What happens if someone opens the exit door mid-flight
Someone opening the main cabin door in the middle of the flight is the stuff of aviation nightmares, enough to leave even the most frequent flyer quaking at the knees.
And it doesn’t just happen in corny 90s action films. Conde Nast Traveller reported about an incident on a recent Air Canada flight from Jamaica to Toronto, which was forced into an emergency landing after a man tried to open the exit door.
Thankfully though, those on board were never in any real danger.
Bruce Rodger, president of Aero Consulting Experts and a 777 pilot at a US airline says, "It's 100 percent impossible. You can turn the handle and the door is not going to open."
Rodger explained to Conde Nast Traveller that airline cabins are pressurised, so passengers can breathe at the higher altitude. As a result, there’s a significant pressure difference between the air on the inside and the air on the outside. Planes have up to eight pounds per square inch of pressure pushing against it, including the door.
Rodger says, “If you look at that door and imagine how many pounds are pushing against it, you realise what it would take to open it.”
So, there you have it. Now the only thing you have to worry about on your next trip overseas, is the state of the mid-flight meal.
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