Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

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lemdkmia
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Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by lemdkmia »

Hi,

I'm curious if emergency exit doors would open up if you pulled the handle while flying close to the ground. I can find a lot online about how it is impossible to do so while flying at altitude, and that it is possible this could happen on the ground / while taxiing, but I'm curious if it would open if someone pulled it on approach or after takeoff, before you reach cruising altitudes and speeds, etc. Are these doors mechanically locked and controlled from the cockpit?

FYI I'm not planning on attempting this.
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photofly
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by photofly »

I believe the cabin is pressurized relative to the outside atmosphere from quite early in the flight, until quite close to landing.
But if you decide to open an exit - emergency or otherwise, at ground level, then it will open. There's no mechanical lock on the doors and it wouldn't be safe to have one, lest the lock jam or otherwise fail to release in an emergency.
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BTD
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by BTD »

The airplane will generally start to pressurize during the takeoff roll and depressurize during the landing role. This is for jets. Commuter turboprops are often different.

Emergency exits are plug type doors so even with a little pressure it’s going to be hard to get them open. Take a wing exit maybe 36 by 24 inches. Pretty small. That is an area of 864 sq inches. Even at 0.5 PSI you would have to pull 432 lbs of force to get that thing open.

The aircraft I fly does also have mechanical locks that have criteria to lock and will unlock if their power source fails. If a fault is detected the aircraft informs you.
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telex
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by telex »

Some jets...

Image
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Blue42
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by Blue42 »

lemdkmia wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:11 pm Hi,

I'm curious if emergency exit doors would open up if you pulled the handle while flying close to the ground. I can find a lot online about how it is impossible to do so while flying at altitude, and that it is possible this could happen on the ground / while taxiing, but I'm curious if it would open if someone pulled it on approach or after takeoff, before you reach cruising altitudes and speeds, etc. Are these doors mechanically locked and controlled from the cockpit?

FYI I'm not planning on attempting this.
On the B737 they mechanically locked based on power lever position....
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BTD
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by BTD »

telex wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 8:59 pm Some jets...

Image

Well even the AOM for that aircraft says that the airplane begins to pressurize on the ground higher power settings. I just picked .5 psi at random but even at .125 it will still be a bit of a pull and probably still to much for the average person to overcome when pulling sideways. However, they are locked during takeoff and landing so it doesn’t really matter anyway. :D
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by pianokeys »

lemdkmia wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:11 pm
FYI I'm not planning on attempting this.
Yeah, OK.
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lemdkmia
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by lemdkmia »

So it still sounds like you could potentially open the door and slide right before or after rotation, given that it sounds like some have mechanical locks and others don't, and if pressurization hasn't really played in yet. From an aviation security standpoint I'm surprised that all airliners wouldn't have locks for certain phases of flight.
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telex
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Re: Emergency exit right after takeoff or after landing

Post by telex »

lemdkmia wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2019 1:52 pm So it still sounds like you could potentially open the door and slide right before or after rotation, given that it sounds like some have mechanical locks and others don't, and if pressurization hasn't really played in yet. From an aviation security standpoint I'm surprised that all airliners wouldn't have locks for certain phases of flight.
Lemdkmia any chance you were in Bangkok recently?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society ... gency-exit
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