Plane makes emergency landing after crew bangs on cockpit door due to communications problem

A plane made an emergency landing Monday after its pilots lost radio communication with flight attendants, prompting them to bang on the locked cockpit door and raising fears someone was trying to break in.

Flight 6569 took off from Omaha, Nebraska, bound for Los Angeles at 7:23 p.m. ET, but turned around and landed at Eppley Airfield just 36 minutes later, according to FlightRadar.

The American Airlines flight was operated by regional carrier SkyWest. The two did not immediately respond to requests for comment overnight.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane landed safely “after declaring an emergency when the pilot was unable to contact the cabin crew.”

“After landing, it was determined that there was a problem with the intercom system and the flight crew was knocking on the cockpit door,” the statement said.

According to a video shot after the plane landed, the captain announced to confused passengers: “We didn’t know if something was going on with the plane, that’s why we’re coming back here. It’s going to be a little bit. We need to figure out what’s going on.”

Airliner doors are normally locked during flights and have been reinforced under FAA rules introduced after 9/11. However, most commercial aircraft also have a touchpad through which the flight crew can request access – it is unclear whether this was attempted in this case.