(a) Each emergency exit must consist of a movable door 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 minimize 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 §29.783(d).

(f) Except as provided in paragraph (h) of this section, each land-based rotorcraft emergency exit must have an approved slide as stated in paragraph (g) of this section, 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 that 6 feet 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 §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 nonemergency 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 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 §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 more than 6 feet above the ground, a rope or other assist means may be used in place of the slide specified in paragraph (f) of this section, provided an evacuation demonstration is accomplished as prescribed in §29.803(d) or (e).

(i) If a rope, with its attachment, is used for compliance with paragraph (f), (g), or (h) of this section, it must—

(1) Withstand a 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.

[Amdt. 29-3, 33 FR 968, Jan. 26, 1968, as amended by Amdt. 29-29, 54 FR 47321, Nov. 13, 1989; Amdt. 27-26, 55 FR 8004, Mar. 6, 1990]