But seriously ….. a more plausible path is that instructors sometimes create interruptions to ensure you know how to focus on the aircraft. My instructors would open windows at inopportune times: little did they know but it caused me to fly an aircraft with a canopy that can slide back during flight, a “convertible”. In aircraft where you can, I’ve definite heard of instructors opening doors during flight.
The plausible accident is exactly that: instructor opening a door as part of emergency training. Of course it’s much harder to explain lack of seatbelt, or how he got up from his seat
You have to be able to handle a door or window opening in flight because there can be mechanical failures where that happens. And if we’re stretching things, the student pilot panicking could cause a sudden jerk of the wheel, throwing an unrestrained passenger out. It could happen. Extremely unlikely but it could …… except the seatbelt.
FYI- much lower. At 15,000’ you need oxygen (or pressurized cabin), which most small planes do not have. I don’t think you’d need a supercharger yet, but many engines would be struggling
I was a passenger on a small plane where they only had oxygen for the pilots. I believe it was at 15,000 ‘. It was surreal: it didn’t take long for the blackness to start closing in from the sides until I could only see a small tunnel in front of me. I don’t know if I should have been worried for my life but I clearly would not have been capable of flying.
A standard air breathing small Plane without supercharger or other altitude adaptation, can take a long time and a lot of fuel to get up to 15,000’ as the engine gets weaker with thinner air. It’s generally not worth trying to go this high unless you’re in a longer trip (the article doesn’t say anything about the plane though so if it had a supercharger and oxygen, then disregard this. Nothing I say applies to anything with a turbine)
One of the most common training aircraft is a Cessna 152. Google tells me it has a ceiling of 14,700’. It can’t even reach 15,000’ (depending on air pressure)