Photos show Southwest Airlines pilot climbing through window of locked plane in San Diego
SAN DIEGO - A Southwest Airlines passenger captured photos of something he'd never seen before: a pilot climbing through the front window of an airliner.
Matt Rexroad was inside a San Diego International Airport terminal waiting to board the flight to Sacramento when he saw the strange incident unfold in front of his eyes. A pilot, followed close behind by an airline worker, climbed a ladder leading up to the exterior of the parked Sacramento-bound plane, near the cockpit window. They then opened the window and the pilot climbed inside.
He tweeted: "No joke… yesterday last passenger got off plane with no one else on board, he shut the door. Door locked. Pilot having to crawl through cockpit window to open door so we can board."
The scene was reminiscent of someone locking their keys inside of a car. Rexroad shared three photos with CBS13 of the maneuver.
Shortly after, an announcement came over the PA system saying that someone aboard the plane accidentally shut the door to the unoccupied cockpit, which then locked, Rexroad said.
According to the airline, during the boarding process, a customer had opened the forward lavatory door, causing the cockpit door, which can only be opened from the inside, to accidentally close. Unfortunately, the pilot was not yet on the plane at the time.
Rexroad said that, despite the incident, the flight left on time.
"From my point of view, credit to the pilot and the team for being able to make that happen," Rexroad said.
The flight from San Diego to Sacramento takes about an hour and 35 minutes.