Washington [US], October 22: The pilot made an emergency landing in a mistaken belief that a hijack had occurred, after the communication system with flight attendants malfunctioned and there were loud knocks on the cockpit door.
The New York Post reported on October 22 that an American Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in Nebraska, USA, after the pilots mistakenly thought someone was trying to break into the cockpit to hijack the plane when flight attendants knocked loudly on the cockpit door.
American Airlines Flight 6469 suddenly turned back to Omaha airport on the evening of October 20, less than 40 minutes after departing for Los Angeles (California, USA).
The incident occurred when the crew suddenly lost contact with the cockpit due to a malfunction in the internal communication system, according to an airline spokesman.
The pilots, hearing static over the intercom, thought someone was trying to hijack the plane when flight attendants began banging on the cockpit door. They immediately turned the SkyWest-operated plane around and made an emergency landing.
"SkyWest Flight 6569 landed safely after returning to Eppley Airport in Omaha at approximately 7:45 p.m. on October 20 after declaring an emergency after the pilot was unable to communicate with flight attendants," the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
"After landing, authorities determined that the internal communications system was malfunctioning and the flight crew knocked on the cockpit door," according to the FAA.
Video footage recorded by passengers shows law enforcement boarding the plane just minutes after landing.
According to ABC News, after the misunderstanding was cleared up, the captain apologized to the passengers. "We weren't sure if something was wrong with the plane, so we turned back here," the captain was told by passengers.
The Embraer ERJ 175 was only about 40 miles into its 1,300-mile (2,092-km) journey when the incident occurred, according to flight tracking site FlightAware .
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
