Pilot causes mid-air terror scare off New York’s LaGuardia Airport

A pilot inadvertently caused a mid-air terror scare when he accidentally locked himself in the toilet and sent a passenger 'with a Middle Eastern accent' to the cockpit for help.

With the flight not far from landing, a spooked co-pilot refused to let the Good Samaritan in, and instead told the control tower at New York’s LaGuardia Airport of his serious concerns that an attack was underway.

The passenger continued to bang on the door for assistance and even offered the password, but the co-pilot refused to budge, leading to fighter planes being alerted.

 The apparent danger was only averted when the pilot managed to force his way out of the men's lavatory and resume his place behind the controls, the Daily Mail reports.

In a cockpit radio recording, obtained by the New York Post, he can be heard telling air traffic control: “The captain, myself, went back to the lavatory and the door latch broke and I had to fight my way out of it with my body to get the door open.There is no issue, no threat.”

The drama took place on a New York-bound Chatauqua Airlines flight from Asheville, North Carolina, and began when the pilot decided to take a bathroom break before landing.