A Passenger Opened an Airplane Door During Flight. How Could This Happen?

“Are you prepared, willing, and able to help in case of an emergency?” This question is often posed to travelers seated in exit-row positions. While protocols differ worldwide, flight attendants on U.S. airlines require a verbal confirmation from those near the exit doors. After all, with added legroom comes greater responsibility.

However, passengers seated near an exit on a recent Asiana Airlines flight in South Korea experienced much more than just extra space. Flight OZ8124, an Airbus A321-200 with 194 passengers and six crew members onboard, was just minutes from landing at Daegu International Airport when a man in the exit row opened the door at about 700 feet altitude. Remarkably, all 200 individuals onboard survived, although 12 passengers sustained minor injuries as strong winds rushed through the cabin.

This raises an intriguing question: How can an airplane door be opened while in flight?

The reason behind the door's ability to open

First, let’s delve into the specifics of the door itself. If you’ve ever taken a moment to glance at the airplane safety card tucked in the seatback pocket, you might have noticed that airplane doors are relatively simple to operate. Ryan Irwin, a pilot with over a decade of experience flying Boeing 787 and 737 jets, explains that while exit doors can differ slightly among manufacturers and aircraft models, most adhere to standard design principles.

Most emergency exits are designed as a “plug” type, meaning the door must first move inward before it can be opened. “The doors are designed to be easy to operate, whether by crew or passengers,” Irwin shared with Dinogo. Furthermore, the Code of Federal Regulations mandates that there must be placards that “accurately state or illustrate the correct method of opening the exit.”

This makes sense; a person should be able to open the door quickly in an emergency. However, it doesn’t fully address how this can occur mid-flight. According to Irwin, a door typically cannot be opened in the air. “When the aircraft is pressurized, the door physically cannot be opened due to the immense forces acting against it.” The twist? In the case of the Asiana Airlines flight, the 33-year-old man—who later told police he felt suffocated and needed to get out—managed to open the door at around 700 feet altitude.

An extraordinary occurrence

At cruising altitude, the pressure outside is significantly lower than inside the cabin, keeping those doors tightly sealed. However, as the plane descends to a lower altitude, such as 700 feet, the pressure difference weakens considerably. The Asiana Airlines A321 was just two to three minutes from landing, and Irwin noted that even then, it likely required some effort to open the door at that point.

Irwin referred to this event as “one of the first of its kind” and considers it improbable that any physical design modifications will be made to airplane doors or emergency exits as a result. Let’s call it what it is: a freak occurrence. However, changes to procedures aren’t off the table. Following the incident, Asiana even decided to halt the sale of certain emergency exit seats on the Airbus A321-200 models (specifically seat 26A on 174-seat variants and seat 31A on 195-seat variants).

So far, Asiana is the only airline to implement such actions, and even then, it's only for 14 of its A321-200 aircraft. Consequently, you’ll likely still have the option to select an exit-row seat on your next flight. Just keep in mind that there’s a slight possibility one more responsibility could be added to your list: stopping someone from attempting to open the airplane door.