When I first became a flight attendant, it was late 1980s. I was too short to fly on the commercial airlines so I started with a commuter that flew Shorts 360s or Sherpas- an unpressurized airplane. On one flight, a man actually opened the front cabin door and started to step through. He hesitated which gave a flight attendant, Tony, time to reach him, wrap his arms around the guys waist and struggle him to the ground. They landed in Jacksonville, NC at the military base where military law enforcement pulled the guy off the plane, stripped him naked and held him at gunpoint.
I spoke with Tony (RIP good friend) not long after that and he was still shaken. He saved that guy’s life and maybe the lives of everyone on board as them man would have gone through the prop.
Here is the Shorts 360 - the door the man opened in mid-flight was on the right front side of the plane. And once they got rid of the height restriction, I did interview and move over to mainline flying the larger PRESSURIZED jets!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_360
I was stationed there!........................
Haha good story! But the fronts are just escape hatches and they open outward into the slipstream. I’d say its impossible to open it more than a few inches in flight. Like opening your car door at 200 mph. I was a Flight Engineer on them C-23’s in the Army NG. Now the back doors you can open in flight! Maybe it was a back one. I had a pilot get the craps and we didn’t have a toilet onboard, just a bucket... so he poops in a trash bag placed in the bucket. Next thing I know, there was a huge WOOoooshhh of air and a bunch of banging in the back. Well he thought he would just open the door and toss out the bag o shit. The back door is a bi-fold door and you have to lock it to solid door with a bar to open it in flight. So it was just swinging around beating the crap out of him! No parachute, no monkey safety harness... Just him and a bag of shit. So I ran back and we both got the door closed... lol it was crazy and funny. 18,000’ over the Rockies! He must have been Hypoxic.
I went to Iraq with the Sherpa in 03-04 and we contemplated hanging machine gun “Nam” style from the back doors. That didn’t happen but it would have been fun. Low (25’-250’) and fast was our tactic. Good times... Great airplane!