The low altitude of the aircraft reduced cabin pressure.
On May 26, a passenger was able to unlock a jet door just before landing, giving passengers on an Asiana Airlines flight the scare of their lives. However, how precisely did the traveler manage to operate the door while the plane was still in flight?
Asiana door fright summary
In case you missed it, an Asiana Airlines passenger was detained after opening the door of the aircraft on Friday afternoon as it was its route to Daegu.
The passenger, a man in his 30s, managed to open the jet door in midair. According to a representative of Asiana, the passenger forced the door open just two or three minutes before landing while seated in one of the emergency seats at a height of 700 feet.There were 194 passengers and six crew members on the flight; 12 of them experienced mild hyperventilation injuries, and nine of them were taken to the hospital.
The door’s opening method.
The pressure inside the cabin, which exerts thousands of pounds of strain on the door as a result of pressurization, normally makes it difficult to open an aircraft door in the middle of a flight. But as the plane descends, the pressure inside and outside starts to level off, which results in less force being applied to the door.
According to CNN, Asiana Airlines
“The aircraft is automatically configured to change the cabin’s pressure in accordance with its altitude. It is impossible to open the door when the plane is very high in the air, but it is possible when it is low and about to touch down.
Fortunately, everyone was wearing seatbelts since the jet was just minutes away from landing. The passenger was able to open the door at an altitude of 700 feet, something he would not have been able to achieve while the aircraft was cruising at 30,000 feet.
The investigation is ongoing
Authorities have stated that they will look into whether Asiana Airlines maintained emergency exits in accordance with policy. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of South Korea will also send a team to investigate whether the event was caused by any maintenance issues with the aircraft.
Professor of aviation at Sehan University in South Korea, Sohn Myong-hwan, told Reuters:
Someone from the flight crew should have stopped that passenger because it is particularly dangerous during landing and departure. It seems unclear to me that the airline can escape any potential liability in this situation.
When the man who opened the door was apprehended at Daegu Airport on Friday, he admitted to feeling “uncomfortable” and wanting to leave the plane as soon as possible. He also said he had been under stress since losing his job.
