Man apprehended trying to open emergency exit on airborne Boeing 737 plane to Hat Yai

[Lite Beer]

Man apprehended trying to open emergency exit on airborne Boeing 737 plane to Hat Yai

BANGKOK: -- A 30-year-old passenger on board a Lion Air flight from Don Mueang airport to Hat Yai was apprehended by three police officers as he tried to open an emergency exit of the plane while it was airborne in a bid to commit suicide.

The bizarre incident happened Wednesday but was revealed yesterday by Klong Hoi Khong police in Hat Yai.

According to the police, the incident occurred on Flight SA 8542 of Lion Air while the Boeing 737 plane was flying above Chumphon province yesterday at 10,000 feet altitude with 160 passengers and crews on board.

One male passenger rose up to his feet, walked towards the emergency exit and tried to open the exit door.

The sudden event caused a panic among the horrified passengers who saw him trying to open the door.

But three passengers who later identified themselves as police managed to overpower him and force him back to his seat and kept him under control.

As the plane landed safely at Hat Yai half an hour later, Klong Hoi Khong station police were called in to take the man in custody.

He was identified only as Amnart.

He told the police that he is a Phatthalung resident and worked as a mechanics.

He admitted to trying to open the emergency exit door in bid to suicide because he was deeply disappointed in love and couldn’t sleep for the past 4-5 nights. He said it was his instant thought to open the door to jump from the plane.

Police booked him in custody for violating safety regulation and resisting the order of the pilot on airborne plane.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/man-apprehended-trying-to-open-emergency-exit-on-airborne-boeing-737-plane-to-hat-yai

-- Thai PBS 2015-06-27

[bamnutsak]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

[CNXBKKMAN]

What did the cabin crew do? Even if they were slim ladies when they saw him trying to open the door they need to be wrestling him to the floor. Did the off duty police react so fast or did the cabin crew react too slow?

[cloghead]

pics or it didn't happen...

[Manbing]

What a selfish captain retardo.

Give him medical treatment for suicide ideation,

then send him to court and charge him with the attempted murder of the entire plane passenger list.

See how he likes them apples

[Misterwhisper]

Charge this idiot with attempted murder!

[gandalf12]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

[sabaii69]

The truth: he was looking for the lavatory to have a smoke....but you can get in real trouble for that

[sammygood]

is it a myth or can it really (not) be opened ? why knows

[Happy Grumpy]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

One of the milder words I would have used.

[notbkk]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

No, even at that relatively low altitude the plane is pressurized. The B737 is fitted with plug-in doors so the pressure inside the cabin will prevent anyone from opening the door, as these doors first need to move INto the cabin before they can be swinged towards the outside.

[gandalf12]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

No, even at that relatively low altitude the plane is pressurized. The B737 is fitted with plug-in doors so the pressure inside the cabin will prevent anyone from opening the door, as these doors first need to move INto the cabin before they can be swinged towards the outside.

Is it not something like 6 - 8000 feet they are pressurised at? But as you say they are designed so they can not be opened in the air. Probably use the Wheels on Ground switches to Activate / Deactivate the operating mechanism

[JAG]

What did the cabin crew do? Even if they were slim ladies when they saw him trying to open the door they need to be wrestling him to the floor. Did the off duty police react so fast or did the cabin crew react too slow?

Their very best I should imagine. When it comes to wrestling with suicidal mechanics nature however has equiped off duty coppers rather better than asian flight attendants, delightfull creatures that they are. Flight attendants not coppers I mean!

[Yann55]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

One of the milder words I would have used.

LOL, mild indeed.

If that clown had succeeded in opening the door, a few passengers would most probably have been sucked out and my, how disconcerting that must feel.

[little mary sunshine]

Ban from all airlines....take the bus...try the condo

Roof next time

[Broeno]

Relative of deceived German pilot?

[bamnutsak]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

One of the milder words I would have used.

LOL, mild indeed.

If that clown had succeeded in opening the door, a few passengers would most probably have been sucked out and my, how disconcerting that must feel.

Again, just to reiterate, the door cannot be opened. No one will be sucked out of the aircraft.

That said, dealing with a troubled or disoriented passenger on on aircraft can be disconcerting.

[hawker9000]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

My thoughts as well. Not that much of a pressure differential at only 10K ft. But OTOH not sure it takes much of a diff'l to hold it closed. But even if he did get it open it's not like there'd have been a catastrophic and lethal depressurization.

[geriatrickid]

is it a myth or can it really (not) be opened ? why knows

air pressure + plug doors + inward opening mechanism = impossible to open.

The doors are "over engineered" compared to the rest of the fuselage. Look at all of the catastrophic fuselage skin failures, doors never blow out or in.

Even in crashes, the doors remain secured in place. (Cargo hatches and openings are not built the same way abd can fail.)

[nauseus]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

No, even at that relatively low altitude the plane is pressurized. The B737 is fitted with plug-in doors so the pressure inside the cabin will prevent anyone from opening the door, as these doors first need to move INto the cabin before they can be swinged towards the outside.

Is a numpty like that going to know that?

[kolohe]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

No, even at that relatively low altitude the plane is pressurized. The B737 is fitted with plug-in doors so the pressure inside the cabin will prevent anyone from opening the door, as these doors first need to move INto the cabin before they can be swinged towards the outside.

Is it not something like 6 - 8000 feet they are pressurised at? But as you say they are designed so they can not be opened in the air. Probably use the Wheels on Ground switches to Activate / Deactivate the operating mechanism

That is when they are up at cruising altitude. Planes are not pressurized to a target altitude of 7,000'. Planes are programmed to be pressurized to sea level pressure or a maximum differential PSI, which ever creates the least differential PSI. As the plane climbs, it is keeping sea level pressure. Once the plane is at is maximum differential PSI it maintains that differential which means the effective cabin altitude goes up. At cruise altitude that maximum differential pressure equates to a cabin altitude of around 7000'. The reverse happens on the descent to where the cabin reaches sea level pressure before the aircraft does.

As was said earlier, the doors are plug doors meaning they must open inward first. The differential pressure is too great for a human to overcome. There is no way someone is going to get that door open in flight.

[Torrens54]

Perhaps the FOOD was REALLY BAD!!!

[gandalf12]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

My thoughts as well. Not that much of a pressure differential at only 10K ft. But OTOH not sure it takes much of a diff'l to hold it closed. But even if he did get it open it's not like there'd have been a catastrophic and lethal depressurization.

Decompression at that height apart from being scary for the passengers would not be catostrophic

[PeVee1st]

Modern A/C pressurisation systems work to a profile to lessen the effect on Pax, kolohe is mostly correct in his statement. On modern A/C once the engines are operating & the A/C is ready for Flt.the fuselage is pressurised to -200 feet as part of the profile to raise the cabin altitude to 8,000 feet at cruise or max.diff.pressure & lessen the pax effects.

As the A/C quickly passes through 8,000 feet on its way to cruise alt., the pressurisation system follows the A/C climb, from -200 feet below sea level to the max.cabin alt.

The doors are in fact plug type doors, which through mechanisms allow it to pass through the plug for opening, once in the door frame it is indeed a plug fit.

Just say the door is 5 feet X 3 feet in size that is 2,160 square inches, at a low cabin pressurisation of 2 psi, that is 4,320 pounds holding the door in the plug or approx.1.9 metric tonnes.

So it is impossible to open the doors, even on the ground with all systems active.

Boeing A/C are limited to a max.cabin pressure diff.of 9.5 psi due to independent relief valves to the pressurisation system.

Lastly, there is no "weight on wheels" switch, "wow" is sensed by the landing gear system when they are compressed or on tne ground.

[jcisco]

I answered this one elsewhere... but no real chance of doing that once the aircraft has left the tarmac unless it otherwise depressurized in flight. Facts below

At 10,680m cruising altitude air pressure is 23.8kPa / 3.45psi / 23,800N/m²; compared to 101kPa / 14.7psi / 101,000N/m2 at sea level.

Now a 747 for example has a pressurization altitude of 2,440m which equates to an internal pressure of 75kPa / 10.9psi and a force of 75,000N/m2.

So the internal pressure of 75,000N/m2−23,800N/m2=51,200N/m2

Door dimensions are 1.93m(H)×1.07m(W)=2.07m2

Or in feet & inches: 6′4"(H)×3′6"(W)=22.17sqft

So 51,200N/m2×2.0651m2=105,733.12N

Which equates to roughly 11.88 Metric Tonnes of force on the inside of the door! The door being larger than outside portal of the door. It is forced into the frame with considerable pressure. It would be impossible for a human to operate the door under that force.

[jcisco]

Impossible to open in flight. But having a troubled individual on a flight can be quite disconcerting.

He may at 10,000 feet. I used to fly in planes non-ressurised in the Middle East at that height. May be impossible in a 737 though I am not sure

My thoughts as well. Not that much of a pressure differential at only 10K ft. But OTOH not sure it takes much of a diff'l to hold it closed. But even if he did get it open it's not like there'd have been a catastrophic and lethal depressurization.

Decompression at that height apart from being scary for the passengers would not be catostrophic

Actually depends by which manner the aircraft has its pressure equalized, if is caused by the toilet, cannot imagine that causing any problems, unless of course the system went into negative pressure and your sitting on it. If the skin was ripped off say a few tear strip sections accross in difficult airflow section of the aircraft, say under the floor or the roof, despite the doors, i'd say you've got a high chance of more problems or disaster.

But no pun intended in a vacuum, decompression isn't a big deal. As long it is slow or rapid, and the aircraft is controllable, and the emergency oxygen functions till the crew bring the plane down to a level where humans may survive. Which we cant at a planes cruising altitude.

Explosive decompression can cause physical injury to the lungs that is one downside that I would flag as quite beyond scary, in that it is impossible to mitigate.

Edited June 28, 2015 by jcisco

[Emster23]

Reminded me of flight I took in 84 from from Sri Lanka to Singapore on Pakistan International. Back when people could smoke on flights there was a guy squatted down near exit, looked like fresh off of desert, having a smoke. In my minds I was a vision of him cracking the door to throw out the butt.

[Pimay1]

Reminded me of flight I took in 84 from from Sri Lanka to Singapore on Pakistan International. Back when people could smoke on flights there was a guy squatted down near exit, looked like fresh off of desert, having a smoke. In my minds I was a vision of him cracking the door to throw out the butt.

I took the first commercial flight on Ariana Airlines from New Delhi to Kabul in 2002. There were twelve of us plus the flight crew plus the goats. The plane was a Boeing 727 that had been put back together using bombed out planes in Kabul. It was the only airworthy passenger plane Ariana had at that time. One third of the seats had been removed at the rear of the plane and roped off for goats. That's correct, goats and there were probably thirty or so. A flight attendant stood at the rear of the plane in front of the exit door to keep the goats away from the door. It was a smoking flight but we had to go to the rear of the plane to smoke. I waited until we landed at Kabul to light up.

[gandalf12]

Modern A/C pressurisation systems work to a profile to lessen the effect on Pax, kolohe is mostly correct in his statement. On modern A/C once the engines are operating & the A/C is ready for Flt.the fuselage is pressurised to -200 feet as part of the profile to raise the cabin altitude to 8,000 feet at cruise or max.diff.pressure & lessen the pax effects.

As the A/C quickly passes through 8,000 feet on its way to cruise alt., the pressurisation system follows the A/C climb, from -200 feet below sea level to the max.cabin alt.

The doors are in fact plug type doors, which through mechanisms allow it to pass through the plug for opening, once in the door frame it is indeed a plug fit.

Just say the door is 5 feet X 3 feet in size that is 2,160 square inches, at a low cabin pressurisation of 2 psi, that is 4,320 pounds holding the door in the plug or approx.1.9 metric tonnes.

So it is impossible to open the doors, even on the ground with all systems active.

Boeing A/C are limited to a max.cabin pressure diff.of 9.5 psi due to independent relief valves to the pressurisation system.

Lastly, there is no "weight on wheels" switch, "wow" is sensed by the landing gear system when they are compressed or on tne ground.

You have never worked on aircraft obviously, there are wheels on ground switches

[Jimlove]

Charge the lunatic with attempted murder and ask him to fly German Wings next time he want to commit suicide - better chance there ...