This happened when I traveled down to Botswana from Tanzania in late 2002. I found myself in Victoria Falls Airport sitting on a plane belonging to an African regional airline, which shall remain nameless, waiting to fly to Gabarone. After nearly an hour's delay, the captain popped his head out of the cockpit to explain that his co-pilot had so far failed to show. 'We'll hang on a bit longer,' he announced. Another hour later, still no co-pilot. 'Tell you what,' said the captain, 'he's only the co-pilot and we're not going far, we'll go without him. Any objections?'Well no-one complained so, two hours late, they set off. Now the captain had looked a little disheveled, unshaven and, generally, not quite all there. Given that he was in sole charge of the small plane, the passengers were, on the whole, feeling a touch nervy. So when the captain suddenly emerged from behind the cockpit door again, there was a collective gasp.'It's okay!' announced the captain quickly, 'we're on autopilot. I just have to pee.' With that he hooked the cockpit door open using an elastic band and slipped into the toilet. Almost as he did so, the plane hit an unexpected and fairly violent patch of turbulence. The elastic band snapped and the cockpit door slammed shut.As the turbulence subsided, the captain came out of the toilet and, seeing the door, went a pale shade of grey and looked at the air hostess with an expression which could only be described as panicked. 'Er, ladies and gentleman,' muttered the pilot, 'due to the risk of hi-jacking, cockpit doors can only be opened from the inside. Since my co-pilot was a no-show this morning, I'm locked out!'Before the passengers lapsed into pure panic, however, they watched, expectant, as the pilot walked away from the cockpit to the back of the plane. He returned with a hand-axe with which he promptly hacked a hole in the cockpit door. He reached inside and opened it, brushing splinters from his jacket as he strode in.Moments later the intercom crackled to life. 'Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. Just to keep you informed we're cruising at an altitude of 26,000 feet and will be making our descent...'