Airline: Passenger on Boise-bound flight tried to open cabin door in midair

KTVB ^ | Mar 5, 2018

[BenLurkin]

Passengers intervened to take down a woman who attempted to open an airplane cabin door during a flight to Boise Monday morning.

The incident happened onboard SkyWest flight 5449 from San Francisco to Boise.

A spokesman for SkyWest Airlines said the "unruly customer" was restrained, and the flight was able to land safely at the Boise Airport. Boise Police met the plane at the gate, and took the woman into custody.

[TaMoDee]

I guess her name is Deborah Barbara Cooper.

[bwest]

An “Asian woman”, perhaps?

[Jim Noble]

Aloha snackbar?

[PAR35]

I hope the medical evaluation was required as a result of her interaction with her fellow passengers.

[PAR35]

Obviously small town cops and reporters. They didn’t even include the standard ‘Not Terrorism Related” boilerplate language.

[noiseman]

Every now and then we get one of these “passenger trying to open the cabin door mid-flight” stories. It is inevitably followed by comments from nervous flyers who think that it was only by some miracle that disaster was averted.

Of course, the immense pressure holding the door closed makes it impossible to open the door (D.B. Cooper was a unique event because of his planning and the 727’s rear airstair). I think they should just let these idiots keep trying to open the door, because eventually they’ll wear themselves out and maybe be more compliant when they go to restrain them.

[Innovative]

Crazy, drunk, or Muslim?

[Innovative]

Good that the passengers intervened immediately.

[Steely Tom]

Of course, the immense pressure holding the door closed makes it impossible to open the door (D.B. Cooper was a unique event because of his planning and the 727’s rear airstair). I think they should just let these idiots keep trying to open the door, because eventually they’ll wear themselves out and maybe be more compliant when they go to restrain them.

Gee, I never thought of that!

I knew that cabin doors were designed so that the cabin pressure keeps them closed, but that raises another question: in the 727, how in the word did they keep that enormous door for the rear stair closed against cabin pressure when at high altitude? The door was much bigger than a typical cabin door, and it was obviously openable in flight, as proven by ol' D.B.

I wonder how they managed that? Must have been some pretty clever mechanical engineering.

[Steely Tom]

No name released, or picture.

[Carl Vehse]

Isn’t it even a little obvious that these people are off their rocker BEFORE they board the plane?!?

[Keyhopper]

Rear ramp on a 727 has hydraulics to raise and lower.
Now have db cooper locks. Plane under power no workie

[P.O.E.]

It was either that or end up in Boise.

[noiseman]

”...in the 727, how in the word did they keep that enormous door for the rear stair closed against cabin pressure when at high altitude?”

There was a more conventional door at the back of the cabin that maintained cabin pressure and that would have to be opened first. The air stair was in an unpressurized area of the fuselage beyond that. From what I recall, D.B. Cooper had the pilot descend to an altitude at which the cabin could be depressurized, permitting him to exit via the rear airstair.

After the D.B. Cooper incident, airlines were required to install small vanes on the exterior of the airstair that generated a vortex and made it impossible to open that door in flight as well.

[Steely Tom]

There was a more conventional door at the back of the cabin that maintained cabin pressure and that would have to be opened first. The air stair was in an unpressurized area of the fuselage beyond that. From what I recall, D.B. Cooper had the pilot descend to an altitude at which the cabin could be depressurized, permitting him to exit via the rear airstair.

That sounds right, thanks!

[Kickass Conservative]

There is a pressurized door at the top of the Rear Stairway on a 727.

The compartment the stairs fold up into is not pressurized.

[dennisw]

An aspiring DB Cooperettte. FAIL!

[babble-on]

pharmaceutical experimentation my guess.

[Disambiguator]

It was either that or end up in Boise.

It seems that half of Californians are moving to Boise, so it can't be all bad.