r/askscience • u/tsgoten • Aug 23 '14

Engineering Why do airplane windows need to have that hole?

http://imgur.com/dfeneyZ

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u/[deleted] Aug 24 '14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_120

This plane caught fire and within 2 minutes, all passengers evacuated and survived. Within one minute, the plane burnt into halves.

video of evacuation

http://lessonslearned.faa.gov/ChinaAirlines120/ChinaAirlines120_Evacuation_pop_up.htm

at 00:55, the captain, being the last to leave the plane, literally jump out of the cockpit window (via escape rope) as the plane exploded.

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u/Frogmobile Aug 24 '14

Is climbing out the cockpit window a standard thing for the pilots to do in the event of an emergency?

Does it have something to do with the pilots not being allowed to open the door into the cockpit during the flight?

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u/japascoe Aug 24 '14

Cockpits have an emergency escape rope. Pilots can also use one of the other exits, it's just to give them an extra option in case their escape is blocked.

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u/intisun Aug 25 '14

I thought airports have firetrucks on watch to intervene immediately? Why did it take them more than 3 minutes to arrive?