If the door of an aircraft opened up during the flight.....?

Question

Would the pressure suck you out or push you out? And yes, I know the doors can't open in flight.

To Steven - I believe I said I knew it couldn't actually happen.

Answer 1

Yes you would get sucked out of an open door. Partly by the pressure and depending on the size/position of the hole by the slipstream (or ventury effect). Don't believe everything the Mythbusters show you.. Their plane was NOT moving! Look at UAL 811!

- No you are incorrect about the doors can't open in flight.- It depends on the door. The "plug" doors like in the over-wing exits are held tight by the pressure and you would have to be really strong to pull against the pressure to open them. But other doors can be opened during flight.

Remember what happened to UAL 811. A door opened at pressure and people were sucked out and into the engines. No mythbusters required for this one.

http://avstop.com/news/FollowUp.html

But the most disturbing in flight door incident was the HP flight.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/16/smn.13.html

This was a pressurized plane owned by HP. I am still very suspect what really happened to this poor woman especially when you look at the chain of events and it took people 45 minutes to call 911 after the plane landed??

Answer 2

Oh-Contriar: aircraft doors can be open in flight, providing the cabin pressure is dumped.Ever see paratroopers jumping from a C-130, the rear doors( one on the left and one on the right) are refer-ed to troop doors. Also the rear of a C-130 will open in flight. the door goes up and the ramp goes down to the same level as the main deck. This is to allow cargo to be parachuted out. With the troop doors or the ramp open a person can stand next to the opening and not get sucked out. Light things like newspaper or Styrofoam cups will be sucked out. but this is because there is a low pressure area created in the rear of the aircraft. You might fall out or get pushed out.It is recommended to wear a safety harness.

Answer 3

Mechanically this can't happen. The air pressure inside the aircraft is greater than the pressure outside and holds the door in place. There are very clever mechanicals to allow the door to open outwards but when closed it acts as though it were closed from the inside.

When the Aloha AIr 737 gained a sudden sunroof, the crack started by the door frame but the door held and the skin gave way. Aircraft landed safely with only one loss of life. A stewardess who wasn't strapped in at the time.

Answer 4

You are correct. Aircraft are pressurized to keep passengers comfortable, but if a door were opened or a window was broken or even if someone shot a hole in the fuselage with a gun, the vacuum effect would suck the air out of the plane. In the case of a door being opened, it is very possible that passengers could get sucked out.

Answer 5

To Drewpie,
We opened a side hatch in flight (low altitude not pressurized) and the slipstream did not suck anyone out. Venturi effect is not the air slipping by the outside of the aircraft, but when air goes through a tube and is compressed through a smaller area. Or when a tornado goes by an overpass, the air slipping through the tighter area is a venturi.

For the question asked, the aircraft doors are not going to open, plain and simple. The pressure difference will not allow it.

Answer 6

I believe you are asking about a commercial airliner with a pressurized cabin.
The rushing air would carry you and any loose objects out the door. This event would happen quickly, not like in a movie.
Once the pressure was equal it would stop.
There would be a lot of wind noise.
There is no real sucking out effect. It would be termed an equalization of pressure.
Once it was done the effect is gone.
Skydivers stand at the door waiting to jump out, not get sucked out.

Answer 7

the answer to this question can come from both sides - however a few basic principles need to be remembered - well one really ... the aircraft is pressurised - therefore the pressure inside the cabin is greater than that outside. If a breach in the fuselage was to occur the flow of air would tend to go from inside to outside until such time as the pressure was equalised. When this movement of air was happening anything not fixed or tied down would be dragged with the airflow both pushed along and pulled along at the same time until the flow of air stopped. Hope this helps

Answer 8

Commercial aircraft doors are constructed as "Plug Doors". What I mean to say is that the inside edge of the door is wider than the outside edge that meets up with the outer skin of the fuselage.
When you open the door to an aircraft, you lift the handle which "cracks" the door ajar and the door actually has to "angle in" before swinging out.
This construction works well in helping to prevent inadvertant rapid decompression when the cabin is pressurized, because it's pushing on the door and the door is lodged in place by that wider edge on the inside.

Answer 9

Due the compression inside the aircraft, a loss of a hatch or a door may cause a sudden loss of pressure and loose objects and unstrap people can be thrown from aircraft
if the pilots react real quickly, they dive to an altitude less than 10.000ft, where is possible to breath and people will not blackout due to loss of oxygen

Answer 10

"Suck" and "push" both mean the same thing - you are sucked out by the lower pressure outside the aircraft, just as you are blown by the higher pressue inside the aircraft. Your question doesn't really exist - it's a matter of semantics.