# Opening an exit door in mid-flight
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 13, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534 "2006-09-13T13:18:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/1 "2006-09-13T13:18:45Z")
I read [this story](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/12/flight.disrupted.ap/index.html) on [CNN.com](http://CNN.com), which is about a crazy airplane passenger who tried to operate the lever of an exit door while the plane was in mid-flight.
And that got me wondering. There \*is \* a mechanism to prevent an exit door from opening while the plane is in flight, isn’t there? (Please, \*please \* let the answer be yes…)
On a side note, I was struck by the passage in the article that said that air marshalls eventually subdued the dude. Air marshalls? More than one? I thought we only had enough air marshalls to put one on every 30 or so flights, and there were two or more on this one?
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/2 "2006-09-13T13:22:09Z")
Yep, there’s a mechanism.
The doors need to come _inward_ slightly before they can be opened outward. Pressurisation dictates that you’d need to be superman to be able to bring the door in.
Still, I dunno what would happen if you tried at 800ft.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/3 "2006-09-13T13:23:41Z")
Airliners are pressurised, so there’s a lot of force pushing on the hatch. You need to pull the hatch in to remove/open it.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/4 "2006-09-13T13:24:13Z")
I don’t think it’s possible; apart from any safety interlocks that might exist, my understanding is that, although the doors on most commercial planes open outwards, they are hinged in such a way that they must be pulled inside the plane first, turned, then pushed back out through the doorway. I think the pressure holds them in place. Could be wrong about that though.
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### Author:  [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/5 "2006-09-13T13:40:43Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I don’t think it’s possible; apart from any safety interlocks that might exist, my understanding is that, although the doors on most commercial planes open outwards, they are hinged in such a way that they must be pulled inside the plane first, turned, then pushed back out through the doorway. I think the pressure holds them in place. Could be wrong about that though.
I think the design is called a ‘plug’ door - it is a safety requirement to prevent the door blowing out if it is improperly fastened or something breaks.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/6 "2006-09-13T13:43:13Z")
[This site](http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1783222) explains it.
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### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/7 "2006-09-13T14:33:56Z")
Thanks for the answers, everyone.
> [@TheLoadedDog](#):
>
> Still, I dunno what would happen if you tried at 800ft.
This makes me wonder about D.B. Cooper who parachuted out of a commercial airliner with a backpack of money. He must have jumped out at an elevation low enough that the air pressure inside the plane was low enough that he was able to overcome the pressure and open the door anyway.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/8 "2006-09-13T14:43:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> This makes me wonder about D.B. Cooper who parachuted out of a commercial airliner with a backpack of money. He must have jumped out at an elevation low enough that the air pressure inside the plane was low enough that he was able to overcome the pressure and open the door anyway.
That’s been my understranding. And it was “Dan Cooper”, not “D.B. Cooper”, although that name has become the legend. See the Wikipedia page on it all:
> **[D. B. Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)**
>
> D. B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,400,000 in 2022), and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, the hijacker instructed the fli...
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### Author:  [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/9 "2006-09-13T15:24:04Z")
I can’t see Xema’s site linked above, as work thinks it’s inappropriate. But I’ll walk you through my own rough calculation:
According to [this page](http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/atmosphere/q0206a.shtml), airlines typically pressurize their cabins to an equivalent of 6000-8000 ft altitude. Using a value of 7000 ft corresponds to a pressure of 1632 lb/ft[sup]2[/sup]. The pressure outside at 30000 ft is 628 lb/ft[sup]2[/sup].
So the outward pressure on the door at altitude is 1000 lb/ft[sup]2[/sup]. I don’t know exactly how big an airline emergency door is, but let’s say it’s only 4 ft x 3 ft. That’s 12 ft[sup]2[/sup], which figures to 12,000 pounds of force required to move the door.
Suffice it to say that door isn’t budging in flight. Get down to 8000 feet or below and it’s a different story.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/10 "2006-09-13T15:30:44Z")
Please note that DB Cooper jumped from the rear of a 727; this was not a typical “side of the plane” emergency exit; some (if not all) older models of the 727 had a rear exit that folded down with a staircase (under the tail section). I once boarded such a plane that way in Munich. I believe it could be lowered in mid flight; enough for a maniac to jump with a 'chute.
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/11 "2006-09-13T15:49:38Z")
[Cecil speaks,](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_390.html) and throws in D. B. Cooper for good measure too.
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/12 "2006-09-13T15:55:07Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#):
>
> Please note that DB Cooper jumped from the rear of a 727; this was not a typical “side of the plane” emergency exit; some (if not all) older models of the 727 had a rear exit that folded down with a staircase (under the tail section). I once boarded such a plane that way in Munich. I believe it could be lowered in mid flight; enough for a maniac to jump with a 'chute.
Thousands of skydivers who have attended the World Freefall Convention can attest to this, for many years they’ve had a 727 cargo jet as a special attraction. 160 people to 14,000ft, we exited via the rear airstair.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/13 "2006-09-13T17:00:58Z")
> [@Valgard](#):
>
> Thousands of skydivers who have attended the World Freefall Convention can attest to this… we exited via the rear airstair.
That sounds like a blast. But wasn’t it difficult to get the rapid simultaneous exits needed for big freefall formations?
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### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/14 "2006-09-13T18:03:30Z")
Hey, don’t \*hijack \* my thread! 😉
\
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/15 "2006-09-13T22:44:18Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#):
>
> Plsome (if not all) older models of the 727 had a rear exit that folded down with a staircase (under the tail section).
Yes, and DC-9’s, too. After the “DB Cooper” incident, they were retrofitted with spring-loaded vanes that rotate across the door edge when air flows over them, to prevent in-flight openings. The part’s name? The DBC Vane.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/16 "2006-09-13T22:56:41Z")
> [@aerodave](#):
>
> So the outward pressure on the door at altitude is 1000 lb/ft[sup]2[/sup]. I don’t know exactly how big an airline emergency door is, but let’s say it’s only 4 ft x 3 ft. That’s 12 ft[sup]2[/sup], which figures to 12,000 pounds of force required to move the door.
>
> Suffice it to say that door isn’t budging in flight.
Batman could do it, if he was prepared.
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/17 "2006-09-13T23:19:20Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> That sounds like a blast. But wasn’t it difficult to get the rapid simultaneous exits needed for big freefall formations?
Most definitely. Dunno about more recent years but when I went nobody was doing big formations out of the jet. 120mph exit speed, single file. We’d drop half the plane, then turn around and do the other half.
Result is 160 skydivers in a great big line spread all over the countryside.
You could certainly do formations, there’d just be an awful lot of distance to close. For the big record attempts it always seems to be something like a half-dozen C-130s where you can get everyone out the door very close together.
Amusing note, the first time that they ever did it back in the 1990s people started getting out before the pilot throttled back the engines and they were hitting the air at 160mph. Lots of amusing video of helmets and shoes being knocked off when people entered the airstream.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/18 "2006-09-14T00:00:43Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> That sounds like a blast. But wasn’t it difficult to get the rapid simultaneous exits needed for big freefall formations?
Depends on if they depersurized the plane before they open the door.
😃
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### Author:  [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/19 "2006-09-14T00:27:46Z")
[Here’s a good article by Ask the Pilot](http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2006/05/05/askthepilot184/) (Warning: requires watching an ad).
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-an-exit-door-in-mid-flight/372534/20 "2006-09-14T00:47:15Z")
Right, it doesn’t open, but someone futzing about with the mechanisms while in flight can damage something that may cause trouble later on, e.g. render the door inoperable or damage the emergency chute.
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