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Delta flight attendant heroically stops Florida Man from opening exit door mid flight

Koren

Member
No. The cabin pressure differential with the outside air makes it impossible.
I don't understand... How would that work? The doors open to the outside, and the pressure is higher inside, so if anything, the pressure differential should help opening the door?

In fact, even if the pressure was the same on both sides, the speed of the air outside should suck the door out (it's the exact same principle that allows chimney to work, and which tear away objects in a storm)
 

Duffman

Member
I don't understand... How would that work? The doors open to the outside, and the pressure is higher inside, so if anything, the pressure differential should help opening the door?

the doors open to the inside and the door is larger than the frame. it is literally impossible to open the door at high altitudes.
 
Not really a fair headline. Obviously a wine bottle is not the right thing to do - restraining is. He could have been killed if it cut any number of blood vessels around his neck. But I mean, the dude seems to have gone hog wild without provocation. There's no accounting for how untrained people tasked with subduing him are gonna handle things.

Also guys: it's not JUST the thread title, it's the headline of the article. And it's kind of bad.

You have got to be shitting me. He was more or less attempting to kill everybody on the plane. Whatever was done to him during those tense moments would have been completely justified.

Also, this is one of the first things that occurred to me on my way back from E3. Why in the fuck are passengers even seated in that area, next to that exit? They are so fucking greedy. I had a flight attendant say right in front of me and other passengers that Delta is too damn greedy, and there really shouldn't be passengers seated anywhere near those doors, much less right next to them like that.

They also give the first few passengers instructions on how exactly to open the door, and that in the event of an emergency we should be prepared to assist in evacuations. Here's the scary part. This idiot would have gotten those exact same instructions.
 
As a Florida Attorney who reps Florida men I would like to wait until all the evidence is available. You are going to be apologizing to Florida Man when they find monster claw marks on the wing and a damaged engine.
 
Not really a fair headline. Obviously a wine bottle is not the right thing to do - restraining is. He could have been killed if it cut any number of blood vessels around his neck. But I mean, the dude seems to have gone hog wild without provocation. There's no accounting for how untrained people tasked with subduing him are gonna handle things.

Also guys: it's not JUST the thread title, it's the headline of the article. And it's kind of bad.

Ummm he was trying to depressurive the cabin and kill everyone.

Anything to stop him was the right thing to do.
 

rykomatsu

Member
Still a click bait title.

Delta flight attendant didn't stop the person opening the emergency exit. Physics did.
 

Syriel

Member
You have got to be shitting me. He was more or less attempting to kill everybody on the plane. Whatever was done to him during those tense moments would have been completely justified.

Ummm he was trying to depressurive the cabin and kill everyone.

Anything to stop him was the right thing to do.

And he had zero chance of succeeding. Anyone with half-a-brain, and especially someone who works for an airline (like a FA) would know that.

It's even been brought up in this very thread, and yet people still ignore it.

Subduing a drunk idiot = perfectly fine. But that's all this was. A drunk (or high) idiot.

No one, short of the Incredible Hulk, is going to be manually opening a door on a pressurized, commercial airliner, at altitude. You could blow one open with an explosive, but you're not going to be able to pull it open.
 

Thewonandonly

Junior Member
PCP is some crazy shit. I worked as a jailer in the book-in area for a year and saw some superhuman strength at play when it came to inmates on PCP.

My sergeant was a 6'6" german built like a brick shithouse, trained in MMA, etc, and he + 2 other normal sized officers were getting shoved out the way like it's nothing by a 5'6" scrawny dude on PCP.

A deputy even tried tazing him and he took it like it was nothing. Shit was crazy, I can't imagine what kind of damage an actual athlete on PCP could do.
That's it bro you gave me an idea

"PCP cage battle let's gooooooooo"
Brock lesner Vs akimbo slice
 
Oh man, I feel bad for his mom if it's true she works for Delta.

The last guy I read about trying to do this got essentially blacklisted from air travel for the rest of his life. Hope it was worth it!
 

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
I don't understand... How would that work? The doors open to the outside, and the pressure is higher inside, so if anything, the pressure differential should help opening the door?

In fact, even if the pressure was the same on both sides, the speed of the air outside should suck the door out (it's the exact same principle that allows chimney to work, and which tear away objects in a storm)

The doors pull inward before opening, so to open one at cruising altitude you'd have to counteract the pressure inside the plane against the lack of pressure outside of it. At cruising altitude there's about 8 pounds of pressure against every square inch of the door from inside the plane. Pulling against that is pulling against 1,100 pounds per square foot. So unless the guy can press a couple tons, the door isn't opening. Even at low altitudes, opening it is going to be impossible for most people, as even 2 psi is more than anyone but maybe The Rock could handle. On top of that most passenger planes have locking mechanisms and inflating seals on the doors that would make them impossible to open even without the pressure factor.

The guy wasn't going to get it open. But that doesn't mean he didn't need to be stopped. A crazed weirdo loose in a flying metal tube is bad news for everyone concerned.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
You have got to be shitting me. He was more or less attempting to kill everybody on the plane. Whatever was done to him during those tense moments would have been completely justified.

Also, this is one of the first things that occurred to me on my way back from E3. Why in the fuck are passengers even seated in that area, next to that exit? They are so fucking greedy. I had a flight attendant say right in front of me and other passengers that Delta is too damn greedy, and there really shouldn't be passengers seated anywhere near those doors, much less right next to them like that.

They also give the first few passengers instructions on how exactly to open the door, and that in the event of an emergency we should be prepared to assist in evacuations. Here's the scary part. This idiot would have gotten those exact same instructions.


It's impossible to open the door when it's pressurized. Those instructions only work once the plane has hit the ground or water and has depressurized.

Hitting him with a red dessert wine bottle is entirely appropriate. Also a sherry or tawny port would have been appropriate if the cheese course had been served.
 
I keep picturing the attendant hitting him in the head with two wine bottles at the same time while the sing red red wine is playing over the intercom. I can't stop laughing.
 
And he had zero chance of succeeding. Anyone with half-a-brain, and especially someone who works for an airline (like a FA) would know that.

It's even been brought up in this very thread, and yet people still ignore it.

Subduing a drunk idiot = perfectly fine. But that's all this was. A drunk (or high) idiot.

No one, short of the Incredible Hulk, is going to be manually opening a door on a pressurized, commercial airliner, at altitude. You could blow one open with an explosive, but you're not going to be able to pull it open.


It was explained a page back that apparently they were low enough where he could have
 

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
It always surprises me how people like this come away with such few injuries. You'd expect someone behaving like that, especially with a few people (untrained passengers, especially) involved, to come off really badly - broken ribs, or a severe head injury.
 
That's it bro you gave me an idea

"PCP cage battle let's gooooooooo"
Brock lesner Vs akimbo slice
Yeah...uhh...totally bro. Let's bet on it too. Let's say I've got an insider tip on who's gonna win...

Not the dead guy

Anyways, I'm ok with this guy getting brained with a wine bottle or two
 

StarVigil

Member
I can spend 10 hours without alcohol. I just don't want to.
maxresdefault.jpg
 

Syriel

Member
It was explained a page back that apparently they were low enough where he could have

No, it really wasn't.

At an hour into the flight, at that location over the coast, the plane would have been between 30,000 and 40,000 ft with full pressurization.

If that plane was flying low enough that it was even possible to open the door, something else would have been wrong because commercial jetliners don't get that low unless they're taking off or landing.

I'm all for stopping a raging idiot on a flight, but there is no reason to exaggerate the narrative.
 

seanoff

Member
Thing is, it's not actually possible to open the emergency exits while the plane is in the air.

Is that true for all circumstances? Because if it is totally not possible, there would have to be a mechanism to prevent it. Which can fail in case of a crash or other incident, locking everyone in. Or do you just mean the air pressure being too high inside to open the door?

You really wanna make that bet when you're in the air?
. Yes.

Theres no lock on the door. Its impossible to open because of the pressure of I recall correctly.
. Yep.

Wagner then explained why main doors don’t blow open midair — they open outward.
“Airliner doors are ingeniously designed,” he said. “Few people realise it, but it’s some really excellent engineering.
“Upon closing, the door swings inside the cabin and then nestles outward into a frame where the door becomes a plug. They’re called plug doors. In aviation, you always want physics to work in your favour, so cabin doors use physics to remain in place rather than fighting physics with some massive locking mechanism.

“At cruise altitude, the average exit hatch has about three to four tons [2.7 to 3.6 tonnes] of pressure holding it in place.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...t/news-story/1a6011040b5bfdfad77c6d43a6f5ee75



So the doors are pushing out into the airframe with say 3000kgs of force. No one is moving that. And by some chance the Incredible Hulk is on the plane and trying to get out. No one is stopping him.
 
. Yes.

. Yep.

Wagner then explained why main doors don’t blow open midair — they open outward.
“Airliner doors are ingeniously designed,” he said. “Few people realise it, but it’s some really excellent engineering.
“Upon closing, the door swings inside the cabin and then nestles outward into a frame where the door becomes a plug. They’re called plug doors. In aviation, you always want physics to work in your favour, so cabin doors use physics to remain in place rather than fighting physics with some massive locking mechanism.

“At cruise altitude, the average exit hatch has about three to four tons [2.7 to 3.6 tonnes] of pressure holding it in place.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...t/news-story/1a6011040b5bfdfad77c6d43a6f5ee75



So the doors are pushing out into the airframe with say 3000kgs of force. No one is moving that. And by some chance the Incredible Hulk is on the plane and trying to get out. No one is stopping him.

You are underestimating adrenaline and PCP STRENGTH.
 

Tigress

Member
And he had zero chance of succeeding. Anyone with half-a-brain, and especially someone who works for an airline (like a FA) would know that.

It's even been brought up in this very thread, and yet people still ignore it.

Subduing a drunk idiot = perfectly fine. But that's all this was. A drunk (or high) idiot.

No one, short of the Incredible Hulk, is going to be manually opening a door on a pressurized, commercial airliner, at altitude. You could blow one open with an explosive, but you're not going to be able to pull it open.

He was being combative in a tight area where people cannot escape. Even if he couldn't open the door he could still hurt some one else and he was not predictable what he'd do. Nor was he complacent about being restrained.i do not blame the flight attendant at all at that point in trying whatever would work to subdue him. It's not like anyone there is trained in how to safely restrain a combative person so they did what they could do. Whether the doors could be opened is entirely irrelevant. Guy was getting violent and showing extreme unpredictability in an area where no one can escape.
 

Theonik

Member
According to one flight attendant, "Hudek did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full liter red wine bottle over his head, and instead shouted, 'Do you know who I am?' or something to that extent," the complaint said.
No who the hell are you?
 

Syriel

Member
He was being combative in a tight area where people cannot escape. Even if he couldn't open the door he could still hurt some one else and he was not predictable what he'd do. Nor was he complacent about being restrained.i do not blame the flight attendant at all at that point in trying whatever would work to subdue him. It's not like anyone there is trained in how to safely restrain a combative person so they did what they could do. Whether the doors could be opened is entirely irrelevant. Guy was getting violent and showing extreme unpredictability in an area where no one can escape.

I agree with you 100% that having a combative drunk on a plane is a serious issue.

My issue, be it here or elsewhere, is when people feel the need to "enhance" the narrative to make it a "better story."

The difference between the two is "a combative drunk on a plane" and "attempted downing of an aircraft" which is a pretty big gulf.

It's the same sort of BS that cops pull when they roll up on a situation and whip out their guns because they "feared for their life." Even the thread title feeds into the whole "let's make stuff up to make it more exiting" narrative.
 
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