OT - Can a Plane Door Actually Open Mid-Flight

Maybe they are forgetting that it's something like 14 pounds on the inside? But I expect there will be interlocks and things. And if it opens in the same direction, maybe it'll be like trying to open a car door when you're moving quickly?

Actually on pressurised planes the doors are called "plug doors". To open them you have to remove the locking bolts, pull them inwards a little way, twist them so that they can be manoeuvred to the outside.

So yes they do open "outwards" but only after they have been opened inwards (which is impossible due to the pressure) and twisted.

The pressure inside the plane is holding the door (plug) firmly in the "plug hole".

Actually shows up well on this video

They have plug doors: "A plug door is a door designed to seal itself by taking advantage of pressure difference on its two sides and is typically used on aircraft with cabin pressurization. The higher pressure on one side forces the usually wedge-shaped door into its socket, making a good seal and preventing it from being opened until the pressure is released.

Non-plug doors rely on the strength of the locking mechanism to keep the door shut, whereas a plug door relies on the pressure differential to keep it shut."

Having said that the wind blast would make it a struggle to open any distance if unpressurised.

The vast majority if not all large passenger aircraft have doors which are plug seals and open inwards. Even if unlocked if the aircraft is operating at an altitude where it is pressurised the cabin pressure will hold the door closed.

Although the door initially opens inwards, once open it may swing outwards and sideways or outwards and upwards to give a clear exit.

I think it is more like 8lb/sqin on the inside since civilian aircraft typically cruise with a cabin pressure equivalent to around 8000'.

Aircraft doors are designed so that they are a gas tight seal and won't open if there is a pressure differential across them. See plug doors.

Same differential pressure problem means that if you are stuck in a car sinking in a lake you cannot open the car door once submerged until the interior space has almost filled with water so take a good deep breath.

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Aircraft door open outwards but have to be specially maneouvered through a hole that is smaller then the door. They are pulled inwards first to achieve this.

You are supposed to break a window. Or wind the window down before the car sinks to get out.

Mythbusters did a comprehensive review of the "myth". ISTR they were surprised at how disorienting it can be if the car flips in the water. It made escape very difficult, despite their preparations.

You are right, in fact sometimes aircraft have returned du to excessive noise from a leaking door seal soundling like a high pitched whistle. The main thing that keeps it s closed is that most passenger aircraft need to have the door pushed out befor it can be hinged and the airfolow over the fusalage is holding it shut. In aircraft for high altitude jumping out of, a thing you would never get me doing, they use oxygen masks of course and depressureise the plane and slide the doors or drop a flap at the rear.

I think its the airflow which is holding the door shut while the internal pressure is trying to open it. If you recall the DC10 had several incidents where a bagage door came open in flight causing no end of mayhem

Brian

Are you sure this not called Ask the pillock? Brian

I'd imagined that 8lb/sqin would be quite unpleasant on the ears? Even worse than it sometimes is, I mean.

They allow the pressure to change more slowly in the cabin. Your ears really would pop if you were exposed to this pressure change in real time. Even so it can be unpleasant and painful to fly with a heavy cold.

You can always feel pressure increasing again on descent since your hearing gradually fades unless you can equalise the pressure. In extremis it can be really painful and severe dizziness results.

In message , Martin Brown writes

Phone apps (e.g. Physics Toolbox) can show a nice graph of the pressure change in your plane over time as well as stuff like acceleration and sound level.

Surprisingly though, many phones don't seem to have a thermometer and some apps that claim to give a temperature work by finding a weather station reading for somewhere nearby.

Next time you fly, watch them opening and closing the door. The door is actually larger than the aperture, and there is a complicated hinge arrangement to allow the door to be opened inwards. The doors simply cannot be opened once the cabin is pressurised.

Theo

Drivel.