Torn window or detached door in mid-flight: can a passenger really be sucked out of a plane ?

The porthole and its outline were torn off in mid-flight. FL360aero Twitter Capture – Kyle Rinker

In movies about airline disasters, there are always passengers who are thrown from the plane. Is it possible to be sucked in and expelled from the cabin at altitude ?

The terrible scene in disaster films showing part of the plane missing and the occupants trying as best they can to hold on to the seats so as not to be thrown out in mid-flight is a classic of genre.

Yet after the emergency landing of the Alaska Airlines flight to Portland in the United States on Friday, January 5 after a window opened, #39;was torn off in mid-flight, all the passengers were able to be saved and none were sucked out of the plane. Fortunately. 

But then why are scenes of this type frequent in the cinema ? Can we really be sucked into mid-flight ? 

A question of pressure

This suction phenomenon is caused by pressure. An airplane when in flight gains altitude. The higher the device goes, the lower the air pressure outside. But so that the passengers can breathe, it is necessary to pressurize the plane, therefore to apply more pressure. Depending on the altitude, the pressure difference between the interior and exterior of the plane intensifies or decreases.

But if an element detaches from the plane and there is communication between the outside and the inside, the pressure must be rebalance. The external vacuum then draws air from inside the plane.

This is why at high altitude – an airliner flies at 10,000 meters altitude – the difference is strong and at that moment there is a strong suction that occurs. Like a vacuum cleaner that gets clogged and unclogged all at once according to the magazine ça m's interested or a balloon according to Le Parisien.

Objects – even people – are therefore attracted and sucked outwards. But the porthole still needs to be able to let people through. 

What about Alaska Airlines

Fortunately, as part of the incident which occurred on Friday January 5 on the Boeing of the Alaska Airlines flight, the seat which was next to of the window which tore off in mid-flight was unoccupied.

The incident, where the emergency exit of the plane fell off (blew away), happened at FL160 , that has prompted the Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci to temporarily ground the fleet of 65 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes.

📸Kyle Rinker#airlines #fleet #aircraft

Passenger Kyle Rinker https://t.co/R5JYbMiFwY pic.twitter.com/TqARuYJBqB

— FL360aero (@fl360aero) January 6, 2024

A few objects flew away as well as the sweater of the passenger who was on the seat in the middle of the row.

And above all, the plane was starting to gain altitude, it was only at 5,000 meters, so the pressure difference was not ;#39;was not too high during cabin depressurization. 

And the pilot then immediately began a descent for an emergency landing. 

An inspection of 171 devices

The American Federal Civil Aviation Agency (FAA) ordered on Saturday January 6, 2024 the inspection of 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. These planes are suspended from flight until then.