I understand your concern and I think you have a valid point, but as I said in my original post that new design airliners are required to have the swing open type emergency exit hatches.

From the pictures I have seen of these hatches, they swing up all the way and it looks like they are not designed to be easily pulled back to the closed position from inside the airplane.

Here is a video of how hard it is to re-close the swing up hatch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw4ELSOA-_0

A mechanic who has operated this type hatch can easily reclose it knowing how they work, but the average passenger onboard will have absolutely no idea how to close it, and with all the chaos going on in the cabin during an emergency evacuation, I highly doubt they will sit there and try to figure it out.

And you have to remember there are no FA’s near these over the wing hatches, they are stationed by the main cabin doors, so it is the passengers who will open these over the wing hatches.

Hopefully someone who is going to the DL get together in a few weeks can operate one in their training session and report back as to how they operate and if they can be closed easily from inside the airplane.

This exit design was designed in response to research generated after the Manchester air disaster in 1985 which indicated that unhinged hatch type exits were difficult to open by untrained passengers. This design is currently found only on Boeing 737 NG aircraft.

I am sure the FAA took all these concerns into consideration before deciding to approve the change over to the swing up hatch.

Mr. Ellliott