This weekend, a pilot for Southwest got a taste of what can only be described as the true Southwest flying experience, when he was forced to board his plane through the cockpit window, after he wound up accidentally locked out of the cockpit.
Passenger Matt Rexroad, who was flying to Sacramento from San Diego, told CBS: "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."
He said that while waiting at the gate, the gate agent announced there was "an issue with the flight deck door", according to CBS. They told passengers that the plane would be delayed and that someone would need to open the cockpit from the inside.
He then says he looked out his gate's window and saw that "this pilot, to his credit, crawled through the cockpit window and opened the door."
Southwest offered the following statement to CBS: "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."
Rexroad concluded: "From my point of view, credit to the pilot and the team for being able to make that happen."
No word on whether the pilot was truly locked out or if this is some new test pilot program for Southwest to reduce costs even further...
This weekend, a pilot for Southwest got a taste of what can only be described as the true Southwest flying experience, when he was forced to board his plane through the cockpit window, after he wound up accidentally locked out of the cockpit.
Passenger Matt Rexroad, who was flying to Sacramento from San Diego, told CBS: “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.”
He said that while waiting at the gate, the gate agent announced there was “an issue with the flight deck door”, according to CBS. They told passengers that the plane would be delayed and that someone would need to open the cockpit from the inside.
He then says he looked out his gate’s window and saw that “this pilot, to his credit, crawled through the cockpit window and opened the door.”
Southwest offered the following statement to CBS: “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.”
Rexroad concluded: “From my point of view, credit to the pilot and the team for being able to make that happen.”
No word on whether the pilot was truly locked out or if this is some new test pilot program for Southwest to reduce costs even further…
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