http://avherald.com/h?article=4464222f&opt=0
Incident: Chautauqua E145 near New York on Nov 16th 2011, "the captain has disappeared in the back"
By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Nov 17th 2011 19:11Z, last updated Thursday, Nov 17th 2011 19:18Z
A Chautauqua Embraer ERJ-145 on behalf of Delta Airlines, registration N564RP performing flight RP-6132 from Asheville,NC to New York La Guardia,NY (USA), was on approach to La Guardia maintaining 10,000 feet, when the first officer requested to leave the frequency to talk to dispatch, "the captain has disappeared in the back and I have someone with a big foreign accent trying to access the cockpit". The aircraft entered a 360, the first officer talked to dispatch, upon returning on frequency he reported the captain was going to take a break at the bathroom but apparently got stuck inside the lavatory, someone with a big foreign accent was attempting a password access to the cockpit but the first officer won't let him in. About 5 minutes after reporting the captain had disappeared in the back the first officer reported "situation resolved" adding the captain had been trapped in the lavatory when the door didn't open and the door had to be forced open. The captain was back in the cockpit. The aircraft landed safely on La Guardia's runway 04 about 18 minutes after the captain was reported disappeared.
The captain had asked a passenger to relay the message, he was locked into the lavatory, to the cockpit and had provided the passenger with the code to open the cockpit door.
The aircraft was able to depart for its next flight about 3.5 hours after landing.
