USA: Hijacking fear on plane bound for New York after pilot locks himself in toilet

"What I'm being told is he's stuck in the lav, and, uh, someone with a thick foreign accent is giving me a password to access the cockpit. I'm not about to let him in."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Record | UK
By Ryan Parry | November 18 2011

A PILOT sparked a terror hijack alert after accidentally locking himself in the toilet as his plane circled New York.

The captain managed to alert a passenger and sent him to ask the co-pilot for assistance.

But the man's Middle Eastern accent spooked the co-pilot - who told the control tower at LaGuardia airport there was a possible hijacking.

He told them: "The captain disappeared in the back, and, uh, I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to access the cockpit."

The passenger explained through the door what had happened but the co-pilot was still suspicious, even when he gave a secret password.

He said: "What I'm being told is he's stuck in the lav, and, uh, someone with a thick foreign accent is giving me a password to access the cockpit. I'm not about to let him in."


Fighter planes were put on standby as the passenger continued to bang on the flight deck door.

And the panic on the ground only ended when the pilot finally managed to force his way out of the toilet.

When an air traffic controller called back to check if "there is any level of disturbance on the airplane", he responded, "Negative".

The incident took place on a Chatauqua Airlines flight from North Carolina, which was in a holding pattern above LaGuardia when the pilot decided he needed the toilet.

A spokesman for Chatauqua said police talked to the passenger on landing and quickly established that there had been a big misunderstanding.



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