Passenger Shockingly “ripped off” Plane’s Emergency Exit Door at Melbourne Airport; Arrested by the AFP

A male passenger travelling on a Jetstar flight opened the emergency exit door of the plane after landing at Melbourne Airport on August 22. 

Upon Jetstar’s flight JQ507’s arrival at Melbourne Airport from Sydney, the passenger “charged” to the front of the plane until the emergency exit row in the middle and then “ripped off” the emergency exit door. This incident occured as the flight was parked at Gate 43 of the Melbourne Airport at around 10 A.M. AETD (Australian Eastern Standard Time). 

When the emergency exit was opened, the emergency slide was deployed. But, the passenger instead walked along the wing of the Jetstar flight and slid down to the engine through which he made his “way down to the ground”, reported a Jetstar spokesperson. The passenger was then arrested by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The passenger’s reason behind opening the door has not been revealed to the public. 

Fellow Passengers and Cabin Crew React

During an interview with ABC News, Audrey Varghese, who also travelled to Melbourne on the Jetstar flight, gave details about the events leading to the opening of the emergency exit and how other passengers reacted to it. 

Varghese, 21, told the news outlet that the now-arrested, passenger sat in the seats that were diagonally opposite to her and that he stood up when the plane was taxiing. As standing up during taxiing is against flight protocols, the cabin crew had asked the passenger to remain seated, which he duly obeyed. 

However, when the plane had parked at the gate, he ran to the front of the plane to the emergency exit row, pushed other passengers in the process, and opened the emergency exit door. Varghese stated that the passengers seated in the emergency exit row screamed as the man forced his way through them in order to open the door. She stated that she was in conversation with her friend who was on the plane with her and was initially unaware of the incident until she heard shrieks from a fellow passenger. “We were quite terrified,” she added. 

Varghese also praised the cabin crew for doing a “great job” at calming the passengers down. The crew, along with some passengers, were ensuring that no passenger was hurt during the ordeal. The remaining passengers were allowed to disembark the plane shortly after the passenger was arrested. 

X (Formerly known as Twitter) user, James Gordon (@GhostAssasin27) posted these after the incident. 

The Aftermath

The passenger was arrested in the name of “aggressive behaviour and for breaching safety protocols”, said a spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police (AFP). He had to undergo assessments by ambulance officers and was later “transferred to hospital” for further assessments, he added.  

The AFP stated that the charges for the incident would be “laid at a future date”.