Can someone even open the emergency door on an airplane during flight?
July 26th, 2008 | by door |
Wooderson asked:
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=7304
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=7304
I find this story hard to believe. A woman tried to open the emergency door at 30,000 feet, and the guy who helped stop her was kicked off the plane! What boggles my mind the most is that it would actually be possible to open the door at that altitude. Wouldn’t there be some fail-safe precaution that only allows the door to be opened at ground level or below a certain altitude? And wouldn’t the difference in pressure preclude the door from opening at that altitude?
DENVER
5 Responses to “Can someone even open the emergency door on an airplane during flight?”
By Yahzmin (US) on Jul 28, 2008 | Reply
Supposedly they can’t be opened during flight:
“We were relieved to discover that the answer is no. A Yahoo! Search on “airplane emergency exit door” resulted in a great Salon.com piece called “Ask the Pilot.” Written by airline pilot Patrick Smith, the article covers a range of issues, including water landings and conversation in the cockpit.
As the article explains, emergency exits open inward, and pressurized air in the plane makes it impossible to open them in mid-flight. Safety hatches and exit doors can only be opened when depressurized. ”
But I suppose people can still try and others can get into trouble by stopping them.
By nyninchdick on Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
Depending on how the emergency door is configured (i.e. opens out or opens in), it might be possible to open it in flight. An inward opening door would be difficult, if not impossible, to open at 30000 feet. An outward opening door would probably blast right off the hinges once the latch was pulled.
As for failsafes - its an emergency door, so having some kind of interlock is probably prohibited. Its like the emergency exit in a store or warehouse - you need to be able to open it when there is an emergency.
By ALOPILOT on Jul 31, 2008 | Reply
The pressure in the airplane would not allow an exit to open mid-flight… however, it is not locked… the risk of a lock not working properly and staying latched when the passengers try to operate the exits in an emergency make it impractical to lock them… In the US, it is a felony to operate an exit unnecessarily… Basically, if the woman had super-human strength, she could have got the door open, but the chances of this are very small…
By Dennis F on Aug 2, 2008 | Reply
Lets put some real numbers to it and you decide. All doors are a plug type hatch, meaning they open in and aircraft pressure helps seal them closed.
If a door is 6′x3′ in size, that is 18 sq ft and 2592 sq in.
Aircraft pressurization at 30000′ would be 8-8.5 psi.
At 8 psi, there would be over 20,000 pounds of pressure on the door.
I have not seen a human that could pull that door open in flight.
By crewchief1949 on Aug 3, 2008 | Reply
I know Ill get a negative on this, but I guarantee those who do have never tried to do what I am about to tell you. The DC-10 entry doors neither swing in or out. They go up into the fuselage. The only thing keepingthe pressurization in around these doors is seal that is an 1/8th of aninch thick and about an inch wide. There is absolutely no door to fuselage contact anywhere except the guide pins that keep the door from going out of the aircraft. The seal is easly peeled back by hand( I have done this on a couple of occasions being bored on air refueling missions). We would let the playing cards get blown throught the seal one at a time. On this aircraft it is possible, I dont know about others. On a side note, opening it manually is pretty tough anyways because the door weighs a few hundred pounds with the slide raft installed. But normally the door is opened electrically, in an emergency its opened with 2200psi of nitrogen.