Re:Why airplane doors can't be opened mid-flight
by mcav on Thursday April 16, 2009 @01:22AM
(#564748)
How do skydivers do it?
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Re:Why airplane doors can't be opened mid-flight
by ciscoriordan on Thursday April 16, 2009 @02:17AM
(#564796)
They don't jump out of commercial airliners.
Airliners didn't always have this door mechanism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
Re:Why airplane doors can't be opened mid-flight
by ankhmoop on Thursday April 16, 2009 @03:08AM
(#564855)
The plane isn't pressurized, and often, the cabin has no door at all -- you are free to step right out of the aircraft. The maximum altitude is kept below 12-15k ft -- above that, a jump would require special breathing equipment for the dive.
Some planes do have closing doors -- for instance, rear-loading cargo planes. Those are the most fun to jump out of, since you can take a running James Bond-style leap out the back of the airplane.
Re:Why airplane doors can't be opened mid-flight
by warfangle on Thursday April 16, 2009 @10:50AM
(#565225)
Free to step out of the aircraft, but typically you can clip yourself into the inside of the plane with a carabiner. My first time jumping out of a perfectly good plane was at 15,000 feet out of a plane with no "normal" door on the side: as we climbed to altitude, we were sitting on the floor of the plane looking towards the tail - and straight out the gaping door on the side of the plane. It's a weird thing to look (almost) directly ahead and see the ground at that angle.
Someday I'll jump out of a rear-loading plane -- as long as it's not a static line jump... since I'm not military, that probably won't be a problem though ;)