A drunk and abusive passenger tried to open the door of a jumbo jet while the plane was more than 35,000 feet up, British media reports.
The man abused other passengers before trying to open a door on the Boeing 767 flying from Gatwick to Cuba yesterday, London’s Daily Telegraph reported.
Pilots made an unscheduled landing in Bermuda to kick the passenger off the flight.
British man Dominic Carmen, who was one of the 257 people onboard the First Choice Airways flight, said a pilot had told drunk passengers to stop drinking before the incident occurred.
“(The man) first became very abusive to another passenger and they almost came to blows,” Mr Carmen said.
“The captain made an announcement that people who were drinking dutyfree they had brought with them should not drink any more, but the man continued to be abusive.”
Passengers said the man grabbed at the door after cabin crew tried to calm him down, according to the Telegraph.
A spokeswoman for First Choice said the incident was still being investigated.
“In the interests of passenger safety, the captain decided to divert the plane to Bermuda to offload the passenger,” the spokeswoman said.
“He was being disruptive so it was the sensible thing to do. The safety of all our customers and crew is our No.1 priority and First Choice Airways operates a zero-tolerance policy in regards to abusive or drunken behaviour on our flights.”
Police in Bermuda said the man had not been charged but was “under security watch” at a motel.
Source :The Herald Sun
By: PMN - 22nd July 2008 at 01:11
“Doors to be operated by passengers only if sober”
Well that means I’m not opening any doors on 70% of the flights I do! 😀
Paul
By: nJayM - 21st July 2008 at 22:43
PMN, A Spalding and Cking are perfectly correct.
In an emergency/malfunction due to sudden cabin de-presurarisation the door may be with some difficulty opened while in flight by a human/humans but still highly unlikely. If partially opened it would cause further serious cabin pressure irregularities.
What is evident is that alcohol or no alcohol, passengers have strict rules and guidelines to adhere to in what they can do and cannot do on commercial airliners.In the reported incident the passenger was in complete violation of these rules and laws.
Normally only inflight cabin crew would be permitted to open these doors from the inside unless there is as stated a serious emergency including crash landing where in the unlikely situation of a complete flight crew wipe out; then passenegers would be on their own to try to save their own and others lives by attempting to open these doors.
Addendum:
Interestingly on a recent Airbus 319 flight BA provided an in flight video of the detailed instructions on how pasengers could following an emergency open the doors and which ones were most suitable if a landing on water was the case. With a wry silent smile I imagined an accompamying disclaimer statement which could read “Doors to be operated by passengers only if sober and when aircraft is not in normal flight.”
By: JetSet - 18th July 2008 at 23:20
What a clown this guy is. What on earth, after any amout of beer makes a man think “I know, i’m not taking this abuse from the crew, I’ll just open the door and hop out and catch the next one” IDIOT!!!!!! Total disregard for other passengers the selfish **** They should be banned from flying FULL STOP!!!
Oh it gets my back up:dev2:
By: nJayM - 18th July 2008 at 14:39
Yup. The cabin is pressurised to between 8 and 9psi to simulate an artificial altitude of around 8000 feet. 8 pounds per square inch on a door measuring maybe 3.5 feet by 6.2 feet means there’s a force of around 11.3 tons holding it in place; roughly the same as a double decker bus. It ain’t moving. 🙂
Paul
HAHA since when have FCA operated B747’s? 😎
Also, isn’t it physically impossible to open a door inflight becuase of the pressure difference?
PMN, A Spalding and Cking are perfectly correct.
In an emergency/malfunction due to sudden cabin de-presurarisation the door may be with some difficulty opened while in flight by a human/humans but still highly unlikely. If partially opened it would cause further serious cabin pressure irregularities.
What is evident is that alcohol or no alcohol, passengers have strict rules and guidelines to adhere to in what they can do and cannot do on commercial airliners.In the reported incident the passenger was in complete violation of these rules and laws.
Normally only inflight cabin crew would be permitted to open these doors from the inside unless there is as stated a serious emergency including crash landing where in the unlikely situation of a complete flight crew wipe out; then passenegers would be on their own to try to save their own and others lives by attempting to open these doors.
By: old shape - 18th July 2008 at 14:06
I find it amusing that journalists regard anything that flies and carries passengers as a “jumbo jet”
I’m not defending the journo’s at all, but the term “Jumbo” was initially used for 747 by the brits only. We used Jumbo as that was the name of that big Elephant in Barnum’s circus. The American’s did not know what on earth we were talking about using “Jumbo”.
When they realised what we meant, the American pilots used it for all the large machines of the day.
But, this journo wouldn’t have known that so he is just wrong.
By: PMN - 18th July 2008 at 13:13
Also, isn’t it physically impossible to open a door inflight becuase of the pressure difference?
Yup. The cabin is pressurised to between 8 and 9psi to simulate an artificial altitude of around 8000 feet. 8 pounds per square inch on a door measuring maybe 3.5 feet by 6.2 feet means there’s a force of around 11.3 tons holding it in place; roughly the same as a double decker bus. It ain’t moving. 🙂
Paul
By: Cking - 18th July 2008 at 12:49
Also, isn’t it physically impossible to open a door inflight becuase of the pressure difference?
Yes. I found these on Utube. As you can see almost the first movement of the doors is inward. You will have the full effect of cabin pressure holding the door in the aperture, you won’t shift it. My concern is with the drunk swinging of the handle what damage is he doing to the opening mechanism.
747
767
Rgds Cking
By: A Spalding - 18th July 2008 at 08:59
HAHA since when have FCA operated B747’s? 😎
Also, isn’t it physically impossible to open a door inflight becuase of the pressure difference?
By: steve rowell - 18th July 2008 at 03:56
I find it amusing that journalists regard anything that flies and carries passengers as a “jumbo jet”
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July 18, 2008 at 3:54 am