Military jets were put on stand-by after a pilot locked in the lavatory caused a mid-air terror panic.
The plane was bound for La Guardia airport in New York from North Carolina when the incident occurred on Wednesday night.
The passenger sent by the trapped pilot to alert his colleagues had a strong Middle Eastern accent and when he tried to enter the cockpit to raise the alarm, the co-pilot thought the plane was under attack.
He told air traffic control: “The captain disappeared in the back… I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to gain access to the cockpit.”
The helpful passenger persevered in trying to notify the co-pilot, but the incident was only resolved when the pilot himself managed to push his way through the locked lavatory door and return to the cockpit.
In the meantime, fighter jets and the FBI had been put on alert and the control tower had suggested an emergency landing.