Southwest Airlines pilot climbs through window of plane locked by accident

By Brady Halbleib

Updated on: May 26, 2023 / 1:47 PM / CBS Sacramento

SAN DIEGO -- A Sacramento man captured the moments after an airline pilot got locked out of the cockpit! It wasn't in the air, it happened just before passengers were let on before the flight from San Diego to Sacramento.

"It's certainly something you don't see every day and I fly a lot of miles and I've never seen anything like that," passenger Matt Rexroad said.

Rexroad was flying back to Sacramento after visiting his daughter in San Diego.

While waiting at his gate, Rexroad heard the flight agent announce over the loudspeaker that there was an issue with the flight deck door.

They mentioned the plane would be delayed and someone would need to unlock the door from the inside of the cockpit. And sure enough, Rexroad looked out the window and saw, "this pilot, to his credit, crawled through the cockpit window and opened the door."

In a statement to CBS13, Southwest Airlines said: During the boarding process, a Customer opened the forward lavatory door and inadvertently pushed the Flight Deck door closed (which locked) while the Pilots scheduled to operate the flight were preparing to board the aircraft. One of our Pilots unlocked the door from a Flight Deck window, and the flight departed as scheduled.

While the flight was delayed briefly, Rexroad says he's impressed by how quickly it was handled.

"From my point of view, credit to the pilot and the team for being able to make that happen," Rexroad said.

First published on May 25, 2023 / 10:56 PM

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