Last Friday, a passenger aboard an Asiana Airlines flight opened the emergency exit door while the plane was in mid-air, causing air to blast inside the cabin, because he was "uncomfortable," according to Reuters.
In total, there were 194 people on board the flight, and 12 passengers were taken to the hospital for breathing issues and other minor injuries upon landing in Daegu, South Korea.
Per Korean National Police Agency guidelines, officials identified the 33-year-old male passenger who opened the door by only his surname, Lee. After being detained, he told police he "wanted to get off the plane quickly" and was stressed after recently losing his job.
Lee opened the door minutes before the hourlong flight — which had departed from Jeju Island — was about to land. At the time, the plane was about 700 feet off the ground. A South Korean Transport Ministry official explained that because the plane was near ground level, the air pressure inside and outside the cabin were similar, making it possible for Lee to open the door. Similarly, it was unnecessary for oxygen masks to deploy.
A video, reportedly taken by another passenger, shows air rushing into the cabin and passengers panicking after Lee opened the door. Because the plane was making its descent, everyone onboard the flight — including passengers and crew — was seated with their seat belts on, an Asiana spokesperson said.
An identified 44-year-old passenger aboard the flight told Yonhap News Agency, "I thought the plane was going to explode. ... It looked like passengers next to the open door were fainting."
Former pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who was not on the Asiana flight, described to ABC News what it would have been like inside the cabin after Lee opened the door: "Air would be rushing by the airplane just outside. At that speed, about 160 miles an hour, from all indications, that would be the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane-scale speed."
Lee Yoon-Joon, another passenger aboard the flight who was sitting next to Lee (unrelated), helped flight attendants pull Lee back from the door. Yoon-Joon told Yonhap News Agency that they originally believed the door opened due to a mechanical malfunction and that it was hard to breathe.
"Frankly speaking, I thought, 'Am I going to die?' A million things were on my mind at that moment," Yoon-Joon said to Yonhap News Agency. "I am an ordinary citizen and did what the flight attendant told me."
