An Alaska Airlines cargo hold worker found himself in a precarious position Monday afternoon when he purportedly got trapped in the front cargo hold of a Los Angeles-bound flight after apparently falling asleep before the plane started its travel.
Flight 448, which was carrying 170 passengers and six crew, had only been in the air for 14 minutes when the plane’s pilot heard a banging noise coming from below deck. He then declared an emergency and proceeded to travel back to the Seattle-Tacoma International airport, where it landed without problems.
Alaska Airlines Cargo Hold Worker Tired From Long Shift
Luckily for the cargo hold worker, who is employed by Menzies Aviation, which is contracted by Alaska Airlines, the hold area where he was trapped is pressurized and temperature controlled, so he seemed to be fine. However, as a precaution, the man was taken to Highline Medical Center in nearby Burien, Washington for examination. According to officials, the worker underwent drug testing and several medical tests and passed all of them.
The man reportedly had started his early morning shift at Alaska Airlines at 5 AM and was to stop at 2:30 pm. He was part of a four man crew handling the cargo loading that day. The leader of the cargo loading team told officials that he noticed his fellow cargo hold worker was gone, and tried to call him on his cell phone, but got no answer. He then assumed the man had finished up and gone home, so they left the hold area so the plane could begin its travel to Los Angeles. However, that was not the case and for some reason he fell asleep in the hold of Flight 448. When he discovered the flight had taken off, the cargo hold worker’s frantic banging was said to have been heard by both the pilot and the flight’s first class passengers.
Alaska Airlines and Cargo Hold Incident To Be Investigated Fully
This incident of the Alaska Airlines cargo hold worker getting left behind and trapped in the plane’s cargo hold is confirmed as being investigated by both Alaska Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration. Alaska Airlines also stated that all of their ramp employees are required to undertake a full criminal background and drug testing prior to their hiring. Plus, the employees are also subject to random drug testing at any time during their employment. Flight 448 to Los Angeles was allowed to take off and travel to its intended destination at 3:52 p.m. The flight had no further problems and reportedly landed in Los Angeles at 6:29 pm, which is over 60 minutes later than it was scheduled to land.
On the subject of flying, you might want to check this out in preparation for your next flight — behold, the the types of characters you might encounter aboard:
https://youtu.be/weurQATcdZw
