Why you can’t open airplane doors

Have you ever been on a plane and just needed to get out? Maybe you needed some air or maybe you required more space. If the thought of simply opening the passenger door has crossed your mind, you better drop your hand from the doorknob before you do something dangerous.

At the extremely high altitudes and speeds that planes travel, opening a door would cause disastrous results such as rapid decompression, which would depressurize the plane cabin in seconds. This would result in a strong suction pull from the outside.

This means that all loose objects and anyone who is not wearing a seatbelt would be sucked out of the plane. But it would not be just the lives of the passengers not wearing seatbelts that would be in danger.

The plane would begin to deteriorate due to the pressure difference, putting the lives of the remaining passengers in peril. Cabin temperature would quickly decrease to frostbite-inducing levels, and less oxygen would be available to breathe as the air is thinner at high altitudes. Hypoxia would quickly kick in, leading often to death.

Thankfully, even if a passenger were to be unhinged enough to want to open the airplane door, it would be nearly impossible to do so.

Why is this so, and what other safety measures are put into place to ensure plane doors never open? We answer all these questions and more and even bring you the story of a woman who did once try to open a plane door.

#engineering

[athgt]

Amongst the many inaccuracies in this video (everyone without a seat belt will be sucked out, the plane will deteriorate etc, LOL, decompression events happen literally once every day somewhere) is also the differential pressure which is in fact around 8 psi in airliners. Shockingly, you arrive at a correct Kgf for the door (~11 tons), not sure how, beginner's luck.

[Kempmaurice]

"The plane's door is electronically locked and the pilot is the only person who has access" is definitely not the case for obvious safety reasons. In a crash or other emergency situation, the pilots can be killed or incapacitated which would defeat the purpose of having an emergency exit.

[meepmoop]

"Don't do this on an airplane." Ah, whew. I almost did but then I didn't. Close call.

[Shadow_banned_by_YouTube]

Aged like milk. Now you officially can 😂

[yasink]

based on today news a passnger did opened the plane door before 2 min of landing

[daniellantto]

You don't get sucked out, you'r getting blown out by the air that is escaping the plane...

[TMJ]

Quite a lot of inaccurate information in this video

[SupernovaSpence]

Can you say, "load of complete shit?" Dude, you have no clue what you're talking about. The only thing you got right was that the door would be basically impossible to open in flight.

[rumblethis]

The pressure in the plane keeps it from being opened at altitude.

[LimeLivesMatter]

I'm only here because a madman was attempting to open the exit door during mid-flight

[jackglossop]

Most doors open outwards. So how can higher pressure inside the cabin prevents them opening?

[marcox]

In the case of South African Airways flight 295, they descend to a lower altitude and reduced the aircraft’s speed, as well as depressurising the aircraft. That way, they could crack open the main cabin door to clear the smoke from the cabin, though it probably made their fiery situation worse

[captainbeckyrayshoichetuss]

24, 000 pounds.

You might need a city bus to open the door.

[cnjam]

It’s true that anyone with a computer can make a video with false information.

[yevolkyrie]

I came here wondering why they don't have parachutes available for when you know the plane is going down. Though allegedly at lower altitudes you could open the doors. I'm still confused on whether it could work?

[hunterneitzel]

Watched this video after the Alaska 1282 incident, a "fake" door plug blew out at 16000 feet partially sucking out a seat with it. This wasn't a door, it was a permanent panel to fill in where an optional door would have been. That God that seat was empty and that it wasn't at cruise altitude. As of that incident 737 max 9s have been grounded by the FAA

[dazknight]

If you can not figure that out, they need your name to not ever sell you a ticket.

[vgptdpr]

Imma become a pilot so i can open the door

And great informative video, i actually learned alot from it

[freshday]

yeah now watch this. Video shows plane door opened during flight run that by me once again

[stevecovey]

Even if you had the strength, the door handle would break off before you could rotate it.