Plane passenger who held down man who opened door midair ‘feared he would die’

The man had pulled the emergency exit door open whilst the plane was travelling at 700 feet

A passenger who held down a man who opened an airplane door mid-flight has said he feared he would die during the terrifying incident.

Lee Yoon-Joon was forced to physically restrain the passenger next to him, recalling in an interview with Yonhap News that he thought to himself “Am I going to die?”. He likened the incident to a disaster movie, according to a translation by ABC’s Good Morning America.

The passenger next to Mr Lee – who opened the emergency exit door of an Asiana Airlines Airbus A321 on Friday, 26 May – told police he felt suffocated and wanted to get off the plane quickly as it started to land.

Lee Yoon-Joon (right, in red shorts) was next to the passenger who opened the plane door (Twitter)

Mr Lee said he “held him with bare hands” after the passenger made eye contact with him before the door was flung open.

Footage shows strong winds flooding into the aircraft whilst other passengers grip the armrests of their seats for dear life.

“It was chaos, with people close to the door appearing to faint one by one, flight attendants calling out for doctors on board and others running down the aisle in panic,” another 44-year-old passenger told Yonhap News.

“I thought the plane was blowing up. I thought I was going to die like this.”

Police officers in plain clothes arrest the airplane passenger at Daegu International Airport (Yun Kwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

The accused of opening the emergency exit door arrives to attend an arrest warrant review at Daegu District Court (AP)

The 33-year-old was later detained by police upon arrival in the South Korean city of Daegu for violation of aviation security law, which could carry a 10-year prison sentence if he is convicted. The flight had been travelling from the southern island of Jeju.

He later told police that he was suffering from stress after losing his job, according to reports. However, on Sunday, Daegu police officers refused to provide details about the man to The Associated Press on account of privacy issues.

The man had pulled the emergency exit door open whilst the plane was travelling at 700 feet, with experts saying the low altitude was the only reason he was able to do so.

Following the incident, the captain behind the famous Hudson River landing - forced after the plane lost power in both engines on a flight from New York City to Charlotte and Seattle in 2009 – explained.

The door of the plane was opened in mid air, 700ft above the ground (Yun Kwan-shick/Yonhap via AP)

“The speed of the airplane means that once a door was opened, air would be rushing by”, Captain Sullenberger told ABC News. “In fact, at that speed, around 160 miles an hour from all indications, that would be the equivalent of a category five hurricane scale speed.”

He added that at a higher altitude, opening the fire exit door simply wouldn’t have been possible.

The plane had been carrying 194 people, including teenage athletes en route to a track and field competition. A dozen passengers were taken to hospital, mainly treated for minor issues including breathing difficulties.