Airplane-Door OPENS Mid-flight! How was this possible?!

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Years ago, I made several videos showing you how to open the different doors of a Boeing 737. And in at least one of these videos, I told you that it is practically IMPOSSIBLE to open a passenger door in flight…and yet, in May this year, we learned that an Asiana Airlines passenger managed to open a door in an Airbus A321, while the aircraft was on approach in South Korea. So, how is this possible? Stay tuned!
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Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode.

Mentour Pilot door videos (oldest to newest):

That A321 Emergency Door Operation video:

Video specific to the L2 and L3 emergency doors:

L1 (first) door operation in an emergency:

Terrifying moments as man opens door during flight

Man who opened plane door 'mentally struggling' + Footage of incident plane at the airport

A321 emergency door operation

Passenger Door Emergency Opening A320 Family

A321 evacuation slide deployment

A321 landing

A321 NEO Over-Wing Exit (OWE) Door Trainer

Type 1 Door Operation A320 Family

Virgin America Evacuation Drill

Republic of KOREA - Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport _ Promotional videos

Your career at Airbus

Emergency Landing Airbus A320! Escape slide deployment

Masks dropping

Asiana A321-200 seat map

[BeTeK]

15:00 “A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” - Douglas Adams

[MrBanzoid]

When engineers design a foolproof system, the universe conspires to design a better fool.

[sjswitzer]

Difficult design problem here: to design a door that can ONLY open in an emergency but also will open reliably in EVERY emergency. Add to that that emergencies are by their very nature hard to anticipate and catalogue.

I regard the design a success: nobody was seriously injured.

I suspect the guy succumbed to intrusive thoughts and it’s amazing it hasn’t happened before.

[AnthonyHigham]

When ever I board an aircraft I reassure myself with the knowledge that the flight crew want to live just as much as I do.

[AnyoneCanSee]

The real story is that the man was seated next to the door and said to the guy next to him, "I watch this great YouTube channel called 'Mentor Pilot' and he explained that it is completely impossible to open these doors in flight...see, no matter how hard I pull...OH MY GOD! HE LIED! HE LIED TO US ALL!"

[martydas]

This Mentour Episode was a complete breath of fresh air.

[StevePemberton]

A couple of years ago a woman opened an overwing exit door after the plane had landed and arrived at the gate. Apparently she felt that it was too hot inside the plane, so she stepped out onto the wing to cool off while waiting for the line to start moving. A flight attendant convinced her to come back in. She was not prosecuted but she is now on the no-fly list.

[ConstantlyDamaged]

I guess the big issue here is any lockout added would need to be insanely overengineered and redundant because the problem of someone opening a door when they shouldn't is far less of an issue than someone needing to open a door and it remaining locked.

[TheFAndison]

As a frequent flyer who likes the window seat, it has always been a privilege to be given the responsibility to look after the emergency exit. I actually felt important like part of the team 😂

Now I gotta fight idiots too, on top of my high ranking door position?? 😭

[wooloo]

I knew it was because of the low altitude that the door had no trouble opening, but what you said about how the slide could have possibly been sucked into the engines really is chilling... It could have gone so badly, and we're so lucky it didn't. Thanks again for a great video!

[srinitaaigaura]

Intelligence has limits. Stupidity has none. 😂

[jdaveca]

As a private pilot, I know I’ll never need to deal with most of these type situations, however these videos are always very informative and educational regardless. I really do appreciate the time and effort that you put into these.

[TheMotz]

In the early 90's we were on a 10 hour flight from Dusseldorf to Orlando. My son, about 3 at the time, was restless, got up from his seat and tried to open the door. The flight attendant saw him, smiled and asked if he wanted to see the pilot instead. He was gone for about a half hour and I had no idea what went on in the cockpit. The flight attendant escorted him back to his seat as he carried airline toys, coloring books and flight pins. Wow, things are different now.

[ironcito]

Security and safety are often at odds with each other. Security measures like locks, fences, barred windows, etc, are safety hazards, and safety measures like emergency doors are security weaknesses. In this case, security would want to make the emergency doors more difficult to open, which would be a disaster for safety. It was an isolated, relatively minor incident, so they'll probably leave things as they are.

[IroAppe]

I agree. The armed doors, easy and quick to open in an emergency, probably saved way more lives, compared to the 3 minutes of discomfort we have seen here one time only in history.

[lauragrivainisthorne]

Each of Mentour Pilot's videos is like attending a university masterclass, I learn so much and the explanations are so thorough and clear. Thank you Petter, you are a credit to your industry.

[constructionwatcher]

One of the reasons for the confusion over why the doors could open is that the media, and in fact the title of this video, continue to say the door was opened "mid-flight." As you so well explained, it could happen only because it was not "mid-flight" but at very low altitude.

[jamesm]

Never underestimate the sheer power of human stupidity.

[bhagyakolitha]

I really love Mentour’s very rational, unbiased explanations with a lot of technical information described in a very simple way.

[thetowndrunk]

This is a big issue going forward. On the one hand, they need the doors more secure. On the other hand, the doors are meant to be open upon touchdown, in the event of an emergency. All it’d take is one emergency landing with a cabin fire, the doors not opening due to a new “safety” mechanism, and a lot of lives will be lost.