Last year, an Asiana Airlines Airbus A321 made a rather dramatic landing, after a passenger opened the emergency exit while the plane was flying (not to be confused with flying on a Boeing 737 MAX 9, where the door plug can pop out without human intervention). 😉 I don’t know what’s going on in Korea, but now a similar incident happened again, this time on Korean Air.
Man tries to open exit door of Korean Air Airbus A330
This incident involves Korean Air flight KE658, scheduled to fly from Bangkok (BKK) to Seoul Incheon (ICN). The redeye flight was scheduled to depart at 9:30PM, and land at Incheon Airport at 4:45AM on Saturday morning. The flight was operated by an Airbus A330-300 with the registration code HL7585.
Details of what happened went public after a fellow passenger shared a video on social media, showing a man repeatedly trying to open the emergency exit door, while surrounded by crew members, and then being restrained. It’s believed that this happened around one hour after takeoff.
According to an airline spokesperson, the passenger was occupying a crew jump seat in the emergency exit area during the flight, and then this happened:
“Upon crew intervention requesting his return to the assigned seat, the passenger exhibited non-compliant behaviour, including verbal aggression and threatening movements toward crew members while attempting to access the emergency exit area.”
“Following standard security protocols, the cabin crew issued multiple warnings. Under the captain’s authority, restraint measures were implemented, and the passenger was relocated to a secure area where the situation was successfully de-escalated.”
“The incident was managed according to our established security protocols, to prioritise passenger safety and operational integrity. While the situation was successfully contained, we will cooperate with relevant authorities in the investigation of this matter.”
It’s interesting to me how no passengers step in to help the crew. I’m not sure if the crew asked other passengers to stay seated or what, but it seems like they handled the situation well. The plane ended up continuing to Seoul Incheon, where it arrived on-time, and was met by police.
It’s worth mentioning that it’s not actually possible to open an emergency exit door at cruising altitude, given the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the aircraft. So there probably wasn’t a major risk of some catastrophic event happening.
In many ways, it would be much more dangerous if this were attempted while the aircraft were at a lower altitude, when the pressure difference isn’t as high, and (on many planes) an exit door could be opened.
I’m impressed how the crew deescalated the situation
This incident reportedly happened around an hour after takeoff, and not just shortly before arrival. Despite a passenger trying to open the emergency exit and having to be restrained, the decision was still made to continue the flight.
As you can see, Korean Air has stated that the priority was both passenger safety and operational integrity. I can’t help but point out what a polar opposite approach this is to how a similar situation would unfold in the United States. There’s no way the flight would’ve continued, and for that matter, flights have diverted over a lot less than this.
Now, some people may think it’s a bit extreme to continue under these circumstances, though I’d say that if the crew was able to restrain him and get him to be compliant, that’s a job well done. A diversion could’ve cost the airline a lot of money, and could’ve wasted the time of hundreds of passengers, causing them to miss their connections, and arrive to their destinations late.
Korean Air must use Fly High Institute Nagpur for deescalation training. 😉
Bottom line
A Korean Air crew had to restrain a passenger who attempted to open the emergency exit door, and became non-compliant. This incident happened early on in the flight, and impressively enough, the crew managed to deescalate the situation, so the flight could continue to its destination. I imagine this would have played out very differently in the United States.
What do you make of this Korean Air incident, and the decision to continue the flight?
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