Plane forced back to airport after pilot heard loud ‘bang’ as door opened mid-flight

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A private plane was forced to return to a London airport after the cabin door opened mid-flight while it was climbing up to 1,700 feet.

The incident occurred on 1 June after a pilot departed from London Biggin Hill Airport, a small business airport just south of the capital, flying a Beechcraft King Air C90GTX,This Is Local London reports.

The privately-owned aircraft is just over 12 feet in length, with a capacity for one pilot and eight passengers, powered by two engines.

The small plane had taken off and was climbing to 1,700 feet when the pilot noticed the cabin door warning light illuminated before hearing a bang, realising that the cabin door had opened.

The pilot declared a ‘PAN’ emergency call, used to indicate an urgent situation but one that does not pose an immediate danger, to air traffic control and returned to the airport for safe landing.

The pilot was the only person on board at the time and was uninjured.

CCTV footage from the airport apron reportedly confirmed that the external door handle was in the closed position before takeoff, and the pilot’s handbook checklist also detailed that the pilot had carried out visual and mechanical checks, the local news site reported.

News of the incident comes just after a small plane crashed in Slovenia during foggy weather, killing three people on board.

Local police said they were informed about the accident around noon on Sunday after a Cessna Skyhawk plane was on a panoramic flight in the area of Prekmurje when it fell.

The UK government’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said in its latest annual safety review that in 2022 it received 778 accident occurrence notifications, nine of which were fatal accidents in the UK resulting in 11 deaths.

These included three light aircraft, two microlight aircraft, two gliders and one helicopter.

The AAIB said that while system failures have contributed to incidents, other recurring themes that result in accidents include mishandling of the aircraft during landing or go-around, failures to achieve take-off performance, loss of control in flight during aerobatics, partial power loss or flight into clouds by unqualified pilots.

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