A second mid-air incident in the space of a week involving a passenger attempting to open a plane door has occurred on an Australian flight. But should it raise safety concerns?
On Saturday night, a Jordanian national was arrested in Sydney after allegedly trying to open emergency exits on an AirAsia flight from Malaysia.
Shadi Taisser Ayed Alsaaydeh, 46, faced court after the incident, charged with two counts of endangering aircraft safety and one count of assaulting a crew member.
According to the ABC, the court heard allegations that Alsaaydeh, seated at the rear of the aircraft, first attempted to open an emergency exit latch.
After being moved, he allegedly made a second attempt on another exit and tried to choke a flight attendant who intervened. Passengers reportedly then restrained the man.
Alsaaydeh’s lawyer stated his client, who works for the Jordanian government, had taken medication and consumed alcohol before the flight and had no memory of the events.
“I can’t think of anything more terrifying than someone at 30,000 feet trying to manipulate the exit doors on an airplane,” Magistrate Anthony Spence said upon refusing the man bail.
Door drama
The AirAsia incident follows another event aboard a Jetstar flight from Bali to Melbourne just days earlier, where a woman also allegedly tried to open a plane door mid-flight over the Indian Ocean.
According to CNN, the plane’s crew were alerted by a warning signal, and the flight returned to Bali where the passenger was removed.
“We had an aircraft return to Denpasar (Bali’s airport) last night after a disruptive passenger attempted to open one of the aircraft doors and was abusive to our crew,” the airline said.
“The safety and welfare of our customers and crew is our top priority and we thank them for the way they responded to the situation,” the airline said in its statement.
“This sort of unacceptable behavior will never be tolerated on our flights.”
The Australian woman has since returned home to Australia, media reported.
The two events echo similar incidents elsewhere, including one in the US last year where a passenger was duct-taped after opening a door mid-flight, and another in South Korea in 2023 where a passenger opened an emergency exit before landing, citing feeling suffocated. The Korean incident resulted in carrier Asiana Airlines banning the sale of some emergency row seats.
“You can’t open them”
In his book Cockpit Confidential, airline pilot Patrick Smith outlines how difficult it is for a plane door to be opened at cruising altitude.
“You cannot – I repeat, cannot – open the doors or emergency hatches of an airplane in flight. You can’t open them for the simple reason that cabin pressure won’t allow it,” he states.
“At a typical cruising altitude, up to eight pounds of pressure are pushing against every square inch of interior fuselage. That’s over 1,100 pounds against each square foot of door.”
