Man tries to open emergency exit door on flight to Portland

An Alaska Airlines flight on final approach landed safely in Portland, Ore. Monday after a passenger tried to open an emergency exit door.

“Of course, he was unsuccessful,” said Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. “Not only do these doors have locks that prevent anybody from opening them mid-flight, but it’s virtually impossible for one person to open a door during a flight when the cabin in pressurized.”

“I turned around and saw a large man trying to open the emergency exit,” passenger Ryan Oelrich told Portland TV station KOIN. “And I heard this loud hissing noise. And, luckily, God bless the passengers around him, both men and women, who just tackled him and pulled him off, and then held him down. He definitely put up a fight.”

Passengers and cabin crew had to restrain the man. There’s no word yet on why the man tried to open the door over a wing or if he said anything.

“He remained seated and calm during the duration of the flight, which was of course only a few minutes,” said Egan. “When the flight landed, local law enforcement detained him,” Egan said.

The flight from Anchorage to Portland was a Boeing 737-900 with 137 passengers on board. The crew did not declare an emergency and the plane landed a few minutes ahead of schedule, at 5:27 a.m., according to Egan.