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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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.