Can it open?
 

I was sitting toward the rear of a 744 the other day and noticed a couple of yahoo's mucking around with the rear exit door. Question is, what chance do they have opening it if, say at a low altitude?
I'm assuming the locking of these doors is controlled in the cockpit.

Cheers

No chance. When the aircraft is fully pressurised the pressure differential is about 8 pounds per square inch. Over the whole door thats about 2 tonnes of force they'd have to move just to pull the door in. Even at lower altitudes the force required would be significant. If the aircraft was fully depressurised then it possible to release the door into the aircraft within its frame, but to actually open the door would require them to push it outwards into a 200 mph airflow and that isn't going to happen. The locking of the doors isn't controlled from the cockpit, thats both unnecessary and undesirable.

Carnage has given you an in-depth answer: Just for clarity, you may not be aware that most (if not all) doors are a "plug" type, and for this reason they open inwards initially, before twisting and then opening outwards, or rising ino the ceiling. To open the door in flight would require you to have the strength to pull the door inwards, against the pressure differential - the rest is as Carnage describes most eloquently.

On two occasions now, I've had nutters flip out and give it a go, both men, one on drugs and both got absolutely nowhere. However they did get thumped by other customers which was gratifying...

As stated in the very funny book 'Bluff your way on the flight deck', not even a raging Arnold Schwarzenegger could open those doors.

Wannabee - Have you seen Arnie lately? Looks like he has no trouble opening bags of chips!

I still love his movies, though.

Did you hear about one of his recent misstatements? He was being rushed around by his handlers, and a reporter surprised him with a question, to which he replied: "I believe that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman." :confused: