The passenger allegedly told a flight attendant about “wanting and needing to exit the aircraft now,” then jumped on her, injuring her neck and wrist, authorities said in a report.
Summary
Passengers on an American Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Dallas-Fort Worth restrained a Canadian man with duct tape after he allegedly attempted to open a cabin door mid-flight, claiming he was the “captain” and needed to exit.
The man became aggressive, injuring a flight attendant as he rushed toward the door.
Several passengers, including Doug McCright and Charlie Boris, subdued him, using duct tape to secure his hands and ankles.
Authorities detained the man upon landing, and the incident remains under investigation.
Well, not from the door opening, you are right (pressure difference and such).
But he already injured a flight attendant, so I guess he wasn't going to say "oh well it doesn't open, I tried, I'll sit down quietly now".
That depends on where in the flight he tried to open the door. The article says mid flight but that could mean anything.
Above 10,000 ft he wouldn't be able to open the door because of the pressure difference but below that and he would have no problems since the cabin isn't pressurized and the doors aren't locked with any key or anything.
when it's an airplane we call it speed tape and its used all over the aircraft, mostly by maintenance, to keep the plane together. Don't worry about it.
This probably wasn't duct tape anyway, but special tape for passenger restraint, similar to zip ties, that is stored on board for use in this type of situation
Duct tape is used on airplanes all the time, so it's readily available & multi-purpose. While it looks super sketchy, it's actually pretty decent for a temporary fix until a proper repair can be implemented. Sometimes they're criticized for leaving the temporary duct tape fixes on far too long. 🙃🙃🙃🙃
There was a CSI episode with a situation similar to this. Of course, since it's CSI, the way that turned out was the mentally ill person was killed (and the episode was about the passengers/crew subtly covering for each other).
Nice case of how in real life, people avoid harm when possible, and in fiction, people are all secretly ruthless savages out for each other's blood.
Oh; I should say, in fiction, and for police, who similarly live in fiction-land.