By India Today World Desk: A Southwest Airlines pilot was seen climbing through the cockpit window after a passenger accidentally locked the flight deck door.
The incident happened on Wednesday (May 24) at San Diego International Airport and involved a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Sacramento, reported the New York Post.
The pilot, who has not been identified yet, was seen in a photo crawling through the small, square window from atop a flight of mobile boarding stairs. The photo, taken by passenger Max Rexroad, has gone viral on social media.
“No jokeâæ 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,” Rexroad wrote alongside the photo on Twitter.
Rexroad told CNN he was getting ready to board a flight from San Diego to Sacramento when he saw the plane’s pilot crawling through a window.
“During the boarding process, while other customers and flight attendants were onboard, 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,” the airline said in a statement to CNN.
“It is amazing that this pilot went above and beyond to get this flight out. We only left eight minutes late. Impressive effort by Southwest Airlines,” Rexroad said.
In response, Southwest Airlines wrote on Twitter, “Well that is definitely something you don’t see every day.”