Mitt Romney questions why plane windows don't open

US presidential candidate Mitt Romney has expressed concern that plane windows don't open in a bizarre rant following his wife's flight scare.

The Republican candidate made the comments to the Los Angeles Times during a campaign fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Saturday night.

His wife Ann Romney had been a passenger in a private jet that was forced to make an emergency landing in Denver on Friday when the cabin filled with smoke (scroll to see video).

Romney said he had been extremely worried but was relieved she made it out of the incident unscathed.

"When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly... and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open," he reportedly told the Times.

"I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous."

The comments indicate a rather concerning gap in Romney's knowledge of flight.

Aircraft windows do not open because the low air pressure at high altitudes would cause passengers and crew members to pass out from lack of oxygen – hence the need for pressurised cabins.

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