Seattle: An airport worker who fell asleep and found himself trapped in a plane's cargo hold forced a Los Angeles-bound Alaska Airlines flight to return to Seattle.
Flight 448 had just taken off when the pilot and some first-class passengers heard banging from down below, the airline said.
The captain immediately returned to Seattle-Tacoma International and declared an emergency for priority landing.
After the plane landed a ramp agent came out from the front cargo hold, which Alaska said is pressurised and temperature-controlled.
"Upon exiting, he told authorities he had fallen asleep," the airline said.
The man, an employee of Alaska contractor Menzies Aviation, walked off the plane. He was initially checked by medics at the airport and found to be unhurt, airport spokesman Perry Cooper said.
The man was also checked at a hospital and released, the airline said yesterday. After his release from the hospital, he passed a drug test, airline spokesman Bryan Zidar said.
The airline did not identify the worker. A Menzies spokesman did not immediately return an email request for comment and details about the employee.
The plane was airborne for 14 minutes.
Before the plane departed, the leader of the man's team noticed he was missing, called into the cargo hold for him and called and texted the man's cellphone but got no answer, the airline said. Co-workers decided he had finished his shift and gone home.
"The passengers in first class heard banging from underneath us and a person yelling for help," passenger Jesse Sycuro told KING-TV of Seattle.
A short time later, passengers heard the announcement that the plane was going to turn around.
Zidar said he understood that both first-class passengers and the pilots heard the banging.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating, spokesman Allen Kenitzer confirmed in an email.
The plane carried 170 passengers and six crew members.
