Drama in Plane, Passengers hide under seats, Some made last prayers as door BLOWS OPEN at 27,000ft

A British tourist told yesterday of his
flight of terror when he claims an
emergency exit on a super jumbo blew
open at 27,000ft.
David Reid and his son Lewis feared a
bomb had gone off after hearing a
'massive explosion' two hours into their
flight on the brand new £250million
Emirates Airbus A380.
Freezing air blasted in and the cabin
pressure plunged after the door in
business class came an inch and a half
ajar, leaving a gaping hole, said Mr Reid.
As passengers wept in terror, he said, a
petrified stewardess ran down the aisle
and screamed 'the door's going to go'
before cowering behind her seat.
Astonishingly, according to Mr Reid,
instead of making an emergency landing,
the crew decided to stuff blankets and
pillows stuck together with gaffer tape
into the hole and continue the flight
despite a horrendous droning noise and
sub-zero temperatures.
The drama happened on Monday as the
two Britons flew from Bangkok to Hong
Kong as part of what was planned as a
'trip of a lifetime'.
He said: 'We were about two hours in
when suddenly there was a huge blast.
'It was a real shock, so loud that I
thought a bomb might have gone off. Air
was gushing into the cabin like a gale.
'The stewardess jumped up and stared at
the door. Her face was drained white.
'She ran up the aisle, grabbed the
intercom and started screaming, “The
door's going to go, the door's going to
go!” Then she hid under her chair.
'Other passengers were crying and saying
“We're going to go down, we're going to
go down.”
'It was complete panic. The emergency
door was ajar and leaving a gaping hole.
You could see straight out into the
atmosphere, 27,000ft up.'
Mr Reid, who has a private pilot's licence,
said that after several moments of
confusion, the cabin crew started
grabbing blankets and pillows which
they stuck together with duct tape to fill
the gap.
He added: 'This is a state-of-the-art plane
but they were using the most crude
method you could imagine to try and
plug the hole.
'The conditions were terrible for the rest
of the flight. The door continued to make
a horrendously loud droning sound
which made it impossible to speak to
each other.
'Worst of all, it was absolutely freezing.
It was an extremely nerve-wracking
experience for everybody.'
He said cabin crew closed the curtain
between business class to stop those in
the economy cabin below discovering
what was happening.
Mr Reid claims he suffered a chest
infection following the ordeal and the
pair had to cut short their £4,500 trip.
His 18-year-old son reported the incident
to the Department of Transport's Air
Accidents Investigation Branch who have
passed it on to air investigators at the
United Arab Emirates General Authority
for Civil Aviation.
An Emirates spokesman said: 'We can
confirm there was a whistling noise
emanating from one of the doors on the
A380 upper deck on flight EK384
between Bangkok and Hong Kong on
Monday, February 11. At no point was
the safety of the flight in jeopardy.'
An Airbus spokesman said: 'It is not
possible for a cabin door to open on an
A380 or on any aircraft whilst in flight,
as doors open inwards and have locking
mechanisms.'
An Emirates spokesman later updated the
company's statement responding to Mr
Reid's claims, saying : 'At no time during
the flight did one of the upper deck
doors open. There was also no loss in
cabin pressurisation at any time during
the flight.
'The noise from the door was caused by a
small dimensional difference between
the inflated door seal and the door lower
frame striker plate, when the door is in
the closed position.
'This is currently under investigation in
conjunction with Airbus. Emirates have
now fixed the problem.
'The blankets were placed around the
door to abate the whistling sound
emanating from the door, not to prevent
the door from opening.
'There was no point during the incident
where the safety of the flight was in
jeopardy.
'In addition, the green light next to the
door does not represent that the door is
open. It is an Attendant Indication Panel
and is used for communication
information for the Cabin Crew.'