HELSINKI, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- A fatal explosive opening of an aircraft door in Arctic conditions last January resulted in new international safety warning for a popular business jet on Thursday.
The captain of a Gulf Stream 150 was killed at the tarmac of Kittila airport, northern Finland when the door of the aircraft blew open with huge force due to the pressure in the cabin.
The aircraft door had been closed for the parking time as instructed in the manual of the GS150. The build-up of excessive pressure inside the cabin resulted in the door blowing open with explosive force when the captain opened the door. The captain received a heavy blow from the door and died at the scene.
The Finnish Safety Investigation Authority recommended in its report on Thursday that the operating manuals of the Gulfstream G150 and other comparable aircraft types should include a caution to check that the outflow valve is fully open before the door is closed for heating or cooling purposes on the ground.
The message is targeting the manufacturer Israel Aviation Industries (IAI). The current manuals note that heating can be expedited through closing the door, but the instruction to check the outflow is in the supplementary checklist only.
The risk of an explosive door opening when the cabin is pressurized on the ground was identified already in a 2009 study of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the Finnish research report noted.
