Is it possible to open the doors on a passenger plane when it is airborne?

Question

Or are they set to lock from the cockpit? I was alarmed to read this news earlier:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7527058.stm

So I am curious because it's worrying. Are there pilots, cabin crew member or flight engineers here who can answer this?

Answer 1

Well it was possible many years ago

Answer 2

How many ways and times are you going to ask the same question?

Answer 3

no, the outside pressure will resist, and if you did,it would create unimaginable suction.

Answer 4

No....

The second your hand reaches the door handle you will be jumped by 4 stewartests, 1 passanger, && 12 fat guys.....

so its near impossible....

oh, and then u will be taken to gwantanamo, and cavity searched, for any trace of a bomb......

Answer 5

Most airliners today have plug-type doors, as already described.  Opening them requires moving them inwards first, and when the aircraft is pressurized, this is impossible to do, because many tons of air pressure hold them in place.  Many aircraft also have flight locks on certain doors that prevent operation of the doors unless the aircraft senses that it is on the ground.

Some lighter aircraft do not have plug-type doors, and these can be opened in flight.  These are not airliners, though.

D. B. Cooper escaped through the built-in stairway of the Boeing 727 (unique to that aircraft model), which could be opened in flight. After his exploit, a simple modification was made to the stairway so that external aerodynamic pressure forced it to remain closed while the aircraft was in flight.  Some operators simply disabled the stairway entirely.  In any case, he didn't exit through a normal door. The stairway door was gravity-operated and not a plug-type door.

Answer 6

A pressurized aircraft's doors are impossible to open due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the door.

I don't know what kind of aircraft XL flies, but no one can open the doors on a pressurized aircraft. It is a physical impossibility.

Regards,

Dan

Answer 7

Plug type doors are wedge shaped and fit tighter into the door opening, the more pressure is applied. No human could ever open one with the cabin pressurized.

But.. what about doors that are NOT plug type doors? I can't think of any piston... and the only turbo prop I can think of that *might* have a plug door was the Saab 340.... but the Jetstream, Metroliner, ATR, etc etc... none of those had them.. which means....YES.. they CAN and WILL be opened in flight. Case in point.. my little rhyme.. easy to remember... "844 ain't got no door" is for AMR Eagle Bae Super Jetstream tail # 844AE lost it's door because the silly thing fell off. It had a bad design that caused confusion with the CAP panel DOOR light.. and it was an accident waiting to happen.

It did.

Somewhere over... North Carolina I think it was... The funny thing was that because of the James Bond movie, where at the very beginning of the film...he jumps out of a Jetstream, and takes away the bad guys parachute on the way down... (they took the door completely off to film the scene) they had to get an STC to perform the stunt. That allowed AMR Eagle years later to ferry their plane without the door back to have it reinstalled, which they did, and I flew that plane several times afterwards. (give you the creeps) I did have in a different Jetstream, have a passenger come up and tap me on the shoulder inflight and tell me that "I tried to open that door to the bathroom, I stepped on the pedal, and lifted on the handle, but I couldn't get it open" Well.. he had hold of the CABIN door, and thankfully, there is a mechanical interlock to prevent the door from opening, but he could have overridden it and been successful, but ofcourse, he would have popped out as a cork out of champagne. The Metroliner had a small diaphram that sensed the cabin pressure, and locked the door as long as there was a pressure differential.

ALL the emergency window exits I remember are plug type..

Answer 8

no, with the pressure on the door its virtually impossible to open a door on an aiborne jet aircraft

Answer 9

No it is not. To open the door you have to pull it in. Because the pressure on the inside is so much greater than it is on the outside, the door is forced into the opening. you would need superhuman strength to do it.

Answer 10

The only aircraft I know of that could open its door in flight would be the DC-10.  Its entry doors go up not in.  They do travel about an inch or inch and a half in but they stow upwards and they are electric or pneumatic(for emergency).  It is not that difficult on the 10 to break the door seal either.  I crewed the KC-10 in the USAF and on long boring trips we would peel back the thin rubber door seal with our fingers let playing cards get blown through the seal.  So on the 10 it is possible but you have to unarm the door first or the switch for the door motor will not work but you could blow it open with the 1800psi nitrogen bottle just above it.

Hey negative nerd, ask any 10 crew member about Riyadh Saudi Arabia in 1993.  It can and has been done at least once on the KC-10 that I know of.

Answer 11

All of the answers relating to not being able to overcome the pressure are correct.  Just to expand on that a bit...

As Ozzie said, the pressure differential is about 8 psi.  Now imagine the size of an airplane door.  Somewhere around 6' tall and 2' wide.  That's 72" by 24" (give or take), or 1728 square inches of surface area.  Multiply this by 8 pounds per square inch of pressure... That's about 14,000 pounds of force needed to overcome the air pressure to unseat the door from its seal.  There isn't anybody out there who could pull with that amount of force.  So there's nothing to worry about.

Answer 12

I think what some are trying to answer is that it is impossible to open a door in flight because the doors are "plug" type. Meaning they open into the cabin and are larger than the opening and with 7.6- 8.0psi (average cabin pressure) pushing against the door, the handle would break off first and you still could not pull the door in (open the door) with that much pressure against the door.

Answer 13

No if you notice when a flight attendant opens the door they unlock it pull it in then out this is because once the cabin is pressurized to 6000 or 8000 ft you cannot open the door without super human strength.