For most of us, any inflight sensation above some bumpiness during approach and landing are things we’d rather not experience. Recently, passengers on board Asiana Flight OZ8124 headed toward Daegu, South Korea, experienced something that hardly ever happens and is among the scariest inflight scenarios: A man successfully opened a door while still airborne. C’mon, the baggage claim ain’t gonna have your bag ready that quickly.
As reported by FlightRadar24.com and the BBC, initially by Yonhap News Agency, a man in his 30s got out of his seat and popped open an emergency exit door while the plane floated back to Earth 800 feet above ground, around a minute before landing. As Flight Radar pointed out, it’s possible to open the doors at this altitude due to less pressure differential between the inside and outside. Thankfully, for most of the flight, it’s impossible.
Passenger accounts detail that the man attempted to jump out and that it was pandemonium onboard. Some folks thought it was going to crash, some fainted—everyone was understandably quite frightened.
Thankfully, the plane landed safely and according to reports, nine teenage passengers were treated for respiratory issues. Nobody got Steven-Seagal-in-Executive-Decision‘d, either. The man was arrested when the flight landed and reportedly showed no signs of intoxication. That’s … a tad frightening in and of itself.
Flight Radar shows the plane’s entire 42-minute duration, and the BBC shows video onboard of passengers getting a bit more airflow than those dinky overhead fans.
Pretty sure we’ve all imagined such a horrible scenario happening at some point during air travel, and it’s a mild nightmare come true. Thankfully, this didn’t result in anything catastrophic.
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