When Ya Gotta Go, Ya Gotta Go

The whole thing lasts 6:18. But in that time all hell very nearly broke loose.

Delta Flight 6132 was in a holding pattern waiting to land at New York's LaGuardia Airport when the pilot had to take a pause for the cause and the door knob to the bathroom broke. It goes downhill from there.

First the co-pilot of Flight 6132 radios ATC that the pilot has disappeared, a man with a thick foreign accent is trying to enter the cockpit and he needs to call his boss. He'll get back to you...

At 1:45 ATC calls Flight 6132... ya'll OK? The co-pilot says he's still working the situation. You can just imagine the wheels spinning into motion at this point. Set DEFCON 3.

Approximately 30 seconds later ATC wants a clear picture of WTF is going on and the co-pilot says the Captain dissapeared and is locked in the bathroom and a man with a thick foreign accent is giving him the password to enter the cockpit and he ain't falling for it. Set DEFCON 2.

At the 3:50 mark ATC gives 6132 a turn instruction followed a few seconds later by a comment from another flight controller to push the panic button and declare an in-flight emergency. At this point they are lighting the fires and kickin' the tires on the F-16's.

20 seconds later it's all over. Maybe next time, Maverick...

UPDATE: In case you were wondering where the Flight Attendants were during all this, there was only 1 onboard. When the pilot left the cockpit, by FAA regs (2 crew members in the cockpit at all times) she had to go into the cockpit until he returned. That left the pilot on his own in the rear of the aircraft.