Student summoned ‘incredible strength’ to open plane door
THE Cambridge student who leapt to her death over Madagascar on July 25 would have had to employ “superhuman strength and determination” to push open the aircraft’s door.
Aviation experts have said that for 19-year-old Alana Cutland to force the door open, against the force of the air pressure outside the Cessna’s cabin, would have required the sort of strength exhibited by someone undergoing a severe psychotic episode.
The assessment reinforces fears that Miss Cutland, who was reported to have been anxious in the days before her death, may have suffered an adverse reaction to anti-malaria pills.
One air safety expert told The Sunday Telegraph: “It is extraordinarily difficult to push a door open during a flight when a plane is going at 120 knots. You have to have a lot of strength and be really determined to do that.
“Firstly, she would have had to take off her seat belt, push forward the seat in front of her then open the door and force it open mid-air, all while fighting her fellow passenger who was trying to hold her back. That takes incredible strength and determination.”
In jumping to her death at 3,500ft Miss Cutland fought off desperate attempts by a friend, Ruth Johnson, 51, and the pilot, to hold her back.
Ms Johnson, a teacher from Banbury, Oxon, had been asked by Miss Cutland’s parents to accompany her on the first leg of her flight home from the east African island – where the student had been undertaking research of ocean crabs – after she exhibited creasingly disturbing behaviour.
The air safety expert, who runs an aviation training and consultancy firm, said it was a tragedy someone had not spotted that Miss Cutland, from Milton Keynes, was potentially in a state of distress before boarding the aircraft.
“It’s an absolute shame she was allowed to get on that flight at all and that nobody noticed whether something inwas clearly wrong with her,” he said. Staff at the conservation project where she was working as a volunteer have described how Miss Cutland’s mental health appeared to decline within days of her arrival at Madagascar’s remote Anjajavy nature reserve.
At one point, she became so disoriented and confused, she feared being jailed by the authorities in Madagascar if she failed to complete her project.
Air accident investigators in Madagascar have revealed that Miss Cutland’s father told staff at the hotel that she had no previous history of anxiety, panic attacks or mental health issues.
The search for Miss Cutland’s body was continuing yesterday, amid growing fears she may never be found.