(a) An emergency lighting system, independent of the main lighting system, must be installed. However, the sources of general cabin illumination may be common to both the emergency and the main lighting systems if the power supply to the emergency lighting system is independent of the power supply to the main lighting system. The emergency lighting system must include:

(1) Illuminated emergency exit marking and locating signs, sources of general cabin illumination, interior lighting in emergency exit areas, and floor proximity escape path marking.

(2) Exterior emergency lighting.

(b) Emergency exit signs—

(1) For airplanes that have a passenger seating configuration, excluding pilot seats, of 10 seats or more must meet the following requirements:

(i) Each passenger emergency exit locator sign required by §25.811(d)(1) and each passenger emergency exit marking sign required by §25.811(d)(2) must have red letters at least 11⁄2 inches high on an illuminated white background, and must have an area of at least 21 square inches excluding the letters. The lighted background-to-letter contrast must be at least 10:1. The letter height to stroke-width ratio may not be more than 7:1 nor less than 6:1. These signs must be internally electrically illuminated with a background brightness of at least 25 foot-lamberts and a high-to-low background contrast no greater than 3:1.

(ii) Each passenger emergency exit sign required by §25.811(d)(3) must have red letters at least 11⁄2 inches high on a white background having an area of at least 21 square inches excluding the letters. These signs must be internally electrically illuminated or self-illuminated by other than electrical means and must have an initial brightness of at least 400 microlamberts. The colors may be reversed in the case of a sign that is self-illuminated by other than electrical means.

(2) For airplanes that have a passenger seating configuration, excluding pilot seats, of nine seats or less, that are required by §25.811(d)(1), (2), and (3) must have red letters at least 1 inch high on a white background at least 2 inches high. These signs may be internally electrically illuminated, or self-illuminated by other than electrical means, with an initial brightness of at least 160 microlamberts. The colors may be reversed in the case of a sign that is self-illuminated by other than electrical means.

(c) General illumination in the passenger cabin must be provided so that when measured along the centerline of main passenger aisle(s), and cross aisle(s) between main aisles, at seat arm-rest height and at 40-inch intervals, the average illumination is not less than 0.05 foot-candle and the illumination at each 40-inch interval is not less than 0.01 foot-candle. A main passenger aisle(s) is considered to extend along the fuselage from the most forward passenger emergency exit or cabin occupant seat, whichever is farther forward, to the most rearward passenger emergency exit or cabin occupant seat, whichever is farther aft.

(d) The floor of the passageway leading to each floor-level passenger emergency exit, between the main aisles and the exit openings, must be provided with illumination that is not less than 0.02 foot-candle measured along a line that is within 6 inches of and parallel to the floor and is centered on the passenger evacuation path.

(e) Floor proximity emergency escape path marking must provide emergency evacuation guidance for passengers when all sources of illumination more than 4 feet above the cabin aisle floor are totally obscured. In the dark of the night, the floor proximity emergency escape path marking must enable each passenger to—

(1) After leaving the passenger seat, visually identify the emergency escape path along the cabin aisle floor to the first exits or pair of exits forward and aft of the seat; and

(2) Readily identify each exit from the emergency escape path by reference only to markings and visual features not more than 4 feet above the cabin floor.

(f) Except for subsystems provided in accordance with paragraph (h) of this section that serve no more than one assist means, are independent of the airplane's main emergency lighting system, and are automatically activated when the assist means is erected, the emergency lighting system must be designed as follows.

(1) The lights must be operable manually from the flight crew station and from a point in the passenger compartment that is readily accessible to a normal flight attendant seat.

(2) There must be a flight crew warning light which illuminates when power is on in the airplane and the emergency lighting control device is not armed.

(3) The cockpit control device must have an “on,” “off,” and “armed” position so that when armed in the cockpit or turned on at either the cockpit or flight attendant station the lights will either light or remain lighted upon interruption (except an interruption caused by a transverse vertical separation of the fuselage during crash landing) of the airplane's normal electric power. There must be a means to safeguard against inadvertent operation of the control device from the “armed” or “on” positions.

(g) Exterior emergency lighting must be provided as follows:

(1) At each overwing emergency exit the illumination must be—

(i) Not less than 0.03 foot-candle (measured normal to the direction of the incident light) on a 2-square-foot area where an evacuee is likely to make his first step outside the cabin;

(ii) Not less than 0.05 foot-candle (measured normal to the direction of the incident light) for a minimum width of 42 inches for a Type A overwing emergency exit and two feet for all other overwing emergency exits along the 30 percent of the slip-resistant portion of the escape route required in §25.810(c) that is farthest from the exit; and

(iii) Not less than 0.03 foot-candle on the ground surface with the landing gear extended (measured normal to the direction of the incident light) where an evacuee using the established escape route would normally make first contact with the ground.

(2) At each non-overwing emergency exit not required by §25.810(a) to have descent assist means the illumination must be not less than 0.03 foot-candle (measured normal to the direction of the incident light) on the ground surface with the landing gear extended where an evacuee is likely to make first contact with the ground outside the cabin.

(h) The means required in §§25.810(a)(1) and (d) to assist the occupants in descending to the ground must be illuminated so that the erected assist means is visible from the airplane.

(1) If the assist means is illuminated by exterior emergency lighting, it must provide illumination of not less than 0.03 foot-candle (measured normal to the direction of the incident light) at the ground end of the erected assist means where an evacuee using the established escape route would normally make first contact with the ground, with the airplane in each of the attitudes corresponding to the collapse of one or more legs of the landing gear.

(2) If the emergency lighting subsystem illuminating the assist means serves no other assist means, is independent of the airplane's main emergency lighting system, and is automatically activated when the assist means is erected, the lighting provisions—

(i) May not be adversely affected by stowage; and

(ii) Must provide illumination of not less than 0.03 foot-candle (measured normal to the direction of incident light) at the ground and of the erected assist means where an evacuee would normally make first contact with the ground, with the airplane in each of the attitudes corresponding to the collapse of one or more legs of the landing gear.

(i) The energy supply to each emergency lighting unit must provide the required level of illumination for at least 10 minutes at the critical ambient conditions after emergency landing.

(j) If storage batteries are used as the energy supply for the emergency lighting system, they may be recharged from the airplane's main electric power system: Provided, That, the charging circuit is designed to preclude inadvertent battery discharge into charging circuit faults.

(k) Components of the emergency lighting system, including batteries, wiring relays, lamps, and switches must be capable of normal operation after having been subjected to the inertia forces listed in §25.561(b).

(l) The emergency lighting system must be designed so that after any single transverse vertical separation of the fuselage during crash landing—

(1) Not more than 25 percent of all electrically illuminated emergency lights required by this section are rendered inoperative, in addition to the lights that are directly damaged by the separation;

(2) Each electrically illuminated exit sign required under §25.811(d)(2) remains operative exclusive of those that are directly damaged by the separation; and

(3) At least one required exterior emergency light for each side of the airplane remains operative exclusive of those that are directly damaged by the separation.

[Amdt. 25-15, 32 FR 13265, Sept. 20, 1967, as amended by Amdt. 25-28, 36 FR 16899, Aug. 26, 1971; Amdt. 25-32, 37 FR 3971, Feb. 24, 1972; Amdt. 25-46, 43 FR 50597, Oct. 30, 1978; Amdt. 25-58, 49 FR 43186, Oct. 26, 1984; Amdt. 25-88, 61 FR 57958, Nov. 8, 1996; Amdt. 25-116, 69 FR 62788, Oct. 27, 2004; Amdt. 25-128, 74 FR 25645, May 29, 2009]