Emergency exits on planes

Aloreth

Aloreth

Aloreth

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Joined
16 Aug 2005
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1,372
As I am tall I generally ask for the emergency exit seat on a plane. Recently I have started wondering...whats to stop someone from opening it in flight? I assume as its a manual release door and to be used incase of emergency, it must function independently from the airplane's electronic systems. If I were to (dont get me wrong I never would) pop the emergency handle, would the door open and kill us all (assuming were flying at the time)

Mike
 
Aloreth said:
As I am tall I generally ask for the emergency exit seat on a plane. Recently I have started wondering...whats to stop someone from opening it in flight? I assume as its a manual release door and to be used incase of emergency, it must function independently from the airplane's electronic systems. If I were to (dont get me wrong I never would) pop the emergency handle, would the door open and kill us all (assuming were flying at the time)

Mike
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the doors are fairly difficult to open, and the other passengers/cabin crew would stop you.
 
Tom0 said:
Pressure?
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Exactly: the doors are wider on the inside than the outside, effectively like a cork. You'd need to pull the door back into the cabin to open it against about 7-10 pounds per square inch of pressure (it's not zero outside). There are a LOT of square inches on a door, so a force measured in tons would be needed.


Might just be possible at low altitude though, although airflow effects would still make it pretty hard.


M
 
Aod said:
they open outwards, and the cabin is atmosphere positive, so they'd open on their own without locks...
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See my reply - it's the opposite. Note the way the cabin door is opened: it swings in, then turns sideways, THEN is extended outside the aircraft. The door cannot open outwards.


M
 
Meridian said:
See my reply - it's the opposite. Note the way the cabin door is opened: it swings in, then turns sideways, THEN is extended outside the aircraft. The door cannot open outwards.


M
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ahhh. i've never paid attention to them actually opening or closing them :)
 
My friend once told me when he was younger he was on a plane and someone opened the emergency door and the pressure made someone's head fall off and go flying out the door and then the air steward lady closed the door and it was all ok...apart from the person with no head.

He was probably lying though.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
My friend once told me when he was younger he was on a plane and someone opened the emergency door and the pressure made someone's head fall off and go flying out the door and then the air steward lady closed the door and it was all ok...apart from the person with no head.

He was probably lying though.
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Probably ? :p
 
ScarySquirrel said:
My friend once told me when he was younger he was on a plane and someone opened the emergency door and the pressure made someone's head fall off and go flying out the door and then the air steward lady closed the door and it was all ok...apart from the person with no head.

He was probably lying though.
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LMAO.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
My friend once told me when he was younger he was on a plane and someone opened the emergency door and the pressure made someone's head fall off and go flying out the door and then the air steward lady closed the door and it was all ok...apart from the person with no head.

He was probably lying though.
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LMAO :D

I've got visions of someone's head randomly falling off and rolling down the plane and out the door :p
 
hamesy said:
LMAO :D

I've got visions of someone's head randomly falling off and rolling down the plane and out the door :p
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Dumb and Dumber said:
Lloyd: Oh, come on buddy, it's not that bad…come on, man…
Harry: It gets worse, Lloyd. Y'know my parakeet Petey?
Lloyd: Yeah?
Harry: He's dead.
Lloyd: Oh man…I'm sorry…what happened?
Harry: His head fell off.
Lloyd: His head fell off?
Harry: Yeah, he was pretty old.
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Wierdly I was reading about decompression the other day.
A lot of planes that go through explosive decompression crash due to debris or structural failure damaging hydraulics, which then causes a loss of control of control surfaces.

On the plus side you'll probably lose consiousness due to hypoxia so at least you won't be awake when you hit the ground in a 100 ton dart travelling at mach 0.8 ;)
 
ScarySquirrel said:
My friend once told me when he was younger he was on a plane and someone opened the emergency door and the pressure made someone's head fall off and go flying out the door and then the air steward lady closed the door and it was all ok...apart from the person with no head.

He was probably lying though.
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Thats one of the funniest things ive ever read
 
Col_M said:
Wierdly I was reading about decompression the other day.
A lot of planes that go through explosive decompression crash due to debris or structural failure damaging hydraulics, which then causes a loss of control of control surfaces.

On the plus side you'll probably lose consiousness due to hypoxia so at least you won't be awake when you hit the ground in a 100 ton dart travelling at mach 0.8 ;)
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Thank god planes are fly by wire now :p
 
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