Passenger opens plane emergency exit door before take-off because cabin was ‘too stuffy’ and she wanted ‘fresh air’
A FEMALE plane passenger opened the emergency exit door before take-off because the cabin was “too stuffy”.
The traveller said she wanted “fresh air” while the plane was on the tarmac.
The unnamed passenger was travelling on Xiamen Airlines Flight 8215 on September 23 from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in the capital of Central China’s Hubei Province.
According to cabin crew on the flight, the incident happened towards the end of boarding procedures.
Flight attendants had reportedly warned the female passengers and others near her not to touch the lever of the emergency door after she was shown to her seat.
However, the woman is believed to have felt the cabin was ‘too stuffy’ and popped open the emergency exit to get some ‘fresh air’, reports said.
The video, which has since gone viral, has been watched more than 18 million times.
Flight crew and other passengers bound for the city of Lanzhou, capital of China’s north-western province of Gansu, were then forced to wait in the aircraft as airport police turned up and arrested the woman for the offence.
Xiamen Airline staff revealed to local media that the incident caused a one-hour delay as the emergency door was shut again, and after a second round of safety inspections was presumably carried out.
Wuhan airport police have yet to release the passengers name or age, and it is unclear whether she faces an indefinite travel ban for the stunt.
Earlier this month, a drunk passenger was kicked off an easyJet flight after trying to break open the plane door.
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A first-time flyer also tried to open a plane door during a flight as he “thought it was the toilet”.
If a plane door was to be opened during a flight, anything that was not secure on the plane would be sucked out due to the difference in air pressure.
However, without a hydraulic jack, it is very difficult to open mid-flight.
