Today, an emergency exit door of a PIA ATR 42-500 (AP-BHM) performing flight PK631 from Islamabad was accidentally opened during landing at Sukkur Airport. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident.
The emergency exit door was accidentally opened by a passenger, according to airline officials.
PIA ATR 42-500 registration AP-BHM departed from Sukkur at 5:55 PM as flight PK632 to Islamabad.
Just spoke to Fahmida Khan. She is an old friend. According to her the door opened on its own as soon as the plane touched down in Sukkur. She said the official statement that a passenger accidentally opened the door is a lie. She was sitting towards the tail end and witnessed everything. All passengers including herself were shocked and scared when the door opened on its own. According to her it felt like a pipe has burst open.
The door does not seem broken. The inner door is still inside the aircraft which implies it was probably opened by someone from inside. It is possible that the passanger sitting there was afraid of consequences and claimed it opened itself.
In case of emergency, it is instructed to open this door and throw it outside of the aircraft so that it does not become hurdle during evacuation.
The emergency exit door got opened when a passenger used door's handle as a support for getting up from seat. The incident did not damage the aircraft and no one was hurt.
Maybe the aircraft was taxiing slowly or had stopped on parking bay when the door got opened?
bukhari917 wrote: Sun Feb 23, 2020 3:36 pmIn case of emergency, it is instructed to open this door and throw it outside of the aircraft so that it does not become hurdle during evacuation.
As per ATR procedures, after opening, the door has to be kept inside the aircraft. If it is thrown out, it can become hurdle/obstruction for other passengers coming out of the aircraft resulting in injuries; specially if it is night time.
