A passenger aboard an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Dubai opened a cabin door and fell to the tarmac before takeoff Monday evening, injuring themselves and causing lengthy delays.
The plane, a Boeing 777, was sitting on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson International Airport preparing for takeoff when the incident took place.
Air Canada confirmed to Global News that during the boarding of flight AC056, a passenger “who had boarded the aircraft normally,” opened a cabin door on the opposite side of the aircraft, instead of going to their seat while the aircraft was at the gate.
As a result, the passenger sustained injuries falling to the tarmac, and emergency services and authorities were called in.
How did this happen? Isn’t there usually a flight attendant standing right there as you board the plane?
Yes, but the 777 has two aisles. Here’s the Air Canada seat map. The flight attendant greeting passengers would be by the first aisle, directing passengers down the correct aisle for their seat. This passenger might have been directed to the second aisle, and rather than turning down the aisle they went straight across to opposite exit door. Or they might have used one of the other doors. The 777 has 10 full-sized doors, 5 on each side of the plane. Two of those doors open onto the wings, one of those would have been used for boarding, maybe two if first-class passengers get a separate air bridge, but that still leaves 6 or 7 doors where there isn’t likely to be a flight attendant to notice a passenger doing something stupid.