• dank@lemmy.today
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    5 months ago

    You should know that it is physically impossible to open the cabin door of an airliner at altitude. Cabin doors are designed so that one must first pull the door in to unlatch it. This requires overcoming a pressure differential of 7 psi or more. Assume a tiny 2’ x 5’ door. That equates to a surface area of 2’ x 5’ = 10 sq ft => 10 sq ft x 12" x 12" = 1,440 sq in => 1,440 sq in x 7 psi = 10,080 lbs of force. So the only way the cabin door is coming open is if the cabin is not pressurized, which normally means the plane is climbing to altitude after takeoff or descending for landing. The lack of pressure differential means no one would be sucked out of the plane; it would just be extremely windy.

    So if someone tries to open the cabin door in the middle of your flight at altitude, just sit back and enjoy the show.

    • Humana@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Boeing™ is committed to innovative solutions to problems like opening a cabin door mid flight

      • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        So the plug actually opened as the pressure differential was switching from positive to negative (the cabin pressure was lower than the atmospheric pressure). If it was already at altitude the plug would have stayed in place. But due to the missing fasteners the switch between pressures knocked it loose.

        • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          That’s a load of horseshit. The plane was at ~5 kilometers when the door plug blew out. The cabin pressure was absolutely higher than the outside atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, the way the door plugs are mounted in those Boeing models, there’s absolutely nothing that guarantees for them to stay in place against cabin pressure. The only thing keeping them in place is the latches to which the door plug should be fastened with bolts.