who has been flying with the airline for 28 years, to a nearby hospital.
An airline spokesperson said the pilot suffered from a medical condition, but, citing company policy, declined to be more specific. Another crew came and brought the passengers to Seattle in the same plane later that night.