https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/asia/sou ... index.html

An airline official said a man in his 30s who was sitting at the emergency seat seemed to have opened the door when the aircraft was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground and about two to three minutes from landing in the city 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Seoul.

The aircraft was identified on the Flightradar 24 tracking website as an Airbus 321.

The jet was on a flight from Jeju island, off South Korea’s southern coast, to Daegu.

Picture of the open door once landed here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65705276

DIRECTFLT wrote:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/asia/south-korea-plane-door-opens-midair-intl-hnk/index.html

An airline official said a man in his 30s who was sitting at the emergency seat seemed to have opened the door when the aircraft was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground and about two to three minutes from landing in the city 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Seoul.

The aircraft was identified on the Flightradar 24 tracking website as an Airbus 321.

The jet was on a flight from Jeju island, off South Korea’s southern coast, to Daegu.

Something’s not quite right in that math. 700 feet above the ground would only be about a minute before landing. Not 2-3 minutes, no?

Other than that, the rest of the facts seem plausible.

https://youtu.be/EeNc2dMn80g

Here's a video from inside.

SuseJ772 wrote:

DIRECTFLT wrote:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/asia/south-korea-plane-door-opens-midair-intl-hnk/index.html

An airline official said a man in his 30s who was sitting at the emergency seat seemed to have opened the door when the aircraft was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground and about two to three minutes from landing in the city 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Seoul.

The aircraft was identified on the Flightradar 24 tracking website as an Airbus 321.

The jet was on a flight from Jeju island, off South Korea’s southern coast, to Daegu.

Something’s not quite right in that math. 700 feet above the ground would only be about a minute before landing. Not 2-3 minutes, no?

Other than that, the rest of the facts seem plausible.

Those figures seem rather approximate. Maybe 'about 700 feet' was actually 1000 and 'about two to three minutes' was actually 90 seconds which I guess would seem more plausible?

mjgbtv wrote:

SuseJ772 wrote:

DIRECTFLT wrote:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/26/asia/south-korea-plane-door-opens-midair-intl-hnk/index.html

An airline official said a man in his 30s who was sitting at the emergency seat seemed to have opened the door when the aircraft was about 700 feet (213 meters) above the ground and about two to three minutes from landing in the city 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Seoul.

The aircraft was identified on the Flightradar 24 tracking website as an Airbus 321.

The jet was on a flight from Jeju island, off South Korea’s southern coast, to Daegu.

Something’s not quite right in that math. 700 feet above the ground would only be about a minute before landing. Not 2-3 minutes, no?

Other than that, the rest of the facts seem plausible.

Those figures seem rather approximate. Maybe 'about 700 feet' was actually 1000 and 'about two to three minutes' was actually 90 seconds which I guess would seem more plausible?

Or it might be 700 meters?

Well I guess this puts to rest of oft asked question about the possibility!

Welp. I guess i am going to eat my crow with zaxbys sauce. It’ll be fun.

It certainly is fortunate the door remained attached to the aircraft. Dreadful if it were to become detached and strike the tail assembly.

LabQuest wrote:

Well I guess this puts to rest of oft asked question about the possibility!

When the cabin is pressurized at higher altitudes then it's a different story.

Why didn’t the slide deploy? Surely the Pax didn’t disarm the door before opening it?

Man, those people in the vicinity of the door got a good blast of fresh air. Terrifying. I wonder if the airline will compensate passengers somehow. Imagine if there were ultranervous flyers a row away lol... my mom would never set foot on a plane again. Thankfully it ended well for everyone

smi0006 wrote:

Why didn’t the slide deploy? Surely the Pax didn’t disarm the door before opening it?

The slide deployed but it was ripped off by the wind

smi0006 wrote:

Why didn’t the slide deploy? Surely the Pax didn’t disarm the door before opening it?

From the photo in the link in the 2nd post - looks like it probably did deploy - and was probably ripped off. Obviously not designed for deployment with the plane moving at flight speed.

This belies the belief that these "translating" type of doors can't be opened in flight. I've always thought it was bull. If it opens by first moving outward, it can be opened inflight, unless I'm way off. Please correct me if I am, but...give me an "old-style" Boeing or Douglas plug door any time and twice on Sunday's. Seems they are much less complicated as well. I'll never understand why Boeing moved away from them.

cathay747 wrote:

This belies the belief that these "translating" type of doors can't be opened in flight. I've always thought it was bull. If it opens by first moving outward, it can be opened inflight, unless I'm way off. Please correct me if I am, but...give me an "old-style" Boeing or Douglas plug door any time and twice on Sunday's. Seems they are much less complicated as well. I'll never understand why Boeing moved away from them.

In flight people would normally refer to up much higher. This is plug door, it needs to be unplugged to translate. And can only do so when very close to the ground where the pressure differential is close to zero.

zuckie13 wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Why didn’t the slide deploy? Surely the Pax didn’t disarm the door before opening it?

From the photo in the link in the 2nd post - looks like it probably did deploy - and was probably ripped off. Obviously not designed for deployment with the plane moving at flight speed.

You can remove the "probably": the photo clearly shows the slide compartment open and remnants of the slide. The door and the slide are gone.

WayexTDI wrote:

zuckie13 wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

Why didn’t the slide deploy? Surely the Pax didn’t disarm the door before opening it?

From the photo in the link in the 2nd post - looks like it probably did deploy - and was probably ripped off. Obviously not designed for deployment with the plane moving at flight speed.

You can remove the "probably": the photo clearly shows the slide compartment open and remnants of the slide. The door and the slide are gone.

The door is still attached according to outside photos.

Edit: oh I see you must mean the slide door.

lostsound wrote:

WayexTDI wrote:

zuckie13 wrote:

From the photo in the link in the 2nd post - looks like it probably did deploy - and was probably ripped off. Obviously not designed for deployment with the plane moving at flight speed.

You can remove the "probably": the photo clearly shows the slide compartment open and remnants of the slide. The door and the slide are gone.

The door is still attached according to outside photos.

Edit: oh I see you must mean the slide door.

Slide compartment door; we were talking about the slide.

Will the plane be able to fly again? How much repair work will need to be done?

Also, the operation of these exits is similar to the main cabin doors, in that if opened when armed, they are “powered” open by a pneumatic cylinder which will push the door open to the stop, then lock there.

Likely, that is how it was able to open so far, then stay open against the airflow.

At that point in the approach, the cabin is all but unpressurized.

zeke wrote:

cathay747 wrote:

This belies the belief that these "translating" type of doors can't be opened in flight. I've always thought it was bull. If it opens by first moving outward, it can be opened inflight, unless I'm way off. Please correct me if I am, but...give me an "old-style" Boeing or Douglas plug door any time and twice on Sunday's. Seems they are much less complicated as well. I'll never understand why Boeing moved away from them.

In flight people would normally refer to up much higher. This is plug door, it needs to be unplugged to translate. And can only do so when very close to the ground where the pressure differential is close to zero.

Not understanding your first sentence, but...it may be a "type" of a plug door, but not in the traditional sense in my mind, like doors on DC-jets and all Boeing's prior to the 777, where the door must first move inward before in is able to rotate outwards. And close-to-zero pressure diff clearly is now not good enough, there needs to be a fail-safe lockout to prevent inflight opening, such as a wheels-on-ground switch like for the spoilers...in these days of lunatics on planes!

rj777 wrote:

Will the plane be able to fly again? How much repair work will need to be done?

thev inspection on that door and the door latches will be extensive. once they have it inspected and the door closed then the internal door structrure might have to be repaired if the door is tweaked and out of contour.

I've seen that the FA has to turn off some RED light, indicating to the ground personnel that the door is safe to open without popping his eye out due to pressure.

"It is particularly dangerous during landing and takeoff, so someone from the flight staff should have stopped that passenger," said Sohn Myong-hwan, a professor at South Korea's Sehan University's aviation maintenance department.

You go right ahead, Sohn. I will be here belted in and not falling out of the plane.

stewartg wrote:

I've seen that the FA has to turn off some RED light, indicating to the ground personnel that the door is safe to open without popping his eye out due to pressure.

That’s about disarming the door, so ground personnel can open it without the slide activating.

cathay747 wrote:

Not understanding your first sentence, but...it may be a "type" of a plug door, but not in the traditional sense in my mind, like doors on DC-jets and all Boeing's prior to the 777, where the door must first move inward before in is able to rotate outwards. And close-to-zero pressure diff clearly is now not good enough, there needs to be a fail-safe lockout to prevent inflight opening, such as a wheels-on-ground switch like for the spoilers...in these days of lunatics on planes!

I see what you mean, but I believe what you suggest is a big, big, big no.
That would mean that, in case of something like a crash landing where sensors may be destroyed / fail, passengers might be trapped inside the plane when they should evacuate. Or maybe some doors would fail to open due to the "safety" system that you suggest. Having a switch controlled by the crew would mean that it would not work if the crew is incapacitated. All in all, I do not see a "simple" way to make this work, without creating even much greater problems.
From a safety standpoint, what you ask for would seem very hard to specify and certify.

Wow, this has to be causing some scrambling in airline security departments. Not only that, but this gives creeps more reason to attempt it. I wonder what this jerks hopes were? I hope he is going through some hard interrogation right now.

I have been under the belief it was impossible to open an emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air. Is it true when the plane is higher and pressurized that it is impossible? I also find it crazy the door was able to open against the wind like that! Talk about some solid built machinery right there!

F9Animal wrote:

Wow, this has to be causing some scrambling in airline security departments. Not only that, but this gives creeps more reason to attempt it. I wonder what this jerks hopes were? I hope he is going through some hard interrogation right now.

I have been under the belief it was impossible to open an emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air. Is it true when the plane is higher and pressurized that it is impossible? I also find it crazy the door was able to open against the wind like that! Talk about some solid built machinery right there!

Amazing it hasnt happened before. Thousands of flights a day with the risk of a mentally challenged person sitting in a seat next to an exit door or window. We know that sometimes even teenagers do stupid things without regard to risk.

F9Animal wrote:

I wonder what this jerks hopes were?

That’s exactly what I’m asking myself since I heard about this story. We had cases where people tried to open emergency exits on the ground when they thought it would be too hot in the cabin. But I guess this is wasn’t the case in this incident. I guess mental health issues… :-/

CrewBunk wrote:

Also, the operation of these exits is similar to the main cabin doors, in that if opened when armed, they are “powered” open by a pneumatic cylinder which will push the door open to the stop, then lock there.

Likely, that is how it was able to open so far, then stay open against the airflow.

At that point in the approach, the cabin is all but unpressurized.

Most doors have a powered assist mechanism that speeds up the outward swing to aid in rapid evacuation. Most likely this was triggered because the door was in armed mode. The lock is a so-called built-in 'gustlock' to prevent the door from moving during windy conditions when fully open with the plane stationary on the ground.

Its definitely not designed for high velocity 'air speed winds', the door seems to be unhinged judging from the after photos

FlyingHonu001 wrote:

Its definitely not designed for high velocity 'air speed winds'

Ya think?

The main cabin doors have a wind limit speed of 65 knots. I would assume the cabin emergency exit doors are similar. It’s not in my AOM as I’m guessing opening it is a maintenance function, unless in an emergency where external wind speeds are irrelevant.

CrewBunk wrote:

At that point in the approach, the cabin is all but unpressurized.

At what point, ie, zero to _____ feet, is the cabin typically unpressurized enough that the doors and emergency window exits can be opened?

Bro let the intrusive thoughts win.

Interesting that the door was still able to slide noseward while still inflight and hang on. Usually a run away jetbridge can rip it right off.

Polot wrote:

stewartg wrote:

I've seen that the FA has to turn off some RED light, indicating to the ground personnel that the door is safe to open without popping his eye out due to pressure.

That’s about disarming the door, so ground personnel can open it without the slide activating.

The RED light that you can see through the porthole in the door is cabin pressure. If the cabin is pressurised the red light is on. It tells you not to open the door. It cannot be turned on or off by the crew.

One morning in ARN a flight crew arrived at the A320 down the jetway. The aircraft was in ground service mode electrically, and all the doors were closed. A cabin heater was connected and running. The Captain went to open the cabin door, but the red light came on when he moved the handle. Must be a false warning, he said, the aircraft is not powered. He pulled the handle hard, and the F/O caught him as he was thrown across the jetway by the opening door, powered by the tiny amount of pressure from the cabin heater. The door was disarmed, it was not the air bottle opening the door, but the residual pressure in the cabin.
After that, the ground crew always cracked open a cargo door before connecting the heater.

stewartg wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

Wow, this has to be causing some scrambling in airline security departments. Not only that, but this gives creeps more reason to attempt it. I wonder what this jerks hopes were? I hope he is going through some hard interrogation right now.

I have been under the belief it was impossible to open an emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air. Is it true when the plane is higher and pressurized that it is impossible? I also find it crazy the door was able to open against the wind like that! Talk about some solid built machinery right there!

Amazing it hasnt happened before. Thousands of flights a day with the risk of a mentally challenged person sitting in a seat next to an exit door or window. We know that sometimes even teenagers do stupid things without regard to risk.

In the US, no one under the age of 18 is allowed to sit in an exit row. Also everyone sitting in an exit row has to be physically able to help an evacuation in an an emergency.

cathay747 wrote:

but...it may be a "type" of a plug door, but not in the traditional sense in my mind, like doors on DC-jets and all Boeing's prior to the 777, where the door must first move inward before in is able to rotate outwards. And close-to-zero pressure diff clearly is now not good enough, there needs to be a fail-safe lockout to prevent inflight opening, such as a wheels-on-ground switch like for the spoilers...in these days of lunatics on planes!

The door does move inwards and up by a small amount, the door handle is about 60cm long to provide the leverage to move the door.

The door needs to be opened in all emergency situations, it cannot be hooked up to external sensors due to the requirement to operate even in catastrophic situations.

It is a plug door because the pressure forces push the door closed against the fuselage, in cruise you could not open the door due to this pressure force. The operating handle could not overcome that force.

A non plug style door would rely on on some form of lock to keep the door closed, in cruise if you operated the lock, the door would open.

flyingclrs727 wrote:

stewartg wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

Wow, this has to be causing some scrambling in airline security departments. Not only that, but this gives creeps more reason to attempt it. I wonder what this jerks hopes were? I hope he is going through some hard interrogation right now.

I have been under the belief it was impossible to open an emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air. Is it true when the plane is higher and pressurized that it is impossible? I also find it crazy the door was able to open against the wind like that! Talk about some solid built machinery right there!

Amazing it hasnt happened before. Thousands of flights a day with the risk of a mentally challenged person sitting in a seat next to an exit door or window. We know that sometimes even teenagers do stupid things without regard to risk.

In the US, no one under the age of 18 is allowed to sit in an exit row. Also everyone sitting in an exit row has to be physically able to help an evacuation in an an emergency.

You only have to be 15 to sit in an exit row in the U.S.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/121.585

Polot wrote:

stewartg wrote:

I've seen that the FA has to turn off some RED light, indicating to the ground personnel that the door is safe to open without popping his eye out due to pressure.

That’s about disarming the door, so ground personnel can open it without the slide activating.

Airbus doors are design, so if they are opened from the outside they automatically dis-arm.

The slides on Airbus doors, are only activated by opening the doors from in the inside. It’s a additional safety feature added in to protect ground crews.

LabQuest wrote:

Well I guess this puts to rest of oft asked question about the possibility!

Not quite. I thought the doors/exits would lock automatically after take off - AFAIK this is standard on the B737 at least, isn't it?!

debonair wrote:

LabQuest wrote:

Well I guess this puts to rest of oft asked question about the possibility!

Not quite. I thought the doors/exits would lock automatically after take off - AFAIK this is standard on the B737 at least, isn't it?!

Only on the NG and later, as those aren’t plug type doors.

OEB: Aircraft to be pressurised to >2psi upon touchdown. Further depressurisation will take place on taxi in.

stewartg wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

Wow, this has to be causing some scrambling in airline security departments. Not only that, but this gives creeps more reason to attempt it. I wonder what this jerks hopes were? I hope he is going through some hard interrogation right now.

I have been under the belief it was impossible to open an emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air. Is it true when the plane is higher and pressurized that it is impossible? I also find it crazy the door was able to open against the wind like that! Talk about some solid built machinery right there!

Amazing it hasnt happened before. Thousands of flights a day with the risk of a mentally challenged person sitting in a seat next to an exit door or window. We know that sometimes even teenagers do stupid things without regard to risk.

Now need to be mentally fitted to sit on the exit row.

"Stand up, hook up shuffle to the doooor......jump right out anda' count to four...." good thing folks were buckled up for landing.

bhxdtw wrote:

Man, those people in the vicinity of the door got a good blast of fresh air. Terrifying. I wonder if the airline will compensate passengers somehow. Imagine if there were ultranervous flyers a row away lol... my mom would never set foot on a plane again. Thankfully it ended well for everyone

Compensate them for what??? A mentally ill person did a bad thing? Perhaps they should have have Shrinks in the jetway to interview folks??? Yeah....that will stop em...or perhaps this person was drunk...

F9Animal wrote:

Wow, this has to be causing some scrambling in airline security departments. Not only that, but this gives creeps more reason to attempt it. I wonder what this jerks hopes were? I hope he is going through some hard interrogation right now.

I have been under the belief it was impossible to open an emergency exit while the aircraft was in the air. Is it true when the plane is higher and pressurized that it is impossible? I also find it crazy the door was able to open against the wind like that! Talk about some solid built machinery right there!

Well, if pressure is equal AND no motion....this could be done...mind you..the overwing windows are still available

I have two comments on this:

1) Is it possible that there is enough disturbed air just off the back of the wing where this door was located, that airflow can actually wrap around and travel forward?

2) Why did they keep these passengers sitting right where the open door was? Shouldn't they have been moved away immediately to risk any further injury? Even if the aircraft was full, I think the pax should have immediately been moved to the aft galley, even if they had to sit on the floor or crew jump seats. Even an insect entering that cabin at nearly 200 mph could be deadly on somebody's face.

I wonder why the passenger chose to open the door.
Maybe just to see if he/her could?

crownvic wrote:

I have two comments on this:

1) Is it possible that there is enough disturbed air just off the back of the wing where this door was located, that airflow can actually wrap around and travel forward?

2) Why did they keep these passengers sitting right where the open door was? Shouldn't they have been moved away immediately to risk any further injury? Even if the aircraft was full, I think the pax should have immediately been moved to the aft galley, even if they had to sit on the floor or crew jump seats. Even an insect entering that cabin at nearly 200 mph could be deadly on somebody's face.

As per the posts above, they were at 700 feet, about two minutes or less to touchdown. FAs would have been seated. Having all pax keeping their seat belts on is the safest course of action.

bhill wrote:

bhxdtw wrote:

Man, those people in the vicinity of the door got a good blast of fresh air. Terrifying. I wonder if the airline will compensate passengers somehow. Imagine if there were ultranervous flyers a row away lol... my mom would never set foot on a plane again. Thankfully it ended well for everyone

Compensate them for what??? A mentally ill person did a bad thing? Perhaps they should have have Shrinks in the jetway to interview folks??? Yeah....that will stop em...or perhaps this person was drunk...

I do think the airline could offer miles perhaps in this situation. I can guarantee the passengers who got some of that wind were terrified. I honestly would need to have disposed of my underwear, as there would be no way those things would be worth cleaning.

The latest version of this story is, the passenger said he felt the need to get off the plane right away. Apparently that is what he told police. Regardless, I hope he is prosecuted for this big time.