An aviation expert has explained exactly how big a potential threat passengers who attempt to open emergency doors mid air are.
Paul Tizzard is an aviation expert who has helped more than 30,000 people conquer their fears of flying through a course in partnership with Virgin Atlantic.
When asked what the dangers were of an emergency door being opened mid-flight, Paul explained how the design will scupper any efforts.
He told The Mirror: "Once you get to altitude and its pressurised, it locks in place as it's tilted.
"It has ridiculously strong pins that are held shut by the pressure. If you jumped up and down on the handle you'd just break it."
Paul said no human was capable of opening the door with the pressure as high as it is when the plane is in the air.
It's a different story when the plane is on the runway however.
"You can open it on the ground. You will never see a door without someone by it on the ground," he said. "When the doors are armed for take off, that door is ready to be a slide or a raft for an emergency."
While it may be impossible to open the doors mid-flight, that hasn't stopped people trying.
Last week one woman made headlines when she walked to the back of a Southwest Airlines aircraft travelling from Houston to Columbus, and "stared" at the exit door.
She then pulled the exit level, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, court documents released by an Arkansas District Court show.
A heroic passenger overheard the commotion and joined the crew as they wrestled the woman to the ground as the plane was landed, click2Houston reports.
The incident is far from an isolated one.
In August TUI holidaymakers were left terrified after an "intoxicated passenger" was allegedly heard making threats, before trying to open the emergency exit mid-flight, reports Manchester Evening News.
Reportedly there were screams heard throughout the aircraft, following claims that the man tried to open the emergency exit - but was then restrained by fellow passengers.
Meanwhile two years ago a domestic US flight was grounded when a man was "fought to the ground" by crew and other passengers on the plane and "subdued...until we landed", according to one passenger onboard.
