Originally Posted by Mr. Elliott

I am a FAA licensed aircraft mechanic and I have experience (fortunately during maintenance) in opening and reclosing the emergency exits hatches.

During the airplanes certification process, the manufacturer has to demonstrate that the emergency exits can be safely opened from the seat closest to the exit without difficulty.

It is also very important that whoever sits in the emergency exits seats read the instructions very carefully to know the procedures. Not all procedures are the same because even within the same family of airplanes, some models will have emergency exit hatches and some will have doors instead, depending if they are over the wing exits or aft of the wing exits.

Some models of the B-757 have over the wing exits that have inflatable slides deploy as soon as the handle is pulled on the emergency exit because the airplane sits very high, so tossing out the emergency exit hatch could possible cut into the inflating emergency slide rendering it unusable, so the instructions say place the hatch on the seat in front of you.

Airplanes like the MD-80 series do not have inflatable slides on the over the wing exits because the airplane sits low enough to the ground that all you have to do is slide off of the wing to safely evacuate the airplane, so they recommend the hatch be thrown out on to the wing to prevent it from blocking the evacuation route.

All new airplane designs now require outward opening emergency exits, hinged on the top, so they swing up and away from the opening. The latest generation B-737’s all have these new type emergency exits installed so all that is required is pull the handle, the hatch has a big spring on it and will swing up on its own.

Mr. Elliott