That's true, if you include "towards a planet". However, the explanation of the equivalence principle with the elevator is really an analogy to help people picture what Einstein was trying to say. As is usual with analogies you can always find things that don't quite work right. The ideal conditions for that analogy would be for the gravity to be generated by an infinite flat plane. The essence is still the same. The equivalence principle is still quite safe.

Bill Gill

C is not the speed of light in a vacuum.
C is the universal speed limit.