Chinese passenger opens plane door during takeoff after mistaking handle for handrail

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Not again! Chinese passenger opens plane door during take-off ‘after mistaking handle for handrail’

'I thought it was just like the handrail on the bus'

PUBLISHED : Monday, 16 March, 2015, 10:49am
UPDATED : Monday, 16 March, 2015, 5:14pm

Laura Zhou
[email protected]



The door of China's Urumqi Airlines aircraft was opened just as the plane was preparing to take off on a domestic flight on Saturday. Photo: Yaxin.com

A Chinese man who opened the emergency exit of an aircraft as it was about to take off on a domestic flight in China - the latest in a string of such gaffes - claimed he had mistaken the door handle for a handrail to steady himself.

The male passenger, aged 42, who was travelling with his wife, was later placed in detention for 10 days for his "mistake", Xinjiang’s local news portal iyaxin.com said.

He pulled the handle to unlock and open the door as the Urumqi Airlines plane was preparing for take-off in China's Xinjiang region on Saturday afternoon.

“I thought it was just like the handrail on the bus, which I can hold on to by myself if I find myself sitting unsteadily,” the man was quoted as saying by the news portal.

He said it was his first time that he had sat next to an aircraft’s security door and had been shocked to find the door had swung open.



A first-time traveller opened the plane's emergency exit door to get some fresh air. Photo: SCMP Pictures

It is the latest in a string of incidents involving mainland Chinese passengers opening emergency exits as aircraft prepare to take off.

Last month an unidentified man was also detained for 10 days after opening an aircraft's emergency exit as passengers were still boarding at Nanjing Lukou International Airport.

He was quoted as saying, “This door is not important”, when asked by airline staff why he had opened the door.

In December, a first-time traveller opened the emergency exit of a Xiamen Air passenger jet to "get some fresh air" just before it was due to take off.



An image taken by a passenger last month of a man sitting in his seat after opening the aircraft's emergency exit after boarding at Nanjing Lukou International Airport. Photo: SCMP Pictures

In Saturday's incident, the man and his wife were on a flight from an airport in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, travelling to Zhengzhou, in Henan province.

Crew on flight UQ2505 quickly alerted police, and the man was taken away for questioning.

The flight was delayed for about half an hour.

Airport police said the man had been detained for 10 days for causing a disturbance on an aircraft.





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