Friday, September 23, 2011

What would happen if you opened the door in a plane while in the air?

I just took a flight in a jumbo jet, and during the flight I went to the toilet but there was a queue, so while I waited I started looking at the huge door next to me which has a massive handle on it and I wondered, what would happen if someone tried to open this door while the plane was flying? Would it be possible? Would everyone get sucked out of the plane? I was really curious but couldn't ask the attendants in case they thought I was a terrorist. So I figured I would ask the internet!|||Don't worry about it... You couldn't do it. The doors are designed specifically for that reason. If you didn't noticed you would have to push the door open against the wind outside. With the aircraft flying in excess of 400 mph, the wind force alone would not permit you push the door open.|||Some people shouldn't be allowed to answer questions...





There would be a rapid depressurization, lots of noise, a bit of wind through your hair not nothing like what you see in the movies. Unless you're standing right next to the door (opening the door) you won't get sucked out.





Oxygen masks would drop down and you would end up at the nearest suitable airport. That's about it. Aerodynamically, nothing significantly changes; You wouldn't go into a massive nose dive or anything Hollywood would have you believe.





Most airliners doors open inwards. Because the airplane is pressurized it won't open very easily. If there is just 3 psi inside the airplane (I don't recall what kind of pressure in psi differential there is between the inside and outside of large airplanes) it would take a tremendous amount of force to open the door. Some planes do have doors that open outwards. I would assume there is a system in place to keep them from being opened in flight.|||Rapid depressurization at first, some of the inside of the plane might get sucked out. Then if you don't put on the oxygen mask, the lack of oxygen at high altitudes will affect your brain and can make you pass out.|||it would be impossible. Airliner doors are pressure-sealed, so at altitude, the door literally expands, and prevents a door opening.|||not possible... same thing as oppening car under water. The out side pressure is literatly cementing the door shut... Most aircrafts have built in altimeters that won't open the door above an x amount of feet|||Jay-ray has it right, Future Pilot needs more ground school before he gets his license.|||Depends what altitude you're at, I've flown a cessna at about 4,000 ft where my door wasn't properly shut, and all I got was a bit of wind coming through the crack.|||very good question next time try it out and tell me how it goes|||The door cannot be opened in flight, because it is held closed by the pressurization inside the cabin. The door is specifically designed to fit like a plug into its frame, and whenever the cabin is pressurized, the pressure forces the door against the frame with a force of many tons, making it impossible to open. It can only open after the cabin is depressurized.





If you could open the door, everything and everyone nearby would be dramatically sucked out unless it or they were bolted or strapped down. But that cannot happen.





If the pressure difference is very small, the door can be opened. This doesn't happen in flight, but it can happen on the ground if the cabin pressure isn't entirely equalized with the outside yet. In one case, a flight attendant opened a door on the ground while there was still a tiny bit of pressure in the cabin, and was killed after being thrown out of the plane like a champagne cork. The pressure was very low, so the door was able to open, but it was still high enough to push the flight attendant out onto the tarmac.|||Sorry, you'd never get it open. The load on the door from the pressurization would keep it jammed quite tightly into the frame. Some doors have vents in them to bleed off pressure, but opening only a single vent on one door isn't going to do anything. Cabin pressure is controlled by a device called an outflow valve, and on commercial airliners, these can be 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, with a stainless steel casting flapper that moves with an electric motor. If you opened one door vent panel, this valve would just close a fraction, and no one would even notice it.


If you want some visual testimony, there is an aircraft in Saudi Arabia with the top burned off it. Some passengers accidentally started a fire in flight. The crew made an emergency landing, and they estimate that by the time they were on the ground, there was only .5 psi (That's 1/2 of a pound) of pressurization left, and no one could open any of the doors. Everyone died. I don't know if it is still there now, but it was parked there for at least 10-15 years. I would imagine they were using all their strength and couldn't get the doors to budge. Now think of the door at 7 or 8 psi pressurized. You aren't going to move it at all.


Sorry, but all that movie stuff is fake.|||Excactly what happens in movies





everyone would be sucked out because of the speed you are going and the pressurized cabin I believe this

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