Passenger arrested for opening plane door mid-flight over South Korea

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, police detained a 33-year-old man after the door was thrown open. Police said the man admitted to opening the door but would not say why he did it.

South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement that anyone who violates the Aviation Security Act – actions involving passenger doors, exits or equipment inside an aircraft – will be fined. – can be prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment for up to 10 years.

“I thought the plane was going to explode. … It looked like the passengers next to the open door were fainting,” one passenger told Yonhap.

In a video that was captured by a passenger and widely shared on social media and distributed by Reuters, the plane’s cabin was being blown up, hitting passengers and unruly. Safe clothes were fluttering.

Nick Wilson, an associate professor of aviation at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, explained that the plane’s exit Designed to stay in place. bearing significant compressive loads. “They’re basically stuck there,” he said.

As with other aircraft systems, sealed doors and emergency exits keep the cabin pressurized at altitude. Without cabin pressurization, passengers may not get enough oxygen and may lose consciousness. In the case of rapid compression at altitude, he said, “you’re going to lose some of your ability to make coherent, useful choices.”

At low altitude the pressure between the inside and outside of the aircraft decreases. At this point in flight, the force on the door is not as strong.

Wilson said it appears the individual was able to open the door on the approach. “At lower altitudes, there is less differential pressure. That would be one of the main factors that allowed this door to open at all.

Flight attendants tried but failed to stop the man, Yonhap reported. “The flight attendant shouted for help from the male passengers and bystanders grabbed him and pulled him inside,” an eyewitness told the news agency.

According to South Korean outlets, there were 200 people on board, including 194 passengers.

The airline’s office at Daegu International could not immediately be reached for comment.