Life imitates stand-up comedy:

[zotz]

Airline passenger attempts to step outside for a cigarette:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4456076.stm

Comments

[decomposingsoul.livejournal.com]

What! I am actually speechless!

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

Thank fuck that

a) I wasn't on that plane, and
b) She didn't succeed in opening the door. That would have sucked. Literally.

Honestly, didn't she realise she'd have got cold without her coat on?

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

It isn't normally possible to open the door of an airliner in flight. They open inwards and are slightly larger than the apertures, with the effect that they plug them nicely. Now, being pressurised (usually to 7 or 8,000 feet equivalent altitude) there's quite a differential to overcome - something to the order of 7 psi, says my back-of-the-envelope calculation, on top of which the effect of the aircraft's relative wind further creates suction holding the door exactly where it is.

[zotz]

Off the top of my head, there's got to be at least a couple of tons of force holding it shut.

Which reminds me of this.

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

OMFG! Monkeys!

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

And that in turn makes me think of the creation of Dr Manhatten...

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

I love that!

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

Sounds about right, although I'm sure if that woman had "thrown the bolt", even though she couldn't actually open the door, it would have triggered an alarm and forced the pilot to perform an emergency landing or something. Maybe the oxygen masks would have dropped. Who knows. Either way, in my opinion she should at least be banned from flying until she sorts herself out. She appears to have been landed with a fine she won't even have to pay if she behaves herself. Sheesh.

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

It's not really a bolt to throw on its own; it's a single (large) handle which nearly-simultaneously retracts the fastenings and forces the door inwards. (On a good day it takes a bit of force to open the door; trainees can and do get thrown off cabin crew training programmes for not being able to do it.)

If, entirely hypothetically, Superman was to open a door in flight, the microswitch which detects the door being closed would trip, alerting the flight crew, and the corresponding loss of cabin pressure would trigger a corresponding alarm on the flight deck, cueing the pilots to put on their oxygen masks (the passenger masks would drop automatically). There's also the small matter of the escape slide deploying, which might cause a wee aerodynamic problem. But, as I commented earlier, I just don't believe it's possible.

[kiaransalyn.livejournal.com]

A good example of why seatbelts should be worn at all times.

[decomposingsoul.livejournal.com]

Perhaps this is a good example of why people shouldn't be allowed to fly after having alcohol.

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

It's a criminal offence to be "drunk" on board an aircraft, at least under UK law (and hence applying to all UK registered aircraft, wherever in the world they may be); check-in and gate staff are supposed to prevent people meeting that description from boarding, and cabin staff are supposed to refuse to serve alcohol to people who are nearly so. However the definition is a bit woolly and it's not clear that a quiet drunkard would necessarily be noticed...

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Unless you're a BBC journalist, in which case they merrily keep giving you whisky until you pass out and then wee all over the toilet cubicle three hours later just before all the children start getting airsick.

[decomposingsoul.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I have mastered the art of feining sobriety to allow myself to be served more alcohol when I am already wasted. If you don't go around shouting about the fact that you are drunk, you're not really going to be noticed

[kixie.livejournal.com]

*blink*

I'm surprised there wasn't a banana peel on the floor, too.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

:o how embarrassing. A change of sleeping tablets might be needed!

[taoist-goth.livejournal.com]

You see, passengers don't need to fear the plane. The plane should fear the passengers.

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, my Mum flies out to New Zealand on Dec 2nd.

Hang about..

[technotom.livejournal.com]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4456416.stm

Her brother perhaps?

Re: Hang about..

[decomposingsoul.livejournal.com]

It doesn't even look like he had an excuse! He wasn't drunk and on sleeping pills, he was just an idiot!