Has anyone had to open an emergency exit door?
Sep 24, 2008, 10:06 pm
#1
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Has anyone had to open an emergency exit door?
Has anyone on these forums had to open an airplane emergency exit door?
If so, did you find the procedure more or less difficult than expected (based on your reading of the instructions on the door and/or safety card)?
If so, did you find the procedure more or less difficult than expected (based on your reading of the instructions on the door and/or safety card)?
Sep 25, 2008, 3:33 am
#2
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Never "had to", in the terms of being in an accident, and did for evacuation. However, i have friend who's an aircraft technician, and he gave a guided tour at the technical base of his company, and let me try it on a B737-800. It's really quite simple on the 737NG's: You just pull the handle, and it opens.
Sep 25, 2008, 3:55 am
#3
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Never "had to", in the terms of being in an accident, and did for evacuation. However, i have friend who's an aircraft technician, and he gave a guided tour at the technical base of his company, and let me try it on a B737-800. It's really quite simple on the 737NG's: You just pull the handle, and it opens.
Sep 25, 2008, 9:11 am
#6
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Exactly. All these news media reports recently regarding air rage incidents where drunks 'almost opened the door!' are BS.
At altitude, the air pressure inside the plane is much greater than it is outside. As the doors open inwards, there's a huge amount of pressure (thousands of pounds) 'pushing' the doors closed. There's no way to open them up there.
At altitude, the air pressure inside the plane is much greater than it is outside. As the doors open inwards, there's a huge amount of pressure (thousands of pounds) 'pushing' the doors closed. There's no way to open them up there.
Sep 25, 2008, 11:45 am
#7
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Never "had to", in the terms of being in an accident, and did for evacuation. However, i have friend who's an aircraft technician, and he gave a guided tour at the technical base of his company, and let me try it on a B737-800. It's really quite simple on the 737NG's: You just pull the handle, and it opens.
Seems like something any reasonably fit person can do, but it also seems that there are a lot of airline passengers who may not be reasonably fit enough to do that.
Sep 25, 2008, 1:10 pm
#8
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The 737NG exit doors are an outward-opening swing-up design. They're not plug doors. Therefore, I believe that theoretically you could open them in flight.
http://aviation-safety.net/photos/di...5&vnr=1&kind=E
http://aviation-safety.net/photos/di...5&vnr=1&kind=E
Sep 25, 2008, 1:18 pm
#9
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How heavy are the type of exit doors where you have to pick up the door and place it on the seats or throw it out of the plane (as shown on some of the cards) before jumping onto the slide?
Seems like something any reasonably fit person can do, but it also seems that there are a lot of airline passengers who may not be reasonably fit enough to do that.
Seems like something any reasonably fit person can do, but it also seems that there are a lot of airline passengers who may not be reasonably fit enough to do that.
Sep 25, 2008, 1:33 pm
#10
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I would venture to guess that the design and construction of any door on a commercial airliner flying today would prevent it from being opened in flight.
Sep 25, 2008, 1:46 pm
#11
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I'm currently training to become a pilot, and I've opened a simulated 737 overwing exit during our emergency training.
That sounds about right. The door of the simulator was taken from a real aircraft, and it was not exactly light, but not too heavy either. I would say about the weight of a medium-sized suitcase. Thankfully, it's very easy to grab hold of and handle, though someone who is rather short might have a problem getting decent leverage on it.
Correct. For most airliners, this is done by using the plug-doors mentioned above. The door is bigger than the frame and the higher pressure inside the aircraft seals the door against the frame. Not even The Hulk on steroids can get that door open at 30000 feet if the pressure difference is acting against it.
And in case you're wondering how the door can still open outward on the ground: when the door is opened, it first moves inward, and then outward, passing through the doorframe sideways.
I'm not sure how it's done on the 737NG - I'll have to ask I guy I know who flies them. However, it's a safe bet that there would be some sort of safety mechanism built in to prevent them from being opened in flight. The possible liability issues alone would be enough for Boeing to make sure of that.
How heavy are the type of exit doors where you have to pick up the door and place it on the seats or throw it out of the plane (as shown on some of the cards) before jumping onto the slide?
Seems like something any reasonably fit person can do, but it also seems that there are a lot of airline passengers who may not be reasonably fit enough to do that.
Seems like something any reasonably fit person can do, but it also seems that there are a lot of airline passengers who may not be reasonably fit enough to do that.
And in case you're wondering how the door can still open outward on the ground: when the door is opened, it first moves inward, and then outward, passing through the doorframe sideways.
The 737NG exit doors are an outward-opening swing-up design. They're not plug doors. Therefore, I believe that theoretically you could open them in flight.
http://aviation-safety.net/photos/di...5&vnr=1&kind=E
http://aviation-safety.net/photos/di...5&vnr=1&kind=E
Sep 25, 2008, 1:55 pm
#12
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yes....
i posted this
now, with this current thread and then the other one i mentioned one, should they be combined? just a thought 
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...php?p=10425402
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=722234
i posted this
i posted this in a thread called have you ever gotten to go on the emergency slide?
a thread about aborted takeoffs but it's also quite fitting here as well.
===
i had one where we had to evacuate the aircraft...
back in the old days when co had the $99 cross country fares in the early 80's, i was lax-hou-pbi on a co dc-10. the plane was about half full and i was sitting by the exit row. we rolled out and accelerated and accelerated and then WHAM! the captain locks up the brakes and announces, "evacuate, evacuate, evacuate, this is not a drill!" followed by the evac horn.
the f/a in the jumpseat opposite me yells at me to stand by the door and when she tells me to pull the handle, pull it as hard as i can. she yells, i pull and up goes the door and out pops the slide.
She's barking instructions and yells to me, "if the don't jump, push them!" and i did have to do that as one person froze.
After the pax had gone she yelled "jump" and i jumped.
at the bottom of the slide, we were told to run away from the aircraft and that's just what i did. when i finally turned to look back at the aircraft, the tail engine was belching balck smoke and was just about to be sprayed by the lax fire dept.
upon returning to the terminal and being checked for injuries, the captain got on the p/a at the gate and explained what happened...there was an oil leak where the oil dripped onto something hot in the engine with result being an engine fire and that's whay he aborted.
no one was hurt and talk about "the old days", in a matter of about 20 minutes, delta had re-ticked me lax-atl-pbi no questions asked.
a thread about aborted takeoffs but it's also quite fitting here as well.
===
i had one where we had to evacuate the aircraft...
back in the old days when co had the $99 cross country fares in the early 80's, i was lax-hou-pbi on a co dc-10. the plane was about half full and i was sitting by the exit row. we rolled out and accelerated and accelerated and then WHAM! the captain locks up the brakes and announces, "evacuate, evacuate, evacuate, this is not a drill!" followed by the evac horn.
the f/a in the jumpseat opposite me yells at me to stand by the door and when she tells me to pull the handle, pull it as hard as i can. she yells, i pull and up goes the door and out pops the slide.
She's barking instructions and yells to me, "if the don't jump, push them!" and i did have to do that as one person froze.
After the pax had gone she yelled "jump" and i jumped.
at the bottom of the slide, we were told to run away from the aircraft and that's just what i did. when i finally turned to look back at the aircraft, the tail engine was belching balck smoke and was just about to be sprayed by the lax fire dept.
upon returning to the terminal and being checked for injuries, the captain got on the p/a at the gate and explained what happened...there was an oil leak where the oil dripped onto something hot in the engine with result being an engine fire and that's whay he aborted.
no one was hurt and talk about "the old days", in a matter of about 20 minutes, delta had re-ticked me lax-atl-pbi no questions asked.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...php?p=10425402
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=722234
Sep 25, 2008, 5:10 pm
#13
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WRT the physical force required to open a door, keep in mind that if there is physical damage to the airframe, it could make the operation much harder.
In the cabin door simulators used by the airline training departments, many have “door force” options that can be dialed in by the instructors at random to simulate a misaligned door frame.
In the cabin door simulators used by the airline training departments, many have “door force” options that can be dialed in by the instructors at random to simulate a misaligned door frame.
Sep 25, 2008, 5:40 pm
#14
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I found on YouTube Qantas' training videos for opening their aircraft doors. Pretty interesting. (Yes, it's the 'other side' of the door, but interesting nevertheless.)
http://www.youtube.com/redtail747
http://www.youtube.com/redtail747
Sep 26, 2008, 6:04 am
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Sort of like the Cooper vane, which aero-locked the tail airstairs on the Boeing 727.