Aviation Safety | It’s time we idiot-proof aircraft emergency exit doors

The motive behind the incident involving Tejasvi Surya, should ideally be one of the following three: innocent, sinister, and, cockiness

With over $6 billion being spent year-on-year relentlessly with improving crash survivability, aircraft safety, reliability, and efficiency, may be its time Boeing, Airbus, ATR, Embraer, and Bombardier spent another $10 in making their aircraft idiot-proof and smart-alec resistant for the Indian market. I won’t be surprised if soon the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issues an immediate, emergency circular stating requirements for the addition and mandatory installation of squeaky toys, a rattle, and balloons for those over inquisitive passengers seated in emergency exit rows.

An aircraft is a mechanical beast, and every single working function is driven as an interlinkage to another physical response. Much like the home pressure cooker lid, the Emergency Door of an aircraft becomes impossible to open when the aircraft cabin is fully pressurised during flight. When on ground, the cabin isn’t pressurised and this at times causes the door to pop out with the slightest of effort on the handle.

Unlike the Boeing over-wing emergency exit door that's hinges out, the Airbus has a much easier, "passenger friendly", easy to pull-out door. The standard Airbus door weighs around 15 kgs, so with the slightest of effort on the handle, gravity takes over, and the door pops out. But for that, someone must "intentionally" or deliberately yank out the door cover.

As a trained aviation safety professional and auditor, the motive behind the December 10 incident — news reports suggest that Tejasvi Surya, Member of Parliament representing Bangalore South, opened the emergency exit of a Chennai-Trichy IndiGo flight — should ideally be one of the following three: One - Innocent; Two - Sinister, and Three - Cockiness, laced with a generous sprinkling of hipster-doofus and immaturity.

The Emergency Door falling off prematurely isn’t really a safety hazard nor indicates that the aircraft is unworthy in anyway, but on the contrary, it at best shows that everything works like it supposed to, and at most is an irritant to the general public and a nuisance since the aircraft would need to be momentarily grounded, a licensed engineer called to install back the door, check and test the seals; and close up all the documentation required as part of maintenance actions performed on the aircraft.

From what we know, the incident occurred during boarding prior to the crew performing their ‘Before-Take-Off’ checks; and not during taxi or take off, therefore in all fairness some level of clemency and a lighter-handed approach with a simple, ‘Math-karo-betey’ warning-letter should get one of the hooks without a ban or an addition to the ‘No-Fly-List’.

On the other hand, if the door was pulled out during taxi, during takeoff, or climb-out, then it becomes a clear act to disrupt the safety of the flight, that can create a chain reaction of either a full emergency-rejected take off, or climb to burn out extra fuel, or dump fuel to land back immediately, causing the airline a total loss on the revenue flight with fuming passengers, crew, and air traffic controllers; and the CISF security detail called in to apprehend the curious culprit. Thank heavens, better sense prevailed.

India is among the world’s fastest growing aviation and airline markets, and (hopefully) with the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic behind us, the sheer volume of travellers including those that are first-time flyers have dramatically shot up. With the government working closely to improve connectivity into the regions and enable newer markets under UDAN, more and more first-time flyers are expected to take to the skies, and make air travel their preferred choice of transport.

With that, it becomes extremely important to listen to what the crew tells you because not only can it save your life, it can later also save you a lot of embarrassment or prosecution, notwithstanding if your deeds were innocent, sinister, or cocky, laced with a generous sprinkling of hipster-doofus and immaturity.

Fly Safe!

(Mark D Martin is CEO of Martin Consulting, and is member of the Royal Aeronautical Society United Kingdom.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.