Question for BluFin

[Ben]

Can the hatches/doors on a commercial airliner be opened by a passenger whilst the plane is airborne?

[Tony Davis]

Originally posted by Ben
Can the hatches/doors on a commercial airliner be opened by a passenger whilst the plane is airborne?

I had that very same thought last thursday, I reckon they can't, but that's just a guess!

[BluFin]

yes as long as its not pressurised soon as ya get a bit of differentiial pressure on then no you cant. An guy writing a book asked me that same question a while back. Funny bit is if you did you will have one wacking great Bananna wrapping itself round the tail or crushing the those sitting there

[BluFin]

The two classic examples are the D B Cooper Hijacking look it up on google loads about it, He got the cash then basically parachuted out in flight from a 727. After the incident there was a mod to fit a locking vane to the rear stairs ( industry call it a "Cooper" vane to lock them up in flight.
The other example of not being able to open the doors when pressurised is the Saudi Tristar BBQ that had an in flight fire but they forgot to de pressurise on landing an nobody got out.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal..._Cooper/9.html

[Ben]

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[Rupert Munro]

That shouldmake amanda a bit happier flying next time! I dont think it helped me asking her if the door could be opened half way across the atlantic!

[Matt]

Please can you explain that...

Originally posted by BluFin
...you will have one wacking great Bananna wrapping itself round the tail or crushing the those sitting there

[Jon Fuller]

The doors are curved yes? even banana shaped. Blown open by the pressurisation, would probably send it up on it's hinges, right over the top of the fuselage, the airflow ripping the hinges off, and depositing into the tailplane.

And presumebly, if the hinges didn't give out, it'd fly up n over, coming down hard on the top of the fuselage, possibly crushing it, and those beneath.

That was my take on it, anyways.

[Matt]

That makes more sense - I couldn't work out what king kong's lunch had to do with it.

[mike k]

Could it have something to do with the escape chute. (long and yellow)

[Matt]

Or mebbe blufin just has bananas on the brain

[Rupert Munro]

The escape chute sounds plausable as they say they inflate when the door opens while in flight/crash

[Jon Fuller]

Originally posted by Rupert Munro
The escape chute sounds plausable as they say they inflate when the door opens while in flight/crash

reckon you could be right!

Also, I was thinking more of the cargo door hinging upwards, which I don't think any of the passenger doors do, so I was talking shite (again).

[BluFin]

I was thinking of the slides, let me just dig out some footage from the HDD.


Edit: Here ya go, how they work for real

Slide Deployment