This story was told by a Chinese-speaking Westerner who sat in a bulkhead seat of a Boeing 737, just behind the front galley. The first officer of the transport operating at 30,000 feet coame out of the cockpit, apparently on his way to the lavatory. After several minutes, he returned and tugged at the cockpit door. It wouldn’t open even aftert several tries, and a loud conversation ensued between the first officer and the captain through the metal door.
The captain gave instructions: Turn the handle to the left, and push. But the door still wouldn’t budge. The captain gave more muffled advice. Nothing seemed to work. The captain got agitated, and a shouting match was started within earshot of the passengers. Suddenly the cockpit door flew open, and the passengers watched as the captain slammed the door shut. Here’s how you do it, he said disgustedly to the first officer, and he began to turn the door handle and push. The door didn’t open. The 737, on autopilot apparently, was flying at Mach 0.8 with the crew locked outside the cockpit.
The crewmen tried the door and tried again, growing visibly more upset with each passing second. After a few excited words between them, the flight attendant pulled the curtain across the aisleway, shutting off the passengers’ view. A terrific banging reverberated through the airplane. Passengers looked at one another with alarm, and the flight attendant came through the curtain to assure everyone that the situation was now under control.
The curtain was reopened, revealing a mutilated door and the backs of the two pilots flying the airplane. The captain had smashed the door handle with the fire ax. The Boeing Co., it is said, some time later received its one and only request for parts for a cockpit door.
(This story appeared in Airline Odyssey, The Airline Industry’s Turbulent Flight Into the Future, which I coauthored the airline analyst Raymond E. Neidl, McGraw-Hill, 1995.)
Ramblings on Aviation, Art and Literature 