Questions Engineers get asked!

[Brenden S]

We has some flight attendants training yesterday and I got asked some interesting questions. Apparently passengers have been asking the flight attendants if they can open the emergency exit on a plane while the aircraft is taking off down the runway. Its a obvious no as the aircraft is pressurised (-300ft), however I decided to go measure all the exits and find out how much force is acting on the surfaces. Obviously these are not 100% accurate but near enough.

Figures for:
Main Door
7psi which is max differential pressure in the cabin during flight
7psi 18865lbs or 8575kg of force
5psi 13475lbs or 6125kg
3psi 8085lbs or 3675kg
2psi 5390lbs or 2450kg

Service Door
7psi 11319lb or 5145kg
5psi 8085lbs or 3675kg
3psi 4851lbs or 2205kg
2psi 3254lbs or 1470kg

Over Wing Exit
7psi 6314lbs or 2870kg
5psi 4510lbs or 2050kg
3psi 2706lbs or 1230kg
2psi 1804lbs or 820kg

Rear Exit
7psi 17094lbs or 7770kg
5psi 12210lbs or 5550kg
3psi 7326 or 3330kg
2psi 4884lbs or 2220kg