Hypoxia and Medicine

Can jet airliner doors be opened at high altitudes?

I thought they opened inward and at high altitude it is not possible to open one because the cabin pressure is greater than the outside air pressure, but a CSI episode shows passengers fearing for their lives because someone was trying to open the door in flight. If they open inwards then there is no way someone has enough strength to pull the door inwards first.

Public Comments

1. Ummm it could happen but you must think of the presure that this person will take to open that door first .
2. Most jets are pressurized inside. To open the door you would first have to de-pressurize the airplane. If you simply took off and did not have the ability to pressurize the airplane, you could open the door assuming you had oxygen and the proper equipment.
3. It's a lot of air pressure pushing that door into place, I'd be amazed if somebody where able to pull it open.
4. Remember that TV is fiction! The pressure differential between the cabin and outside environment will depend on the aircraft's altitude. The higher the altitude, the greater the difference in pressures - and thus the greater the force required to open the door. Yes, most doors open inwards so physics will try and prevent the door from being opened - and modern airliners will have systems that will prohibit doors from being opened in flight in any case. Should by some chance a door / window gets opened, the outcome will again depend on altitude, and position of the breach. The higher the altitude, the more rapid (explosive) the decompression. Parts of the surrounding airframe may be torn off and the atmospheric conditions inside the cabin will be made the same as outside. The rush of air escaping may peforate ear-drums, suck air out of lungs, and possibly eject someone unfortunate to be stood near the breach at the time. Prolonged exposure to these conditions (although drop-down oxygen masks will help) will lead to hypoxia, hypothermia and decompression sickness.
5. the tightest door in the world .... it is the plane cabin door. at high altitude, the difference in pressure is so great that the door is stuck to the plane. Therefore it is not at all possible to open the door when the plane is flying at high altitude.
6. you sure you wanna do that?..u may be sucked out of the plane and causing the whole plane to crash.
7. Sure they can be opened but the plane would implode and kill everyone.
8. Pure TV fiction! All aircraft doors on pressurized aircraft open inwards initially. The pressure inside the aircraft will prevent the door from opening. Very little pressure is needed to hold the door firmly shut. A typical aircraft entry door is 7 square feet or more in area. A one PSI pressure differential will exert over half a ton of pressure on the door. At 35,000 feet, the pressure differential is more like 8 PSI and the pressure would be over 4 tons. Even if you tried to rig a winch to the door, the handles would snap off long before you could generate enough force to open the door. Most door latch mechanisms use a pressure lock that won't even allow the handle to be moved if there is a positive pressure differential, further preventing any attempt at opening a door.
9. depends on the aircraft design.most boeings it would not be possible due to the inward then outward action.Other makers have differing methods.
10. I saw the episode you are referring to. I have also received training in aircraft accident investigation. Your assumption is absolutely correct. But you are setting in front of a computer in relative safety and thinking clearly. You are not at thirty plus thousand feet in an aluminum tube going mach 0.86. I probably have considerably more training and experience than you or other members of the flying public and under those conditions I might not be thinking very clearly myself. I have experienced an explosive decompression on the ground. I was running engines on a B model C-135 and we were doing a pressurization check. The MA folks had the aircraft pumped up to 56 inches of mercury when a door over the left wing failed. That, my friend, is something you just have to experience to believe. It happens much faster than at the movies and you have an instant dense fog. The fog dissipates rapidly but it leaves everything wet inside the cabin. If I saw someone trying to open a door in flight I might flash back to that afternoon and take him out myself. All I am trying to get to is people are motivated by different things, panic included, and there actions are often accompanied by mitigating circumstances.
11. Gimp is not joking about the condensation explosion on decompression. The fog is dense and the moisture is everywhere, also inside the avionics, not a happy situation to find oneself in aloft. No, the door is not going anywhere, a failure might form in the fuselage or a window but not likely a door.
12. This will never happen. Some passengers just don't believe this fact.