AN alarming trend seems to have emerged of late, especially for flights to-and-from the Land of Oz.
It is of utmost concern that some air travellers believe the best way to solve any dispute during the flight is to get off by opening the emergency doors mid-flight!
The latest incident involved a Jordanian man on an Air Asia X Flight D7220 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Sydney.
The 45-year-old passenger identified as Shadi Taiseer Alsaaydeh had attempted to open a rear emergency door. When he was escorted to a seat in the middle of the plane, he then attempted to open a middle emergency door.
Thankfully, crew members were able to restrain the belligerent passenger with reports indicating that he may have been intoxicated.
Shadi has been charged with two counts of endangering the safety of an aircraft and one count of assaulting cabin crew, and is set to appear before Downing Centre Local Court tomorrow (April 9).
In a statement, AirAsia X said “at no time was the safety of guests or crew compromised”.
“Our cabin crew who are professionally trained to respond to such situations took all necessary steps to ensure the safety of everyone on board,” the carrier said in relation to the incident on its Flight D7220 from KL to Sydney on Saturday (April 5).
Second incident in a week
This follows another recent incident on March 31 when a female passenger on board Jetstar flight JQ34 from Bali to Melbourne also sought to open an emergency door mid-flight, causing the pilots to make a U-turn and land the plane at Denpasar International Airport.
The reason for her behaviour? She apparently had wanted another seat that allowed her to recline!
She tried to open the door on a Bali – AU Jetstar flight midair at 500 knots, all because she wanted to change her seat pic.twitter.com/Mt4uWVYfvl
— @ (@anthraxxx781) April 4, 2025
Dr David Birch, a senior lecturer in aerospace engineering at Surrey University, was quoted as telling the Daily Mail (UK) the massive difference in air pressure between the inside of the cabin and outside made it almost impossible to open a door at cruising altitude.
Opening a door at that altitude could theoretically cause objects or people to be sucked out of the aircraft and for temperature and oxygen levels to plummet but the force required would be far above what a person could manage.
The doors are also ‘armed’ while on a flight as a security measure and must be ‘disarmed’ by the pilot to allow them to open.
Air travel is already stressful enough without such unruly and belligerent passengers causing unnecessary panic. In the latter incident, the lady passenger was allowed to quietly return to Australia without any further action.
Perhaps, it is the time to throw the book at these culprits to deter others from following suit, beginning with the case of Shadi. – April 8, 2025
Main image credit: Sunrise/YouTube
