Toilet break forces co-pilot to man controls and land plane solo

A toilet break has ended in an emergency landing after the pilot of a US airline found himself locked out of the cockpit.

The co-pilot of a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas was forced to take the controls and land the plane solo after the pilot became locked out on Thursday.

Passenger Jesse Dougherty told ABC News that "About half way through (the 2.5-hour flight) there seemed to be some talking at the front of the plane".

You could see the captain out there," he said.

"There wasn't a huge panic but some confusion … It was very, very bizarre."

But the cool-as-a-cucumber co-pilot didn't miss a beat, landing the aircraft single-handedly and arriving at Las Vegas' McCarran airport right on time, just before 12:30pm.

When the first officer made the landing "perfectly," the passengers broke out into spontaneous applause, Mr Dougherty said.

Delta spokeswoman Lindsay McDuff told Fox News commercial aircraft can be landed with one pilot, and Delta crews are trained for such situations.

McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said none of the 168 people aboard the flight were injured, and the aircraft wasn't damaged.

The mid-flight mishap was blamed on a malfunctioning cockpit door.

Source: ABC News