Originally Posted by
GateHold
Sure, an inflight deployment of an escape slide is highly unusual (it also occurred aboard a Boston-bound JetBlue flight in 2013) and potentially dangerous. The slides are large and powerful and one could, conceivably, force open a door.
But this is unlikely, and the chances of serious damage are slim. Contrary to what some of the the hysterical new coverage might imply, the flight was in no danger of crashing.
I have trouble conceiving of that, Patrick. All of the slide-equipped doors on commercial aircraft open INWARD so as to resist the inboard pressure. For one of those slides to force a door "open", it would literally have to push the entire door and its frame out the side of the aircraft, causing major structural damage.
In plainer language, it would have to bust a hole in the wall of the plane.
I doubt that the pressurized gases used to deploy these slides would have the power to actually burst the fuselage of the aircraft. That would be a major safety concern - like having a bomb just inside every aircraft door.
I suppose it's not technically impossible. I just think it's so unlikely that it's impossible by all practical definitions.