What will happen if you open the door of a plane during a flight?

The consequence of opening a planes door mid-flight has probably crossed a lot of passengers mind.  We often wonder what would happen is a crazed passenger dashing towards the emergency exit and opening the plane’s door, would it send themselves along with all unsecured flight attendants and holidaymakers into the sky?

Recently, that nightmare nearly became reality when a first-class air passenger attempted to open the door of the cabin aboard a Delta Air Lines flight between Beijing and Chicago. The crew worked very hard to restrain him, and he was then arrested as soon as the plane touched down.

But are our fears warranted? What would have happened if he’d been successful? Should an air passenger succeed in opening the door of a plane at a high altitude; the cabin will rapidly lose pressure causing chaos.

Even cases of slow decompression can be deadly, which sparingly happens around 40 to 50 times per year. In 2005, a Boeing 737 owned by Helios Airways crashed, killing all the 121 passengers along with the crew, as a result of a gradual reduction in the cabins pressure. The lack of oxygen at an altitude of 30,000 feet incapacitated the crew.  With the crew unconscious the plane flew on autopilot until it eventually ran out of fuel, causing it to plunge to the ground.

In cases like that, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling to prevent hypoxia, a condition cause that cause slow thinking,  blurred visions and loss of consciousness. In the cockpit, the crew will put on their rubber masks and start descending rapidly to a safe altitude below 10,000ft.

Sudden decompression usually occurs when the door of a plane is opened. Anyone standing close to the exit will be dragged into the sky, the temperature of the cabin will rapidly drop, and the plane itself may start breaking apart. In 1988, a Boeing 737 belonging to Aloha Airlines, with 90 people on board en route to Honolulu was travelling at the height of 24,000 feet when suddenly a small part of the roof tore off. The sudden change in air pressure ripped Clarabelle Lansing from her seat and through the hole in the plane. Fortunately, all other passengers used their safety belt, and the pilot landed safely 13 minutes later, avoiding any further tragedies.

Several other instances of explosive decompression have been recorded, and they  usually end with fatalities. Japan Airlines Flight 123 has an instance of rapid decompression due to a faulty repair, resulting in the Boeing 747 crashing into the mountains in Gumma where the death toll was in excess of 520, making it the most fatal single aircraft mishap in history.

Luckily, as decompression is very dangerous, the aircraft's have been specially designed to prevent the doors being opened mid-flight flight. Patrick Smith, a pilot and author explains, “The pressure of the cabin will not allow it. The door of an aircraft can be likened to a drain plug, held in place by the internal pressure. Nearly all exits of an aircraft open inward. Some of them retract into the ceiling (upward); others swing outward; however, they open inward first.”

“At a certain cruising altitude, about eight pounds of pressure push against each square inch of the internal fuselage. That’s more than 1,100 pounds against every square foot of the door,” according to Smith.

What happens at low altitudes, when the pressure of the cabin is less?

“A mere two pounds on every square inch is far more than what any individual can displace,  even after taking six cups of coffee plus the aggravation that arises from sitting behind a  crying baby,”  Smith says. “The doors are secured further by a number of mechanical electrical latches. You would require a hydraulic jack, and sparingly, the airports security don’t allow them.”

However, one incident has been reported where a passenger succeeded in opening the door of an airplane while in the sky. Dan D.B Cooperin 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 where he forcefully collected a ransom of $200,000. Then, he jumped out of the rear exit with a parachute, and since then nobody has seen him. However, he forced the pilot to depressurize the plane to enable him to do so. As a result, a year later, “Cooper vanes” were put in place to disable aircraft doors completely when the landing gear is up.

Small planes do not undergo pressurization meaning skydivers and military personnel can leap through the aircraft doors as a result of this.

Patrick Smith continues, “Any time the plane is moving on the runway, the doors are usually not locked. You will also be able to activate the emergency escape slides located below the doors. As an airplane moves closer to the gate, you will hear the cabin crew requesting for the doors to be switched to manual. Then, the slides’ automatic deployment function is replaced with manual function. Those slides can unroll with a force that is capable of killing a person, and you will not want them to spread to the jet bridge or a catering truck.”

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