A flight diverted last night for a strange reason, which triggered a bit of a security response, as first flagged by JonNYC…
In this post:
American Eagle flight returns to Omaha for unusual reason
This incident happened last night (Monday, October 20, 2025), and involves flight AA6469 from Omaha (OMA) to Los Angeles (LAX). Specifically, this was an American Eagle flight operated by a SkyWest Embraer E175 with the registration code N510SY.
The plane took off at 6:40PM local time and climbed through 10,000 feet. However, it seems that the intercom on this plane wasn’t working, meaning that the pilots couldn’t get in touch with flight attendants, and vice versa. The pilots then heard banging on the cockpit door, without knowing who it was.
So they made the decision to immediately return to Omaha, and seemingly informed the airport of some sort of potential security situation. They landed at the airport shortly before 7PM, 18 minutes after they initially took off.
Upon landing, the plane taxied to a remote part of the airport, and was surrounded by fire trucks and police, presumably triggering some sort of emergency response. However, it was quickly determined that this was a false alarm.
Interestingly, the exact same plane ended up completing the flight later that night — it took off at 11:18PM, and landed in Los Angeles at 12:17AM, after a flight time of roughly three hours, with an arrival a little over four hours behind schedule.
In a statement, the FAA confirmed that “after landing, it was determined there was a problem with the inter-phone system and the flight crew was knocking on the cockpit door.” Meanwhile the airport released a statement saying that “there was no security related incident at Eppley Airfield this evening.”
Right, after an investigation, it was determined that there was no actual incident, but that’s not to say that there wasn’t a response to what was believed to be a potential security incident…
I’m curious how unusual this incident was onboard
I wonder what this incident was actually like for passengers onboard. It’s interesting, you don’t often hear of the PA on an aircraft being down, so I can totally see how this played out. Presumably the flight attendants tried to make their after takeoff announcement to passengers, and the PA wasn’t working. But then they couldn’t call up the pilots either, so they decided to bang on the cockpit door (once the plane passed through 10,000 feet).
I’m curious what the actual official airline procedure is for that. It’s tricky, because obviously the flight attendants needed to find a way to inform the pilots of the issue, and presumably the faster you can report it, the better. At the same time, I can see how banging on the cockpit door is concerning… but what other options are there?
Bottom line
An American Eagle flight operated by SkyWest diverted after the intercom wasn’t working, causing the flight attendants to start banging on the cockpit door. This seemingly caused some confusion among the pilots, who diverted the plane to Omaha, and reported some kind of an incident to air traffic controllers. As a result, the plane was met on the ground by fire trucks and police cars.
Fortunately this communication issue could be fixed, and passengers were still flown to Los Angeles, though with a delay of around four hours.
What do you make of this Omaha diversion?
This situation discussed at one of my recurrent training events at american airlines due to a loss of pa system. The approved solution: pound on door to gain attention, then pass note under door to effect communication. Evaluate, and proceed accordingly.
What will be the procedure once aircraft are equipped with a second security door to the cockpit? This "security theater" door will likely create more problems.
Communication between Cockpit and cabin crew is mission-critical. "Single point of failure" is not a good look.
After the ditching of ALM 980 in 1970, an inop PA system became a no go item. Perhaps a blown fuse after take off?
Things that crew doesn't have on preflight checklists: Make sure intercom works.
'How many times old man...'
Intercom broken? Sounds like a maintenance issue. If we had EU 261 style air passenger right legislation in the USA, those affected passengers should be paid for that inconvenience. 4 hours late. Approx. distance (OMA-LAX) 1800mi/3,000km. Equivalent compensation, ~$300/passenger.
No, such regulations and consumer protections do not bankrupt airlines or raise prices (see Ryanair in Europe, dirt cheap fares, still profitable.) No, travel insurance isn't enough (many policies...
'How many times old man...'
Intercom broken? Sounds like a maintenance issue. If we had EU 261 style air passenger right legislation in the USA, those affected passengers should be paid for that inconvenience. 4 hours late. Approx. distance (OMA-LAX) 1800mi/3,000km. Equivalent compensation, ~$300/passenger.
No, such regulations and consumer protections do not bankrupt airlines or raise prices (see Ryanair in Europe, dirt cheap fares, still profitable.) No, travel insurance isn't enough (many policies limit to delays in excess, like 50% of your trip, +72 hours, etc., so read the fine-print.)
If the FAA/DOT, etc. can get something like this done, Congress may need to (oh brother, well, when the adults are back in-charge, please do something.) And, among all the topics in this field (aviation, travel, cards, society, etc.) this is the hill I would die on. We deserve better.
And to those who still doubt... recall, you pay a premium for specific dates, times, class of service, etc. If these businesses profit off selling you those services, but then fail to maintain their aircraft, that's them taking a zero-interest loan from you (if they later cancel the flight, refund you, etc.) Our time is valuable. If they fail, and it's under their control, they should pay up.
Smart FAs huh. Loss of phone communications, so let's bang on the door with no other signals of what's going on. I'm sure that'll make the pilots feel that all is well and under control.
what are they to do instead? just let the entire flight happen with no intercom system? no way to communicate between the FAs and pilots?
If it's a short flight, why not just let it continue and land normally and be out of communication between pilots and cabin? Is there something that urgently requires banging on the door, such that misinterpreting that will lead the plane being landed immediately?
I thought there were cameras so the cockpit can see the cabin. They couldn’t signal that way?
Some people like to watch... niccce.
I like to watch Apple TV, 1990 …. that is why I am certain that you are a “Company” man …. :-)
I know the doors are secure, and FA's don't want to be yelling in a plane, but are the doors that soundproof that you can't talk loudly through it or slide a note under it?
I had a Delta flight earlier this year that was delayed because of a broken PA system. After about an hour, they determined it would take them much longer to fix it and to DL's credit, got us a new plane right away.
That's impressive that any airline 'got you a new plane right away.' Consider yourself incredibly lucky. Usually airlines don't keep spare aircraft or crews just sitting around incase 'pstm91' is flying that particular day/route.
Halloween is next week.
Cockpit is not for trick or treat.
That is until you remove humans from it.
Esk, at it again …. :-)