Chinese man opens plane's emergency door for 'fresh air' before takeoff

A passenger on a China Southern airline plane opened the emergency door while waiting for takeoff in China on Mar 10. Why? All because he wanted to get some "fresh air". 

According to a report in Shanghaiist, the man had found the cabin in the airline "a little stuffy" and decided to open the emergency exit door to get some air, not knowing the repercussions of his actions. 

The flight, which was traveling from Chengdu to Urumqi, was delayed for nearly an hour as airport crew members tried to closed the door and figure out what had happened. 

Well in his defence, the man apparently thought that the handle used to open the emergency exit door was a lever to roll down the window. 

This is not the first time such incidents have happened in China. 

On Feb 10 last year, a passenger opened the emergency exit door on a domestic China Southern Airlines flight from Nanjing to Nanning. 

The man reportedly said that he had opened the door because it "is not important".

For his actions, he was jailed for 10 days by local police.

Just two days after that incident (Feb 12), a female passenger opened the emergency exit door on an Asiana Airlines flight from Yanji, China to Seoul, South Korea.

The passenger, only identified by her surname Piao, was charged with endangering public safety.

prabukm@sph.com.sg