"Headlines We Never Thought We'd Write For $500, Alex..."

There are some things a pilot can never live down... and a new line was added to that list last week, after an Air Canada Jazz captain locked himself out of the cockpit of his CRJ-100 after leaving to use the washroom.

Officials with the low-cost subsidiary of Air Canada told Agence-France Presse the captain found the door was jammed upon his return... and no matter how hard he and the first officer -- who had remained on the flight deck -- tried, they just couldn't open it.

Air Canada Jazz spokesperson Manon Stuart said that throughout the incident, passengers "did not react and remained calm" (we imagine a few of them, more than anything else, were entertained by the unexpected show -- Ed.)

After banging on the door and talk frantically with the cockpit through an onboard telephone for several minutes, the captain -- with the help of the cabin crew -- finally took the door off its hinges, and retook his place in the left seat about 30 minutes before the flight from Ottawa was set to land in Winnipeg.

Of course, the first officer could have landed the plane safely, if all else had failed. Stuart, perhaps understandably, downplayed the incident.

"We investigated the incident on Saturday and the crew followed standard operational procedures," the spokesperson said. "At no time was the safety or security of passengers compromised."

No explanation for the door jam was given -- nor did anyone ask what, exactly, the SOP is for a jammed cockpit door.

"It's a very rare occurrence," Stuart admitted. "To the best of our knowledge, it's the first time we've encountered this problem in-flight."

FMI: www.flyjazz.ca, Perhaps next time the pilot will use one of these?