A system malfunction on a Los Angeles-bound SkyWest flight with callsign 6469 was confused for a hijacking attempt by the pilots after the crew banged the door of the cockpit on failing to communicate via plane's interphone.
The incident took place on Monday when the SkyWest flight bound for Los Angeles International Airport turned around in the air - in what passengers described was a 'very hard U-turn' soon after takeoff and landed back at Omaha's Eppley Airfield, reported abc7.com.
Video purportedly recorded by a passenger showed police vehicles on that tarmac at Omaha's Eppley Airfield. Officers boarded the plane after Flight 6469 made an emergency landing.
The plane was an Embraer ERJ 175, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Flight 6469 emergency landing | What happened
{{/usCountry}}The plane was an Embraer ERJ 175, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Flight 6469 emergency landing | What happened
{{/usCountry}}The pilots in the cockpit reportedly lost contact with the crew in the cabin shortly after takeoff. Passengers saw the crew, unable to communicate with the pilots, banging on the door of the cockpit.
Hearing the banging and sensing silence on the interphone, the pilots mistakenly believed someone was attempting to breach the cockpit. They declared an emergency and turned the flight back to Omaha.
Upon landing, the captain addressed the passengers, apologising for the unexpected return to the airport of origin.
"We weren't sure if something was going on with the airplane, so that's why we're coming back here," abc7.com quoted the captain. "It's gonna be a little bit. We have to figure out what's going on," the captain added.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement after the incident and said a problem with the inter-phone system was detected on landing.
"SkyWest Flight 6569 landed safely after returning to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, around 7:45 p.m. local time on Monday, Oct. 20, after declaring an emergency when the pilot could not contact the cabin crew," the statement said. "After landing, it was determined there was a problem with the inter-phone system and the flight crew was knocking on the cockpit door," the reported quoted the statement.
The plane had flown only 40 miles into the 1,300-mile journey before turning back, according to the report which cited an online flight tracker.
Brian Windhorst, a basketball writer for ESPN who was sitting in the third row on the plane said about 10 minutes in, "we make a very hard U-turn.” “That wasn’t normal. There was no announcement,” the New York Times quoted Windhorst.