A Los Angeles-bound flight made an emergency landing Monday after its pilots mistakenly thought someone was trying to breach the cockpit when its flight attendants banged on the locked door because the plane’s communication system went down.
SkyWest flight 6569 returned to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb., at approximately 7:45 p.m. CDT “after declaring an emergency when the pilot could not contact the cabin crew,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
The American Airlines flight, operated by SkyWest, traveled less than 40 miles before returning to Omaha.
“After landing, it was determined there was a problem with the inter-phone system and the flight crew was knocking on the cockpit door,” the FAA said in its statement.
SkyWest said in a statement to The Hill that the flight returned to Nebraska on Monday “out of abundance of caution after experiencing communication issues with a flight crew mic.”
“The flight later continued to Los Angeles. We apologize for the inconvenience,” the statement continued.
The captain apologized to the passengers after landing.
“We weren’t sure if something was going on with the airplane, so that’s why we’re coming back here,” the captain said. “It’s going to be a little bit. We have to figure out what’s going on.”
Video taken by passengers on the flight shows police officers boarding the plane after the emergency landing, as police vehicles approached on the tarmac.
Updated at 11:16 a.m. EDT