Can you open an emergency door mid-flight? If not, why not?

An Asiana Airbus A321 from Seoul Incheon.

Photo credit: N509FZ

Can you open an emergency door mid-flight? If not, why not?

This is a common question from air travelers. The simple answer is no, you certainly cannot open the door at mid-flight.

However, there have been rare instances where doors were opened at lower altitudes.

During a cruise, typically above 35,000 feet, it is impossible to open the emergency doors due to the cabin pressure.

Aircraft doors are designed to be sealed shut by the pressure inside the cabin. They function similarly to a drain plug, held in place by the higher interior pressure.

Most aircraft doors are designed with their exits open inward. Some retract upward into the ceiling and others swing upwards. For instance, the door of the Boeing 737 has first to be opened towards the inside before it can be moved to the outside.

At cruising altitude, the interior fuselage is subjected to a maximum pressure differential of about eight pounds per square inch. This means that there is approximately 1,100 pounds of force pushing against each square foot of the emergency door. It would require an extraordinary amount of strength or you would have to be a Superman to overcome this pressure and open the door.

However, at lower altitudes at say around 700 feet, the pressure differential gradually decreases and eventually becomes nearly zero as with the outside pressure after landing. This allows the doors to be opened, as was the case with the incident involving an Asiana Airlines’ Airbus A321 plane on May 26, 2023, in Daegu, South Korea.

In that particular incident, a passenger managed to open the emergency door at about 700 feet, where the pressure inside and outside the aircraft was almost similar.

The ability to get the door open also means that nothing catastrophic happened. This was seen in the video by another passenger, showing wind blowing through the open door with head scarfs and passengers’ hairs fluttering about. It was noisy and also scary but with hardly any differential pressure, nobody got sucked out!

On landing the man was arrested and detained for violation of the Aviation Security Act. He told the police that he was stressed after losing his job recently and felt “suffocated” and “wanted to get off the plane quickly”

Following the incident, Asiana has stopped the sales of some seats near to the emergency doors in the cabin.

Attempting to open an emergency door during a flight is considered a serious offense and this could lead to fines and potential imprisonment for up to 10 years.

While opening an emergency door mid-flight is not possible due to the high cabin pressure at cruising altitude, it may be feasible at lower altitudes where the pressure differentials are minimal. As such, tampering with emergency doors during a flight is illegal and can result in severe consequences.

 

See YouTube video ‘Man opens emergency door mid-flight’

here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P8umG1lhaY