We’ve seen belligerent or drunk passengers try to open the door of a commercial aircraft while inflight. And unless the plane is at sufficiently low altitude, or a door’s seal fails, it will almost always be pressurized such that this is impossible.
What I don’t think I’ve seen before is an flight that takes off with a door that’s still open!
An image of the door on the Ryanair flight from Belfast International to Edinburgh taken by a passenger on the flight. The door had been left open on take-off. pic.twitter.com/cQIml4TwXY
— Robbie (@Warwicktweets) October 18, 2023
Tuesday evening’s Ryanair flight 178 from Belfast to Edinburgh had what the airline described as a “minor technical issue” and turned around back to Northern Ireland. Passengers report that a pilot “checked one of the doors” which was “left open.”
The Boeing 737-800 (registration G-RUKF) stopped its climb out around 15,000 feet before making it back to the ground about half an hour after takeoff. Passengers reported the crew made an announcement during the flight which they couldn’t understand. After landing back the crew checked one of the doors of the aircraft, subsequently they were told there had been an problem with one of the door sensors.
Local media reports that flight attendants were “terrified…”shook up” and “in tears” though it strikes me there may be some editorializing involved in that characterizastion.
According to the airline,
This flight from Belfast to Edinburgh (17 Oct) returned to Belfast International Airport shortly after departure due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft.
The aircraft landed normally and to minimise disruption to passengers, an alternative aircraft was quickly arranged, which departed for Edinburgh Airport at 00:40 local. Ryanair sincerely apologises to all affected customers for any inconvenience caused.
This appears at first glance to be a significant failure of the cockpit to follow the predeparture checklist – ensuring that there’s no indicator showing the door unlocked. That is, assuming what’s described is accurate, but the airline doesn’t appear to be disputing it. I would like to think that a door sensor merely failed after takeoff, but that’s not supported by the airline’s public statements about the incident.
I believe there is the outer door and the inner door cosmetic parts, sort of like an aircraft window. The pieces you touch aren’t the ones that create the seal. I’m sure an airplane engineer can validate this statement. In this case the sensor would be on the outer door closure and the picture we are seeing is just the inner cosmetic parts not being fully attached. I could be wrong though.
Hey, but it’s on a “minor technical issue”
What happened to “Flight attendants cross check.”?
No one paid Ryanair’s fee for the crosscheck.
Wait a sec….Sum Ting Wong here. A Boeing 737NG has a door ajar annunciation on the instrument panel. As someone stated…at least at my airline…”Flight attendants cross check and all call” The cross check is to ensure that their respective left and right doors are latched and armed. The all call is so that all of the flight attendants are listening in and reporting to the “purser/on board leader”.. Since they are plug type doors, they won’t “blow open”. 15,000 feet is 5,000 feet past the “Cabin Altitude” warning that would have been shown on the flight deck as the cabin will have climbed above 10,000 feet. So.. again…this doesn’t pass the “smell test”. And further….if the flight attendants were “terrified”…I wouldn’t want them on my jet for sure.
Sum Ting definitely Wong for sure. No way they get to 15,000′ before noticing its really open. Passengers not the best source of mechanical information, especially those who “tweet”. When you have a hammer at your disposal, suddenly everything looks like a nail.
A lot of speculation in this story.
Checklists are mandatory for a reason.
So many problems could be avoided by just following the directions.
I wonder how many people commenting on this are armchair mechanics/pilots/flight attendants?
I have worked on the 737 my entire career. I personally have seen a door handle creep up out of the locked position while in flight on more than one occasion. Normally it happens during pressurization or depressurization. Also why every time I am near a door in flight I press down on the handle. Some times it moves down and you feel the click in to place.
As a flight attendant and registered nurse I know that checklists are there for a reason.
Too many crews have become lax in their responsibilities to each other and their passengers.
And if you are needing to apply pressure to doors after being closed, then that needs to be reported as a design flaw or repaired immediately.