Ah that makes sense. thanks. I bet the guy also didn’t know.
That Sacramento incident and this is what I always have in mind whenever I fly:
Yes, I always wear seat belts.
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You’re welcome!
And really, even if you did experience an event like the one in your photo, all you need is a cocky, abrasive billionaire inventor with a big mouth (no, not THAT one).
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He would have to Superman to open that escape door with a few tons of air pressure keeping it sealed.
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I’m of the opinion that if you can get put on a No-Fly list arbitrarily for having the same name as a terrorist, you should probably also immediately land on one for this sort of bullshit.
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If not, he should have been. It sounds like the flight crew and his fellow passengers exercised remarkable restraint for how dangerous his actions were.
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Thank you! Ask The Pilot has a great explanation:
It seems that a week can’t go by without hearing the latest story about a passenger who went cuckoo and tried to yank open an emergency exit, only to be tackled and restrained by those around him, who thought they were on the verge of being ejected into the troposphere.
While the news never fails to report these events, it seldom mentions the most important fact: you cannot—repeat, cannot—open the doors or emergency hatches of an airplane in flight. You can’t open them for the simple reason that cabin pressure won’t allow it. Think of an aircraft door as a drain plug, fixed in place by the interior pressure. Almost all aircraft exits open inward. Some retract upward into the ceiling; others swing outward; but they open inward first, and not even the most musclebound human will overcome the force holding them shut. At a typical cruising altitude, up to eight pounds of pressure are pushing against every square inch of interior fuselage. That’s over eleven hundred pounds against each square foot of door. Even at low altitudes, where cabin pressure levels are much less, a meager 2 p.s.i. differential is still more than anyone can displace — even after six cups of coffee and the aggravation that comes with sitting behind a shrieking baby. The doors are further held secure by a series of electrical and/or mechanical latches.
So, while I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you enjoy being pummeled and placed in a choke-hold by panicked passengers, a person could, conceivably, sit there all day tugging on a door handle to his or her heart’s content. The door is not going to open (though you might get a red light flashing in the cockpit, causing me to spill my Coke Zero). You would need a hydraulic jack, and the TSA doesn’t allow those.
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I hope he was physically restrained with extreme prejudice… repeatedly.
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