‘Scary’ ordeal before Jetstar passenger opened emergency exit door, climbed out plane

A Jetstar passenger has described the moment a fellow passenger opened the emergency exit where he was seated and climbed out.

A Jetstar passenger who says he was seated at the emergency exit where a fellow passenger opened the door and climbed out of a plane in Melbourne has shared details about the “scary” ordeal.

The passenger had opened the emergency exit door on JQ507 after it landed in Melbourne from Sydney on Thursday.

Jetstar said the opening of the door automatically deployed the emergency slide while the plane was parked at the gate.

Pictures showed the man on the wing before it is understood he climbed down to the ground via the engine.

“Unfortunately for me I was sitting in the exit row window seat,” passenger Kyle Kenneth said in a video shared on social media.

The Irish expat said the whole thing was “quite scary” and thankfully no one was injured but he was a “bit jumpy” and “on edge” following the incident.

Kyle Kenneth said the incident was ‘quite scary’. Picture: @itskylekenneth / TikTok

The man climbed down from the plane via the engine. Picture: James Gordon/X

Mr Kenneth thought everything had seemed normal for the duration of the flight until the plane landed.

“They (cabin crew) were getting ready to open up the doors and he ran down and tried to get out the exit row,” he said.

He added the man did not appear aggressive at first and was “just like looking at the exit”, but when people realised what he was trying to do, they shouted at him to stop.

“It’s hard to describe, like he wasn’t taking anybody else in, like he just had this singular focus, this look in his eye, and he just kept trying to reach for the emergency exit to pull down the lever,” he said.

“To be honest it was a bit surreal. I didn’t think he was actually going to do it considering we had landed and they were just about to open up the main exit.”

Ground handlers surrounded the man on the ground. Picture: X

He was arrested and taken to the hospital. Picture: X

Mr Kenneth said Jetstar flight attendants were trying to pull the man back but he still managed to get the door open with one hand and run out on to the wing.

“He doesn’t take the emergency slide. He jumps on the engine and is like hanging off the engine,” he said.

The man was restrained by ground staff and then arrested by Australian Federal Police officers for alleged aggressive behaviour and breaching aircraft safety protocols.

“The man was assessed by ambulance officers and later transferred to hospital for further assessment, where he remains,” an AFP spokesperson told news.com.au on Friday.

“AFP is continuing to investigate this matter, and charges are likely to be laid at a future date.”

2GB producer Audrey Varghese, who was also on the flight, told 3AW that people were screaming as the incident unfolded.

“My heart sank immediately,” she said. “People were just screaming because of how strange this behaviour was.”

Mr Kenneth claimed other passengers had observed the man getting up to the lavatory five or six times during the flight.

“I’m just really thankful it didn’t happen while we were in the air,” he said.

news.com.au contacted Mr Kenneth for further comment.

RMIT University aerospace engineering and aviation associate professor Chrystal Zhang previously told news.com.au the dangerous act is not actually possible while an aircraft is cruising in the sky.

Speaking after an “exceptional case” in South Korea last year, where a man opened an emergency exit door at about 200m off the ground, Dr Zhang explained that due to the difference in pressure from inside the cabin to outside the aircraft during a flight, there is “absolutely no way” passengers and crew could open a door.

“In this special case the aircraft is descending and it’s almost – only just one or two minutes – from touching the runway,” she said, referring to the South Korea incident.

“So in that circumstance it is possible for anyone strong enough to force the emergency door open.”