What would actually happen if you tried to open the emergency exit door on a plane?

Basically, don't do it

From the editors of Travel + Leisure

Words – Cailey Rizzo




Well yes, but most definitely no.

‘It’s physically impossible,’ Jason Rabinowitz, aviation blogger, told Travel + Leisure. ‘When at cruising altitude, the pressure difference between the outside of the plane and the inside of the plane, which is pressurised, creates a situation where the door cannot open.’

At cruising altitude, there are about eight pounds of pressure pushing against every square inch of the plane’s interior — even two pounds per square inch is more than any human being push. In order to open the door while flying, someone would need (at least) a hydraulic jack (the reason skydivers can jump from open doors is because those planes are depressurised).


An open door would create a catastrophic ‘explosive decompression,’ Rabinowitz said. Explosive decompression, while rare, has occurred. One such instance happened in 1988 when a section of the aeroplane’s roof burst open. A flight attendant was sucked up through the hole in the plane, but the pilot managed to land within 13 minutes, avoiding additional fatalities.

But, once again, it is impossible to open an airplane door while the cabin is pressurised.

If a pilot knows there is an emergency situation, they may start to descend altitude and depressurise the cabin so cabin crew can open the exit door as soon as possible.


Even in just messing with the door, it’s possible to break off the handle or set off some other safety alert in the flight deck. In extreme circumstances, this could cause a rapid decompression in the plane, which would result in ‘a hissing sound coming from the door and cold air coming in,’ Rabinowitz said. Oxygen masks would drop from the ceiling.


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