American Airlines flight makes emergency landing after pilots heard banging on cockpit door

Panicked pilots have made an emergency landing after they thought someone was trying to break into the cockpit.

LA-bound American Airlines flight 6469 took off from Eppley Airfield in Omaha just after 6.40pm Monday (local time) but a short time later the pilots made the call to turn back after they heard loud knocking on the locked cabin door and only static on the intercom.

But it was all a false alarm. Rather than a would-be hijacker, the knocking was coming from the cabin crew.

It has been revealed the crew began banging on the cockpit door after discovering there was a problem with the intercom used to communicate with the pilots.

Because of the uncertainty, the pilots decided to land the plane, SkyWest, which operated the plane, said in a statement.

“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,” a Federal Aviation Administration statement read.

“After landing, it was determined there was a problem with the inter-phone system and the flight crew was knocking on the cockpit door.”

Brian Windhorst, a basketball writer for ESPN, told the New York Times he saw one of the flight attendants knocking on the cockpit door “many, many times”.

About 10 minute into the flight the plane made a hard u-turn, he said.

“That wasn’t normal. There was no announcement.”

Mr Windhorst said that on landing the plane was taken to a holding area and was “immediately surrounded by police cars”.

“Three police officers got on board, and one asked the passengers if they were OK.”

“The flight attendants and pilots might have been more unnerved than the passengers.”

The plane eventually took off again at 10.45pm and arrived four hours late in LA.