Freak Accident and Death

[rjemery]

A FA was killed when an Airbus 300 made an emergency landing in Miami. The FA opened one of the cabin doors in preparation for an evacuation before the pilot could depressurize the cabin. See AA 1291 (http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/miamiplane001121.html).

My question is this: Aren't the doors somehow interlocked to prevent their premature opening? Or could anyone override same at any time?

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R. J. Emery

[shakespeare]

I think most aircraft have a squat switch arrangement on the under carriage that will dump any residual pressure once the aircraft is on the ground. The discharge valves go to FULL OPEN thus releasing any residual. These can be over ridden for ground maintenance purposes however should generally work in the normal sense.

The aircraft I fly always dump residual pressure after landing if one of the pilots does not set the pressurisation correctly for the destination airport. This can always be felt on your ears and is sometimes not comfortable for pax. It does not happen very often but you certainly know when it does.

Some airlines have a policy of opening one of the flight deck windows prior to any cabin door being opened, just to confirm zero pressure.

It would not have helped the F/A's cause if the cabin was in fact equalising while she opened the door. I am not aware of a mechanism that prevents the doors from being opened under any circumstances. At the cruise altitudes it is impossible to open the doors as they have quite a few tons of pressure on them.

[This message has been edited by shakespeare (edited 21 November 2000).]