During one of Air India’s domestic flights on May 13, 2013, passengers on board experienced a very tense moment when the cockpit door got locked. The door was jammed when the pilot was away from his seat because he needed to use the bathroom.
Due to this situation, the flight had to be diverted to Bhopal, where it landed safely with the co-pilot in command. The number of passengers on the flight was not revealed. Air India issued a statement saying, “The commander had left the cockpit for a short while to visit the toilet, and on returning found the door locked. The door had got jammed, and all efforts to open it even from inside by the co-pilot failed”.
Company’s statement also reads that the co-pilot took permission from the ground control, diverted the flight to Bhopal and landed at 1755 hours. After landing safely, ground maintenance staff rectified the problem and the flight took off at 2045 hours, after getting clearance by DGCA and it reached Bengaluru at 2230 hours.
The airline also said that the flight was diverted to Bhopal due to technical reasons and that there was a supernumerary trainee pilot in the cockpit with the co-pilot.
