Flight crew clings onto plane's emergency door shut after passenger opened it

11 March 2024 , 15:08

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Flight crew clings onto plane's emergency door shut after passenger opened it

A brave member of the cabin crew was filmed holding a plane’s escape hatch after a drunk passenger pulled it open mid-flight.

Smartphone footage recorded on a flight bound for Harbin, in the northernmost province of Heilongjiang, China, showed the female flight attendant holding the hatch shut. The drunk passenger had earlier attempted to open it as the plane readied for take off.

In the video a male cabin crew member strolls over and his female colleague said: "I told him not to move. He can't open it." The male flight attendant then turned towards the traveller and asked: "Are you drunk?" To that, the man answered: "Yes, I drank."

The traveller was promptly relocated to another seat, after which the aircraft resumed its journey. It was not disclosed whether he would suffer legal consequences for his actions.

The clip triggered many comments after it was shared on China's version of TikTok, Douyin, later the same day. One said: “Brother, you really have to thank the stewardess, she almost lost her money." Another added: “The stewardess saved him, otherwise he would have lost hundreds of thousands."

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The man attempted to pull open the door as the plane was about to take off (AsiaWire)

The cabin crew member was seen holding the door shut (AsiaWire)

Another wondered: "What happens if someone pulls the escape hatch mid-air?"

Last year a passenger who sat next to a man who opened a door mid-flight said he feared for his life as wind rushed into the plane. The passenger, in his 30s, left others on the plane terrified when he opened the door as the aircraft was coming in to land in Daegu, South Korea.

The man was sitting in the emergency seat when he yanked the door open just two to three minutes before landing in the city 150 miles south of Seoul. South Korea's said the passenger, who was arrested on arrival, told police officials that he "wanted to get off the plane quickly".

Fellow passenger Lee Yoon-Joon claimed that he physically restrained the man who allegedly opened the exit with his bare hands, wondering to himself "am I going to die?" as he did so, Yonhap reported. In a video of the terrifying incident which has gone viral, Lee can be seen wearing red trousers and is clearly in distress as air rushes past his face, it was reported.

Lee said it was like being in a disaster movie and that he had got an uneasy feeling from the passenger sitting next to him throughout the flight, partly due to his intense, long periods of eye contact.

Antony Clements-Thrower