Cockpit without the pilot
NZPA-AAP Canberra Three Australian politicians watched in disbelief as the pilot of their aircraft tried desperately to get back into the cockpit after locking himself out just before landing. , A distraught pilot banging his shoulder against the cockpit door caused more than a few raised eyebrows among passengers on a flight to Vientiane in Laos, South-East Asia, on Sunday. When the pilot knelt down and tried physically to lift the door off its hinges, idle curiosity began to turn to mild panic, according to one of the politicians, a Liberal
member of Parliament, Mr Alan Cadman. “I couldn’t help wondering how much experience the co-pilot had,” said Mr Cadman on his return from a fact-finding Asian tour. “Fortunately he was still up front, but it does sap your confidence a little.” Back in Australia this week after a hectic tour of South-East Asia, Mr Cadman was quick to treat the incident as a bit of a joke. The pilot, he said, apparently had felt the call of nature and left the cockpit to visit the lavatory at the back of the aircraft.
Unfortunately, when he. closed the door, luggage In the cockpit fell everywhere jamming the door shut and leaving the hapless pilot firmly locked out The incident ended happily when a hostess still in the cockpit was able to clear the luggage away and get the door open again. Two days later Mr Cadman and his two Federal Opposition colleagues, the Veterans’ Affairs spokesman, Mr Tim Fischer, and a backbencher, Mr John Sharp, must have been wondering just what their
chances were of a safe return to Australia. Settled back on an Air Laos flight approaching Bangkok, they watched in horror as their pilot tried unsuccessfully to put the wheels down ready for landing. By the third attempt, passengers were definitely getting agitated, said Mr Cadman. “You start thinking about forced landings and things like that It’s quite worrying.” Once again, luck was on their side and the wheels eventually came into sight
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Press, 25 January 1986, Page 9
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338Cockpit without the pilot Press, 25 January 1986, Page 9
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