Back in the 80s when Sydney had a CBD heliport in Darling Harbour, an elderly private pilot in a B47 picked up to the hover over the pad. The passenger door popped open, so he let go of the controls and leaned over to close it! Nice little mess that one made, and gave critics of the heliport some lethal ammunition.
In the 90s, a start-up charter company staffed with low-time pilots and an old B206 had a task to fly passengers over a powerboat race on the Hawkesbury River. Left Rear-seat pax wants to talk to front-seat pax, so reaches for the door pillar to pull himself forward.
Murphy's Law prevailed: this machine had a stretcher kit fitted, with removable door pillar, and the latch to release it was installed the wrong way - normally the door must be open to operate it. When the door is shut, it prevents the handle from turning the correct way, but in this case the handle turned.
The door pillar and rear door departed the scene, luckily into the water, leaving all aboard somewhat stunned. The bograt pilot was squawking on the radio for his mate to give him some advice. He didn't appreciate that the door pillar was somewhat critical to the integrity of the cabin structure, and he flew home (45 mins) without it.
