Originally Posted by
jrl767
it’s coming up on 25 years since I left Boeing, and I never had anything to do with the design of any commercial jet, but I have to believe the answer is “yes”
photo below is from Chris Brady’s “The Boeing 737 Technical Guide” (
www.b737.org.uk) which a friend’s son (who is a former Skywest, Atlas Air, and Alaska pilot) posted on LinkedIn
the basic difference between the plug and an operable door appears to be that the plug has a regular interior sidewall panel rather than a panel that incorporates the red “emergency release” handle (with its associated opening mechanism) and the escape slide package
pulling the handle from the inside causes the mechanism to slide the upper bolts clear of the guide fittings; at that point, gravity allows the door to pivot along its lower edge, where the other two bolts keep it attached to the fuselage hinge brackets
This is a good picture showing that this is a plug to cover the door, as opposed to a 'plug door' that closes such that the inside pressure of the cabin keeps the door closed, The following video shows how a plug door operates by being pulled into the fuselage before being swung outside the aircraft. (Note that in this example, the door is wider than the opening).