Big deal....first off, First Officers at Delta are trained to the same standards as are the Captains. The hiring standards (as at other MAJOR airlines) means they show up with lots of experience and a high skill set. Las Vegas has nice long runways, usually clear weather (although sometimes, interesting wind components). All his landing data( weights, speeds etc) is right there on his FMC. Since the policy is usually every other takeoff and LANDING is done by an FO it isn't like he has never landed an MD-90 before. Finally, he has stick and rudder skills to fly the aircraft so now all he has to do is talk on the radios as well, plus do the checklists. Gee, that happens every day in the military and single pilot world. As far as steering goes after landing....either he got in the left seat because he thought about that before the approach, or he used the rudder down to about 60 kts (when the rudder usually loses steering authority)AND then used differential braking to a full stop, set the parking brake, swapped seats and taxied to the gate. It's still a plane, can be flown like a plane, just click off the automation and fly it like one.....after all...you're still a pilot. Good for him doing his job like he was trained to do and was capable of doing. His biggest concern now is, can he log the flight time as Pilot in Command in his logbook? Not to belittle the incident because he was doing something unusual and it creates pucker factor but bottom line is, he did the job he was trained to do and he did it well....Bravo Zulu

everyone cue up the image of the Autopilot from "Airplane". You're welcome.

Co pilots know how to fly the plane just fine. Why would they be in the cockpit if they didn't know how to fly? It's hard to fly a commercial jet without another pilot because there are responsibilities for both pilots. But co pilots have the training to fly the plane. They're both pilots. The captain isn't "the" pilot.

As a Captain, I find the best way to be allowed back into the Flight Deck is to bring cookies!

Slow news day!!

What was the emergency? Unless it is company policy, there was no real emergency. Lots of FOs have more years of flying experience than the pilot; they had rather sit right-seat than drive. much less responsibility and the same training. Both must have ATPLs and be type-rated for the crate they are flying. What was the problem except a jammed door?

Wouldn't there have been a Flight Attendant in the cockpit while the Captain was in back, presumably in the lav? There would have been on the airline I flew for.

Mr. Oxlong,
You are woefully misinformed. First Officers routinely fly alternating legs of a series of flights. My son flies for a regional airline and he handles radios one leg and flies from takeoff to landing on alternating legs. He has an ATP rating and is type rated to fly the plane. Why for a minute would you think that a pilot up front was not FULLY qualified to fly the plane that he is a pilot for? I thought I would only see this on the regular media and not on flightaware. They even said that they declared an emergency. That would be completely unnecessary. He certainly had a heavier workload doing the radios, checklists, and flying, but would be no problem. The reason they cannot steer from the right seat is that the tiller is located to the left of the captains seat.

And now the captain will see a deduction in his pay for hanging out with the passengers rather than doing his job. After all, this is Delta.... ;-)

With all these "dry humor" comments, the ground pounders are going to think First Officers/ copilots/etc are just a bunch of "goat ropers". Of course, most of this comes directly from the media that knows almost nothing about aviation and the ground pounders pick up on it.

Hey you start ripping off nasty gas, go to the lav, I might not let you back in regardless. The Mad Dog/Diesel 9 doesn't have the biggest flight deck...Sorry Cap.

All kinds of Maintenance problems happen... I wonder if the FO was locked in the Cockpit.

I've asked the question many times----if the captain should happen to pass away enroute and the F/O assumes command will he be paid captain's rate for the rest of the flight and can he log this time as PIC? No one has ever answered this question.

Thank God the Co-pilot was trained sufficiently to land the airplane in that emergency without injuring anyone!!!

Why was the captain going to the bathroom 13 min prior to landing?!?!?! You either hold it until you are the gate or go at a less critical phase of flight.

I have been given to understand that every aircraft has duplicated controls shared by pilot (PIC) and copilot (First Officer)
I also understand that there ' some ' controls which are exclusive to the pilot, PIC. Like steering and brakes and some more.
I have always wondered why they too can not be duplicated on the copilot's side ?
It will help in more ways than one ! Especially in emergencies which are of many varieties in context of flying .
I assure that engineeringwise there can or will be no problem. Cost increase? Marginal which any buyer can afford. On cost-benefit rationale .
Please educate . I need it .

It's obvious some of the posts in this forum are by people who are either incredibly ignorant or just plain stupid. What's with all this BS about "I can't believe he landed the plane by himself...." To quote from a certain cartoon character "Good grief!" or to put into today's common vernacular, BFD! It's standard procedure in today's commercial transport world for FO's to operate the airplane from takeoff to landing on alternating legs. They handle the comm already for most of the ground operations and in flight when they're not the flying pilot so big deal he had to use the radio in addition to the other usual duties. In the single piloted world, and yes with passengers, it's common practice. No doubt the Captain was in touch by intercom though his input would by necessity have been minimal with a "you got it, I'm taking a seat" retort. This may already have been the FO's leg anyway. So he landed, brought the bird to a complete stop using differential braking after aerodynamic rudder control faded out probably on a highspeed turnoff which would have been an easy turn and awaited a tow or shifted over to the left seat and continued the taxi using the tiller but one poster who works at LAS said the plane was towed after a lengthy delay. I can see maybe towing the last few feet to line up with the gate but all the way in making the pax sit out there and probably miss connections? And some posters herein made a big deal about use of the term "Goat Rope" in reference to the FO handling the airplane alone IF there was the added presence and pressure of a mechanical problem. If you are ignorant of that term's use then you haven't been around the commercial transport world very much if at all where it is in common use every day somewhere even when there's not a mechanical problem with the airplane but more than likely in reference to some company imposed issue. Frankly I don't understand why it was necessary to declare an emergency in the first place under the circumstances - but it is what it is.

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Delta 1651 MSP - LAS emergency with flight deck door malfunction.

The first officer declared an emergency and landed safely alone when the Captain was locked out due to a malfunctioning door to the flight deck. Someone is going to be unhappy somewhere. An otherwise slow news day.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/delta-flight-lands-vegas-pilot-locked-cockpit-28591862

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Video: Ladies and Gentlemen This Is Your Pilot And We Seem To Have A Small Problem

There is video of a Minneapolis Delta flight heading to Las Vegas at the moment the pilot informed passengers they needed to make an emergency and you won’t believe why! He was LOCKED out of the cockpit….

http://www.tpnn.com/2015/02/01/video-ladies-and-gentlemen-this-is-your-pilot-and-we-seem-to-have-a-small-problem/