Terror at 27,000ft: How jet door 'blew open and crew plugged gap with blankets' on Airbus

Hi all

Wow I cant even imagin they hear an explosion that blew open the emergancy exit at 27,000 feet
Then the crew pathches the hole with blankets and tape and finishes the flight..

They actually chose not to make an emergency landing. I cant even imagin the terror I would feel lol Im allready scared of flying..

Says the door was open and you could see straight out into the atmosphere 27,000 feet up. and it let sub zero temps.
www.dailymail.co.uk...

British tourist told yesterday of his flight of terror when he claims an emergency exit on a superjumbo blew open at 27,000ft.

David Reid and his son Lewis feared a bomb had gone off after hearing a ‘massive explosion’ two hours into their flight on the brand new £250million Emirates Airbus A380.

Freezing air blasted in and the cabin pressure plunged after the door in business class came an inch and a half ajar, leaving a gaping hole, said Mr Reid

Scariest thing in the world I would be freaking out

He said: ‘We were about two hours in when suddenly there was a huge blast.

‘It was a real shock, so loud that I thought a bomb might have gone off. Air was gushing into the cabin like a gale.

'The stewardess jumped up and stared at the door. Her face was drained white.

'She ran up the aisle, grabbed the intercom and started screaming, “The door’s going to go, the door’s going to go!” Then she hid under her chair.

‘Other passengers were crying and saying “We’re going to go down, we’re going to go down

was richard dean anderson on the flight? or were they just showing re runs of macgyver....in all seriousness thats absolutely terrifying and this is exactly why i drive most places i go

I just recently had a round trip from Oklahoma to Boston. Several times during a flight, I will imagine that exact senario playing out. Then I have a screwdriver and away the worries go!

Terrifying incident..

reply to post by goou111


Yowsers. That would be terrifying not knowing how that was going to play out and if you were going to make it back down safely. I wonder what the the outcome would be if the door blew out completely. I'd imagine those close by would be sucked out if they did not have their seat belts fastened? The pilots though, in their own compartment would be unaffected, with masks on, descend quickly below 12,000 feet...

Somewhat off topic but here is a flight of plane landing at Newark that was in a holding pattern for 45 minutes in crappy weather. The plane must have been at its limits in regards to crosswinds as you watch how much the wings are flexing.

reply to post by goou111

This is why it's a good idea not never fly on any brand new airplane!

reply to post by jacobe001


A few misconceptions in that video. Yes, it was a wild one to watch, but it was within limits. The max crosswind component demonstrated for a 737 is between 31 and 36 knots depending on the model. You can probably land safely with more than that, however the individual airlines set the limits, to allow for passenger comfort and security.

You also can't tell that it's a -700 by the winglets. Just about all models of 737s have had winglets retrofitted, from some -200s all the way up to the advanced winglets that were unveiled for the MAX that Boeing hasn't built yet.

Scary landing, difficult landing, but within the limits of the aircraft. The pilot on the other hand, is always the weak point.

reply to post by goou111


He might be a private pilot, but wow....sensationalize much? The flight attendant was "cowering behind her seat" because if the door went, she wasn't strapped in, so it could easily have pulled her out of the aircraft and killed her (as happened to C.C. Lyles on Aloha 243 between the Big Island and Maui). You want to secure yourself however you have to, so that when the pressure equalizes, you can take steps to secure the aircraft and deal with the passengers. You can't do that if you're dead.

An inch and a half is not "a gaping hole you can see out into the atmosphere" through, and I doubt it even opened that much. Aircraft are currently (with the exception of the 787) pressurized to roughly 18 psi. To open a door, you have to pull it inward, and then push it outward. At 18 psi, that initial pull in is going to be extremely difficult to do, even with someone pulling on the door. I don't care if you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, you're not opening that door in flight.

Wonder how many passengers were aboard, or what this a maiden/training flight?

Cause once the planes full theres so many passengers who could have been vacuumed out or had a heartattack, panic attack or nervous breakdown etc that its amazing not one

Likewise that a rather flimsy blanket plugged a huge hole.

Was the door not locked properly, or defective?

reply to post by tropic


It was supposedly only an inch and a half. A blanket would be enough to fill the hole. The pressure difference would pull it into the door, and seal it up.

A pilot manage to land a 747 with the front cargo door totally gone. This one is a piece of cake compared to that one.

reply to post by roadgravel


I went on that aircraft. Very sobering experience. Only thing that saved them was a cargo container.

United 811


Aloha 243 (didn't get on this one, but saw it sitting there for a long time before they scrapped it)


An inch and a half opening in a door is nothing compared to those two, and several others that have happened through the years.

reply to post by Zaphod58


The 747 was an interesting investigation. Boeing said it couldn't happen and then a 747 on a ramp at JFK did the same thing. Busted.

But, I suppose you are well aware of that story.

reply to post by roadgravel


They refused to accept the NTSB report, until the family of one of the people killed spent an inordinate amount of money, and with a lot of luck recovered the door from the ocean floor several years later. They found that the latches were locked enough to show locked on the instrument panel, but weren't all the way around the latching bar, and weren't locked in place. That was when Boeing finally said that there was a problem, and they came out with the Airworthiness Directive from the FAA.

Back in 1986 I had to fly with my entire family to NY to bury my brother. We were on as American Airlines flight to NY. We were taxiing onto the runway, prior to that I noticed the stewardess unlatching the doors prior to the taxi. Before we approached the runway to take off she moved the handle to the door to secure it. She did not secure the door next to my father. As we were taxiing I waved to the stewardess who was secured in her safety belt at the back of the plane, and I asked her to check the door next to my father. She walked over to the door and turned the handle to secure it and walked back to her seat not even acknowledging the fact I had alerted her to the fact the door was not properly latched . I had always wondered why the plane's instruments wouldn't have detected that. I have never flown since then. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but this is now and that was then. Just sayin'

Apparently a short could cause the latches to rotate enough to fail. Loved how the father who lost his son worked to prove his theory and got it resolved.

There have been an ALARMING amount of failures and reliability issues in recent years occurring on the Airbus A340 and A380 airliners.

Airbus should be greatly ashamed with the constant failures occurring on their aircraft. Fly a Boeing folks. Sadly, I would choose to fly a Chinese-made airliner over the Airbus if I had to choose.

Pathetic.

Disgraceful.

Unacceptable.

reply to post by w8tn4it


Nothing like having to do someone's job. In that case, it's an eye opener.

reply to post by roadgravel


Yeah I was really impressed at all the work they put in, and the money they spent to figure this out. It was fascinating to follow.

reply to post by ResistTreason


No more than any other new aircraft, and less than others. Hell, the Boeing 787 has been grounded for a month because of teething problems with the batteries. The A380 is doing a lot better than that plane so far. I've flown many times on the A340, and never once encountered anything that made me even the slightest bit nervous, or had any problems on my flights.

Fly a Boeing, like the Dreamliner that has batteries that catch fire or the 737 that suffered rudder reversals for years and led to two crashes? Both makes of aircraft are safe, and both have their problems, one isn't better than the other, they're just different.

Originally posted by ResistTreason
There have been an ALARMING amount of failures and reliability issues in recent years occurring on the Airbus A340 and A380 airliners.

Airbus should be greatly ashamed with the constant failures occurring on their aircraft. Fly a Boeing folks. Sadly it may be wiser to choose a Chinese made airliner over the Airbus. Pathetic.

edit on 15-2-2013 by ResistTreason because: (no reason given)

Boeing? And burn up? lol A truly pathetic trolling attempt there.

Mr Reid appears to want some compensation. Not one part of his story adds up or makes sense. The cabin door didn't open, it cannot. The most likely explanation was the door seal and air escaping through a tiny gap. Hiding under seats etc does simple not happen. How high does a seat need to be before you can get under it. And on a plane?

Just one of the reasons the Daily mail is so highly respected(!)

Does anyone recall a flight attendant (male) who got sucked into the engine and ground up to death in the blades?

While opening or closing one of the doors.. I forget which one...