Flights and how planes really work are a mystery to the majority of aircraft passengers.
One questions many people ask is whether a plane door can be opened during a flight.
A pilot from Australian airline Jetstar has now revealed the answer to this aviation enigma.
Brett Manders explained to Australian network Seven’s Sunrise breakfast programme how plane doors really work.
Some passengers worry that plane doors can be opened mid-flight, whether it’s by accident or on purpose.
However, whether someone wanted to open the door or not – it simply isn’t possible.
The pressure in an aircraft makes it absolutely impossible for a person to open a door mid-flight.
“Imagine a football that’s pumped up really hard and you’re trying to press it in, that’s what you’re trying to do,” Manders said.
“The doors to the front of the aeroplane open ‘in’ initially and then ‘out.’
“The pressurisation in an aeroplane adds hundreds of kilos of pressure each square metre of the door, so humans are not strong enough to open the doors.”
Manders also revealed on the TV show that passengers do not need to worry about turbulence.
He explained turbulence is caused by different masses of air colliding at different speeds – and is not dangerous.
“If you just relate turbulence to bumpy air, all it is is air with different temperatures, moving at different speeds and directions, and it’s mixing,” he explained.
“Pilots don’t like turbulence any more than the passengers do and we would try to avoid it.
“Aeroplanes are just over-engineered to be safe in the environment that they operate in.”
Passengers should also be aware that they really do need to turn their mobile phones to flight mode.
A mobile phone could serve to interfere with cockpit equipment, even if it’s not actually being used by a passenger.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA): “Modern passenger aircraft are heavily reliant on electronic communication and navigation systems which work on the basis of electromagnetic energy transfer and thus they can be susceptible to electromagnetic interference.”
Mobile phones and many electronic gadgets will transmit electromagnetic signals when not in flight mode as they try to connect with a communications network.
The CAA said: “The cumulative effect of a large number of mobile phones or transmitting electronic devices being used simultaneously when not in Flight Mode, particularly during the critical phases of flight, such as take-off and landing, remains a serious concern.”
If airlines want to permit their passenger to use a phone in flight mode (compared to completely switched-off) they need to seek permission.
