It’s not day by day that an airline passenger unintentionally locks pilots out of the cockpit… thankfully it occurred whereas on the bottom.
Passenger unintentionally locks Southwest cockpit door
On Wednesday, Could 24, 2023, a Southwest Airways flight from Sacramento (SMF) to San Diego (SAN) had a slight delay as a result of the pilots acquired locked out of the cockpit.
How may this occur? Nicely, whereas the plane was on the gate, a passenger reportedly opened the ahead toilet door, and inadvertently pushed the cockpit door of the Boeing 737 closed. I can completely see how this could occur, since usually the bathroom door and cockpit door are “hooked” collectively through the boarding course of, simply in order that they don’t preserve slamming into each other.
When the cockpit door was inadvertently closed, the pilots hadn’t but boarded, so there was nobody within the cockpit. It’s commonplace for passenger boarding to start out earlier than the pilots get on the plane, particularly on Southwest, provided that the airline usually operates “direct” flights, which have a cease, and passengers don’t should deplane.
The pilots ended up getting access to the cockpit by having some stairs pulled as much as the cockpit window. The cockpit window was then opened, and the pilot climbed in that manner. The flight solely ended up being delayed by eight minutes.
How flight deck doorways are ordinarily opened
Understandably, many individuals are puzzled by how plane engines are began, how cockpit doorways are opened, and so on. No, business plane don’t have keys that you just open the cockpit door with, or that you just use to start out the engines. Somewhat there are procedures in place, they usually simply contain bodily entry to the plane and information, and never any keys.
Beneath you may see an fascinating coaching module for easy methods to open the cockpit door of the Boeing 737. As you may see, there are completely different settings relying on the state of affairs.
Backside line
It’s not day by day you hear of a passenger locking pilots out of the cockpit, however that’s precisely what occurred on a Southwest flight earlier this week. Passengers had boarded earlier than the pilots, and somebody tried to make use of the ahead toilet, however unintentionally closed the cockpit door within the course of.
This meant the cockpit was locked from the skin, so the crew needed to get inventive with cockpit entry. Stairs have been pulled as much as the jet, after which the pilot climbed into the cockpit.
What do you make of this Southwest 737 cockpit incident?
