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WINNIPEG - An Air Canada pilot who left the flight deck to visit the washroom found himself locked out of the cockpit when he tried to return — forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges.  It happened aboard an Air Canada Jazz flight on Saturday, and the company confirmed to Global National yesterday it is conducting an internal investigation into the incident that took place on the Bombardier CRJ-100 carrying as many as 50 passengers from Ottawa to Winnipeg.
At approximately 4:15 p.m., with approximately 20 minutes remaining on the two hour and 30 minute flight, the pilot on Flight 8475 apparently left the cockpit to use the washroom at the back of the plane, leaving the flight’s first officer in control of the plane — a normal event when a member of the crew needs to use a washroom.

A flight attendant remained in the cockpit with the first officer.

However when the pilot returned, the door was apparently stuck — or locked — and the pilot was unable to return into the cockpit.

For approximately 10 minutes, passengers described seeing the pilot bang on the door and communicating with the cockpit through an internal telephone, but being unable to open the cabin door.

Eventually, the crew forced the door open by taking the door off its hinges completely, and the pilots safely landed the plane — although in the event that the pilot was unable to access the cockpit, the first officer is also fully qualified to land the aircraft.

Air Canada Jazz said the incident is a first for them. But in Canada, a pilot getting locked out of the cockpit is a “non-reportable” incident, meaning airlines have no obligation to inform Transport Canada about it as they investigate themselves.

However, airline analysts warn that incidents like these are disasters waiting to happen — both in terms of accidents related to human error and vulnerability to terrorism.

The pilot “can be taken hostage by someone in the plane with hostile intent,” said Peter St. John, a Winnipeg-based security analyst.

“There’s sloppiness, there’s inconsistency, and there are vulnerabilities that terrorists are going to notice, and they’re going to see it and say this is easy pickings.”

Air Canada insists that this is the first instance of this ever happening, but since being locked out of the cockpit is a non-reportable incident, there is no way of confirming their frequency as the airlines are under no obligation to report them.

The U.S. flight agency is proposing an $18,000 civil penalty against United Airlines for two maintenance violations it said occurred before a United jet skidded off a runway and ended up in three feet of snow in February.

The Federal Aviation Administration disclosed the fine on Thursday after The Associated Press asked about violations cited in FAA documents. The FAA said it notified United of the proposed penalty on Friday.

A Feb. 25 flight with 125 people aboard slid off the runway after landing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. No one was seriously hurt. The National Transportation Safety Board said in March that the A320 at Jackson Hole and another United A320 that also skidded off a runway had crossed wiring in their main landing gear. It is believed that caused the wheels to lock.

United checked all its A320s and found a third with the wiring problem. That aircraft was not involved in an accident.

FAA documents reviewed by the AP alleged two violations by United:

– For three weeks leading up to the Jackson Hole incident, United had operated that A320 on 66 flight legs when it “was not airworthy” according to the instructions in an Airbus manual.

– United failed to identify that wiring for anti-skid devices on the landing gear were swapped.

The FAA found that the wires were swapped when new landing gear was installed on that aircraft in Denver on Feb. 3. The connections were tested and the plane returned to flying the next day.

In a written statement United said it had not yet received a copy of the FAA’s letter and that immediately after the incident it took the “corrective steps that were necessary to ensure the A320 anti-skid systems worked properly and shared that information with our partners and employees.”

United is a unit of Chicago-based UAL Corp.

Airline maintenance has been in the spotlight since spring, when the FAA came under fire for its handling of safety issues at Southwest Airlines Co. and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines. The agency is seeking a $7.1 million fine from American and has proposed a $10.2 million fine — its largest ever — against Southwest.

Boeing on Monday delivered EgyptAir’s third Next-Generation 737-800. The airplane, shown here during flight tests at Boeing Field, is the airline’s first 737 to be painted in Star Alliance livery.

On July 11, EgyptAir celebrated its induction as the 21st member of Star Alliance, officially expanding its network to 1,624 weekly flights to 69 destinations around the world. The Cairo Airport Authority is scheduled to open a dedicated Star Alliance terminal later this year, capable of serving 11 million passengers annually.

Boeing news release, SEATTLE, Aug. 20, 2008