Open-door jet lands man in cuffs

‘Dubai Police have arrested a troublesome passenger who caused panic among 300 odd passengers of an Emirates flight during the landing phase of a six-hour non-stop flight.
Emirates airline officials have confirmed a passenger, who during the landing opened the door of EK040 from Birmingham to Dubai on Thursday, has been detained by the Dubai Police for interrogation as part of its investigation into the strange and unprecedented incident in the aviation history of the UAE.

However, Emirates officials have categorically ruled out that the incident was part of a hijacking bid.

None of the 307 passengers on board were injured in the incident that caused a 30minute delay for passengers to disembark.

“While taxiing to the terminal building after landing at the Dubai International Airport on Thursday, an aircraft door on flight EK040 from Birmingham was opened by a passenger.This caused the emergency inflatable slides to automatically activate,” said Sarah Shaughnessy, the official spokesperson of Emirates.

She added: “To ensure the safety of the passengers, the crew immediately stopped the aircraft and shut down the engines. The door was subsequently closed before the aircraft was towed to the terminal building where police questioned the passenger and took him into custody. All other passengers disembarked normally with minimal delay.” Emirates flight EK040 departs every day at 2pm from Birmingham and arrives in Dubai at 11.50pm.

There are many Hollywood thrillers that depict people getting sucked out of airplanes. However, experts say the nightmare scenario, is quite impossible in practice.

“Doors of airborne aircraft cannot be opened and there was no hijacking bid during the weekend.

“Even after landing, the doors of an aircraft can be opened only when the plane is at a low speed. The strange incident did not disrupt our services. It caused an inconvenience to our passengers,” Shaughnessy said.

Emirates said it takes such incidents very seriously and will not tolerate such disruptive passengers on board its aircraft.

“The comfort, safety and security of all our passengers are absolutely paramount and will never be compromised,” Shaughnessy added.

Even after landing, doors can only be opened at a specific speed. Because of the unique engineering structure of the doors and the air pressure difference between the interior and exterior of the craft, an airborne aeroplane door cannot be opened.

To facilitate breathing and passenger comfort, airplanes are pressurised to the equivalent atmosphere of about 8,000 feet.

Since airplanes typically cruise at above 30,000 feet, the air pressure inside the plane is much greater than the pressure outside – and that pressure difference makes it impossible to open the door, even if somebody wishes to do so.

If an emergency landing is necessary, as the plane descends, the pilots slowly depressurise the plane, so the doors can open immediately after the plane touches down.

An aircraft’s emergency exits are designed to open once a plane has landed.’

Emirates Today
Sunday 8th April 2007