what happens if a door is opened on an airplane in mid-flight?

Answer 1

Depends on the plane. Small planes, nothing...airliners would suck you out and the plane would start coming apart. If you weren't sucked out you would suffocate.

Answer 2

Gawd!!!! I can't believe all the morons answering this question with such stupid answers. Do people actually believe all the crap they see on TV and in the movies these days.

There are two valid answers to your question.

1. In a small unpressurized airplane, a door can pop open with very little drama or problem... It just gets a bit noisy inside until the person sitting next to the door pulls it closed again. Maybe a few papers or maps will get blown around, but no one will die, or even suffer injury.

2. In a pressurized commercial aircraft, the doors will not open in flight. Period. No way. It ain't gonna happen. For an explanation as to why, read the posts above from Bostonianinmo or D Robertson774

Answer 3

I wish Idiots that don't know what they are talking about would stop answering questions!!!!

First of all no one would get sucked that is just a bunch of Hollywood B.S.

Second it would be impossible to open the doors in flight, in a pressurized aircraft the doors are plug type doors that is they are larger than the opening they fill you have to pull the door inside the aircraft then rotate it so it can fit through the hole the average positive pressure inside a commercial airliner is around 8.5 psi that equals around ten thousand pounds of force holding the door shut and unless your skin turns green when you get angry there is no way you would be able to open the door.

Third the plane WOULD NOT crash!!!! If the door were to somehow open in flight at cruse altitude it would become very loud and very cold inside the aircraft so cold in fact that water vapor inside the aircraft may condense and form a fog inside the plane. The flying characteristics would not be affected. If the aircraft was above 14,000 feet the oxygen masks would deploy and the pilots would begin an emergency decent to 10,000 feet or lowest safe altitude were the air is warmer and more breathable.

Fourth the air on an airliner is not stale the full volume of the cabin air replaced with fresh air every few minutes everyone would die of CO2 poisoning if this wasn't the case

Answer 4

Well these days, unless you have explosives, you are going to find them locked down tightly, extra security has been added. And even then you would need to get past irrae flight crews and passengers to even try. Assuming you get past all that, what happens will depend on the difference in air pressure. Usually the cabin of a airliner is presurized, opening the door releases that pressure out of the door all at once. But as any sky diver can tell you the wind is not the sort that will make you fly out the door or anything, unless the pressure outside is very low that is in which case the force could be quite a bit

Answer 5

During pressurized flight on a commercial airplane, the doors can not be opened.

The doors are called "plug-type" doors, as they are slightly larger than the opening. The door has to move inward and then be rotated out through the opening. The positive cabin pressure differential prevents the door from moving inward and opening. The doors can only be opened in-flight once the airplane has been depressurized.

Very few airplanes have non plug-type doors, and these doors are equipped with mechanical interlocks to prevent them from being opened in-flight.

Answer 6

It takes about 45 seconds to open the door by the time you disassemble it and turn the handle. By that time, you'd be wrestled to the ground by the larger male passengers. You would then spend the next 10 years in a federal prison. Of course, this is assuming you're lucky enough not to be on a flight with a US marshall. In that case, you'd be shot at close range - no questions asked.

Answer 7

You wouldn't be blown out of the door unless you were beside it. However, there is no way that the door can be opened in flight. Aircraft manufacturers design doors specifically so that they can't be opened. The door has to be moved inward before swinging open. You would have to fight the atmospheric pressure differential multiplied by the surface area of the door in order to do this. This force would be so large that ten guys as strong as Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't possibly do that. You would completely tear the handle from the door off before you would be able to open it.

Answer 8

Nothing, since it is impossible to open the doors in-flight! The pressure in the cabin holds the doors firmly shut with several tons of force.

Answer 9

First the Idiot who opened the door will die and get sucked out, then everyone near the doorway will exit too, and finally, those that stay inside will die of differences in temperature and pressure.
But a low flying one, nothing would really happen to them. Unless the guy opening the door fell out.

Answer 10

Loss of cabin pressure. Then depending on the altitude of the plane when the door is opened, oxygen masks come out, loose things in the cabin go flying, overhead doors fly open, people not strapped in get sucked out of plane, etc...

Answer 11

I doubt the door could be opened in flight. But it would have to be VERY fast to do any serious damage.