Chinese Passenger Pulls Open Emergency Exit for ‘Fresh Air’

A passenger aboard Xiamen Airlines Flight MF8453 opened the emergency exit door, just when the plane was preparing to take off from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province of China, on December 21.

The Chengdu-bound plane was just about to move to the runway when the man pulled open the door, hoping to get ‘some fresh air’. The flight crew immediately closed the door, instructed him not to touch anything and moved him to a seat farther from the emergency exit. The flight departed as per the schedule.

The man was not punished. The authorities said the 50-year-old man did not mean any harm; he was a first time air-traveler and mistook the exit door for a window.