CS 29.809 Emergency exit arrangement

ED Decision 2018/007/R

(a) Each emergency exit must consist of a door, openable window, or hatch in the external walls of the fuselage and must provide an unobstructed opening to the outside.

(b) Each emergency exit must be openable from the inside and from the outside.

(c) The means of opening each emergency exit must be simple and obvious and may not require exceptional effort.

(d) There must be means for locking each emergency exit and for preventing opening in flight inadvertently or as a result of mechanical failure.

(e) There must be means to minimise the probability of the jamming of any emergency exit in a minor crash landing as a result of fuselage deformation under the ultimate inertial forces in CS 29.783(d).

(f) Except as provided in sub-paragraph (h), each land-based rotorcraft emergency exit must have an approved slide as stated in sub-paragraph (g), or its equivalent, to assist occupants in descending to the ground from each floor level exit and an approved rope, or its equivalent, for all other exits, if the exit threshold is more than 1.8 m (6 ft) above the ground:

(1) With the rotorcraft on the ground and with the landing gear extended;

(2) With one or more legs or part of the landing gear collapsed, broken, or not extended; and

(3) With the rotorcraft resting on its side, if required by CS 29.803(d).

(g) The slide for each passenger emergency exit must be a self-supporting slide or equivalent, and must be designed to meet the following requirements:

(1) It must be automatically deployed, and deployment must begin during the interval between the time the exit opening means is actuated from inside the rotorcraft and the time the exit is fully opened. However, each passenger emergency exit which is also a passenger entrance door or a service door must be provided with means to prevent deployment of the slide when the exit is opened from either the inside or the outside under non-emergency conditions for normal use.

(2) It must be automatically erected within 10 seconds after deployment is begun.

(3) It must be of such length after full deployment that the lower end is self-supporting on the ground and provides safe evacuation of occupants to the ground after collapse of one or more legs or part of the landing gear.

(4) It must have the capability, in 12.9 m/s (25-knot) winds directed from the most critical angle, to deploy and, with the assistance of only one person, to remain usable after full deployment to evacuate occupants safely to the ground.

(5) Each slide installation must be qualified by five consecutive deployment and inflation tests conducted (per exit) without failure, and at least three tests of each such five-test series must be conducted using a single representative sample of the device. The sample devices must be deployed and inflated by the system’s primary means after being subjected to the inertia forces specified in CS 29.561(b). If any part of the system fails or does not function properly during the required tests, the cause of the failure or malfunction must be corrected by positive means and after that, the full series of five consecutive deployment and inflation tests must be conducted without failure.

(h) For rotorcraft having 30 or fewer passenger seats and having an exit threshold of more than 1.8 m (6 ft) above the ground, a rope or other assist means may be used in place of the slide specified in sub-paragraph (f), provided an evacuation demonstration is accomplished as prescribed in CS 29.803(d) or (e).

(i) If a rope, with its attachment, is used for compliance with sub-paragraph (f), (g) or (h), it must -

(1) Withstand a 182 kg (400-pound) static load; and

(2) Attach to the fuselage structure at or above the top of the emergency exit opening, or at another approved location if the stowed rope would reduce the pilot’s view in flight.

(j) If certification with ditching provisions is requested by the applicant, each underwater emergency exit must meet the following:

(1) means of operation, markings, lighting and accessibility, must be designed for use in a flooded and capsized cabin;

(2) it must be possible for each passenger to egress the rotorcraft via the nearest underwater emergency exit, when capsized, with any door in the open and secured position; and

(3) a suitable handhold, or handholds, adjacently located inside the cabin to assist passengers in locating and operating the exit, as well as in egressing from the exit, must be provided.

[Amdt No: 29/5]