On Monday evening, American Airlines flight 6469 from Omaha to Los Angeles, an Embraer E-175 operated by SkyWest, returned to Omaha when pilots thought someone was trying to breach the cockpit. They lose the ability to communicate with flight attendants via interphone, and heard banging on the cockpit door.
It was the flight attendants doing the banging. The flight was only about 40 miles out from Omaha when pilots believed there might be a breach attempt and declared an emergency.
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inflightradar24
On arrival back in Omaha, the captain announced to passengers, “We weren’t sure if something was going on with the airplane, so that’s why we’re coming back here. It’s gonna be a little bit. We have to figure out what’s going on.”
According to aviation watchdog JonNYC, police surrounded the aircraft when it landed.
"Seems intercom was down. They were 10 minutes into the flight. Hard turn back to airport.
No announcement, FAs were in the dark.
They were the ones pounding on the doorPolice surrounded plane"
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) October 21, 2025
It was determined the problem was a malfunction of the cockpit-cabin intercom and there was no actual security threat. According to the FAA,
SkyWest Flight 6569 landed safely after returning to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, around 7:45 p.m. local time on Monday, Oct. 20, after declaring an emergency when the pilot could not contact the cabin crew. 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 flight ultimately departed again and arrived in Los Angeles 4 hours and 19 minutes late.
(HT: JonNYC)
Try this. Get out of your seat and look through the peep hole. It works.
Oof. +4 hours late for this. Probably should ‘compensate’ those passengers for the inconvenience. You know, if the intercom was broken, that sounds like a ‘mechanical’ issue within the airlines’ control. If we had an EU-261-style air passenger rights legislation, those folks coulda each gotten $200+ for their troubles. Seems like we deserve better. Alas, we’re gluttons for punishment in this country. Shame on those passengers, you know, for living in this ‘freedom-loving’ country, I guess…
I’m with @Coffee Please, I’ve always seen a peep hole in that door. Excepting that part, they followed protocol and everyone was safe.
What happens when your plane is flown by 20 year olds. No critical thinking skills, but they sure can fly.
When a SkyWest Airlines pilot chooses to operate an aircraft with an inoperative Flight Interphone System (FIS), the rapid incessant knocking on the flight deck door is codespeak to the flight attendants that the First Officer or Pilot In Command (PIC) has an urgent need to empty the impacted fectal matter in their colon or rectum, dump their load in the loo and, make their bladder, gladder.
Because you can see so much through a peep hole. Especially around the corner and into the galley.
The procedure is that door opens for nothing and no one unless there is verbal
communication that everything is alright.
@Steve M. — Not sure ‘youth’ was the actual issue here. In the USA, our minimum age for a private pilot license is 17, then 18 for a commercial certificate, then 21 for restricted Air Transport Pilot certificate, and finally, 23 for full ATP. So, there are cannot possibly be active 20-year-old regional airline pilots in the USA. I had to look this up, but, ironically, Canada may actually have lower age requirements, at just age 21 for Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL).
Sure, some start their roles with regionals in their mid-to-late 20s, but that is not ‘unsafe’ on the basis of age, alone. And, as to critical-thinking, the consensus is that most peoples’ brains are ‘fully-developed’ by age 25. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, there is a real debate as to whether forced-retirements at 65 (in the USA) is or is not still appropriate.
Given the nutcases that seem to find their way onto planes today if some random psycho was endangering the plane would you rather the pilots had just shrugged and continued on?
@George N Romey — Other than the occasional post on here or at r/AirRage, where are all these ‘psychos’ and ‘nutcases’ you speak of? Like, I imagine we each travel plenty, yet I’ve not run into them. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, and should instead be more ‘fearful’ while traveling. That’ll help!
@Parker
Most of those peep holes are wide angle and you can see pretty well. There are communication procedures for inop intercom. Maybe the pilots did not brief the F/A’s.
@coffee please well, it’s a good thing you were on the flight and know what was happening. Peep holes cannot see around blind corners and, unless you’re flying planes I’m not, the galley sits in a blind corner from the cockpit…as do forward cabin crew jump seats.
I’m curious what form of communication you think works when the intercom is out. Do the pilots hurl a tin can tied to a string out the window in the hopes it finds its way into the main cabin?
When this happens and communication is down erring in the side of safety is always the right path. If there were an emergency and there was no functioning communication system how does the cabin crew handle it?
What a bunch of idiots on that plane.
@Parker
There are procedures for this. You can’t expect the pilots to stay up in the cockpit if they have to take a pee break. There was definitely a lack of coordination on this one and procedures were not reviewed on this particular situation.
@ 1990. Money is all that matters?
@ Parker. Knock in Morse code.
Yeah I know anyone under 40 years old never even heard of it.