Comments on: Old Lady Accidentally Opens Emergency Door

By: LH-FA

LH-FA — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 05:55:00 +0000

why do I think this Story is crap???

1st: Milan to London is a shortrange flight and airlines operate these flights with small planes like Boeing 737, Airbus 320, Canadair CRJ, Embraer 190…
2nd: Allitalia doesnt operate 747
3rd: the handle of an 747 overwing exit has to be pulled UP with TWO hands to be opened.
4th: after all the doors are closed they will be “in flight” what means if a door is opened the slide will fall out and blow up.
5th: an overwing door of a 747 cannot be closed again because the fully filled tanks in the wing distort the door frame. they had to be emptied (which would take its time)

If you feel like telling bullshit you should be smart and know what you are talking crap about

By: Chuck Male

Chuck Male — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:02:05 +0000

I do find it odd that they would seat an old woman at an exit row, but I’ve seen it on flights I’ve been on. I’ve seen families, kids and what not at that row, but it only seems to appear on foreign carriers.

By: Chuck Male

Chuck Male — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:00:45 +0000

A similar thing happened to me on an Icelandair flight from Glasgow ten years ago but after we landed. When a French woman, elderly kept trying to open the door thinking it was a window that could she opens.

Her husband kept trying to make her stop as we taxied to the jetway, and she just shouted at him as she kept trying to open it. She manged to get the plastic overlay off, but the door was still in place.

The FA kept trying to make her stop but she ignored them. It was not a frantic, “I need out” sort a thing, it was like she was trying to roll down a car window and completely non-chilant. Finally the police took her in to custody and she acted like nothing was wrong.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:32:17 +0000

I smell bull crap! The reason? Altalia hasn’t operated Boeing 747’s in quite a few years. Also, a jacket weighing only a few pounds isn’t going to be heavy enough to exert the 15-25 pounds of pressure needed to pull the door handle! Why do people waste the time making up fake stories?

By: GR

GR — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:01:38 +0000

Even if this story is true- and I don’t believe it is. And of this was not a 747 and it was a plug style window, the window exit is 38-50 pounds. The imaginary little old lady, would have probably been reseated if she could not handle such an exit in an emergency.

By: madachode

madachode — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:34:45 +0000

Seatmates should have pushed that old bat out the door then closed it and not told a soul.

By: Vik

Vik — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:27:35 +0000

Window exit on B747? B747s are equipped with 5 exits on each side, where the middle one is overwing. But it’s NOT a window exit. It’s a BIIIIG door with a big handle that you need turn a half circle.
Someone’s definetely got something terribly wrong in this story…

By: Demotage

Demotage — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:39:13 +0000

Yeah, David, I realized that. I was just saying that the pilot’s saying that it wouldn’t come open after they were up, was true. But I’m not surprised that you don’t believe the story. Most windows exits I’ve seen at least have a cover over them.

By: david

david — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:58:57 +0000

demotage they hadnt eventaken off yet….they closed the doors and made the announcements

and i dont believe this story at all, the emergancy door “handle” isn’t like a door handle, it needs some pressure, more than jus a coat and the emergancy doors open out and not in, otherwise people couldnt get out in case of an emergancy

and many planes emergancy doors have a “switch/handle” that you need to pull down or push up before you can push the handle to open the emergancy door

By: Demotage

Demotage — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:55:34 +0000

Atmospheric pressure is around 4 psi at 30,000 ft as opposed to about 15 psi at sea level. An overwing door is about 30 inches by 40 inches, or 1200 square inches. Planes are pressurized to an equivalent of 10,000 ft., about 10 psi. So the difference between in inside and outside of the plane is about 6 psi. This means that there are about 7200 pounds of pressure pushing on the door when the plane is at altitude. It would take more than a little old lady to pull it open at altitude.

This is not to say that I would not have been nervous too. But I would have been more nervous about about her pulling it open during take off, since they apparently easy to open when pressures are equal.