As an engineer, Tom has a few tricks up his sleeve. For one, as I kind of alluded to, Tom was the best possible pilot for the CAMIEs. but things didn't quite pan out that way.
As for the door; yup, I think that's within the realm of feasability.
The M7 would need to bore through the door with its aether saber for awhile, or use many of its mini-missiles to gain entry to it if the door was closed and the system to open it sabotaged (nothing a few well-placed rifle shots won't be able to do once Tom has sealed it to a close).
Bear in mind that if this roadblock holds, it will present difficulties to Nyton and Yukari following the same route should they survive and need to retreat on foot.