Baggage handler trapped in cargo hold during flight from Charlotte

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By Tina Terry

WASHINGTON — United Airlines is investigating after a vendor employee was found unharmed in an aircraft's cargo hold after a flight from Charlotte to Washington Dulles International Airport.

The airline said in a statement Monday that United Express Flight 6060, operated by Mesa Airlines, landed safely at Dulles on Sunday.

The statement said an employee of the airline's ground handling vendor was found in the cargo area of the plane after it arrived at the gate.

The employee, Reginald Gaskin, was not injured.

Channel 9 spoke to Gaskin over the phone. He said he is doing fine, but did not want to comment further.

"It happens once a year in the United States somewhere," said aviation expert Michael Lowery.

Lowery said Gaskin could have accidentally locked himself inside as he was finishing up loading the luggage. But Lowery said there could be another excuse.

"Rampers will sometimes have free times between flights and they'll go take a nap in the belly of the plane. That guy may have been doing that and didn't wake up in time," Lowery said.

The airline hasn't confirmed either scenario but said it's continuing to look into what happened.

Lowery called it a major supervision problem.

"It's a serious incident. Someone could very easily lose their job over this," Lowery said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the incident.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport told Channel 9 that no airport security rules were broken during the incident.

United statement:

United Express flight 6060 operated by Mesa Airlines from Charlotte Douglas to Washington-Dulles (IAD) landed safely at IAD yesterday. Once at the gate, an employee of the airline's ground handling vendor was found unharmed in the aircraft's cargo hold. We are looking into what happened.

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