After the recent incident of a JetBlue passenger opening an exit door while the plane was taxiing along the tarmac, you may be wondering if this could happen while the plane is in the air. Retired Captain Richard Levy, who spent 41 years flying for American Airlines (one of America’s safest airlines with the least amount of incidents) and now consults for AviationExpertConsulting.com, gave Explore the scoop on why you don’t have to be too worried about that terrifying scenario.
“At normal cruising altitudes, it is impossible to open any cabin door because of cabin pressurization,” Levy states. “There is no human capable of overcoming the air pressure differential between a pressurized cabin and the air outside the aircraft. It would require more than 24,000 pounds (equivalent to the weight of six cars) of force to open an airplane door mid-flight.” The higher the altitude, the stronger the pressure keeping the door sealed shut.
But what about at lower altitudes? Levy says that, while this is technically possible, “one would still have to be very strong, and flight attendants, as well as other passengers, would immediately intervene.” While the unruly JetBlue passenger triggered the plane’s emergency slide to deploy by accident, the plane was still on the ground. Other passengers also restrained him, giving us reason to believe it would be pretty hard to replicate this act even at low altitude.
What prevents emergency doors from opening mid-flight?
