§ 29.811 - Emergency exit marking.

§ 29.811 Emergency exit marking.

(a) Each passenger emergency exit, its means of access, and its means of opening must be conspicuously marked for the guidance of occupants using the exits in daylight or in the dark. Such markings must be designed to remain visible for rotorcraft equipped for overwater flights if the rotorcraft is capsized and the cabin is submerged.

(b) The identity and location of each passenger emergency exit must be recognizable from a distance equal to the width of the cabin.

(c) The location of each passenger emergency exit must be indicated by a sign visible to occupants approaching along the main passenger aisle. There must be a locating sign -

(1) Next to or above the aisle near each floor emergency exit, except that one sign may serve two exits if both exists can be seen readily from that sign; and

(2) On each bulkhead or divider that prevents fore and aft vision along the passenger cabin, to indicate emergency exits beyond and obscured by it, except that if this is not possible the sign may be placed at another appropriate location.

(d) Each passenger emergency exit marking and each locating sign must have white letters 1 inch high on a red background 2 inches high, be self or electrically illuminated, and have a minimum luminescence (brightness) of at least 160 microlamberts. The colors may be reversed if this will increase the emergency illumination of the passenger compartment.

(e) The location of each passenger emergency exit operating handle and instructions for opening must be shown -

(1) For each emergency exit, by a marking on or near the exit that is readable from a distance of 30 inches; and

(2) For each Type I or Type II emergency exit with a locking mechanism released by rotary motion of the handle, by -

(i) A red arrow, with a shaft at least three-fourths inch wide and a head twice the width of the shaft, extending along at least 70 degrees of arc at a radius approximately equal to three-fourths of the handle length; and

(ii) The word “open” in red letters 1 inch high, placed horizontally near the head of the arrow.

(f) Each emergency exit, and its means of opening, must be marked on the outside of the rotorcraft. In addition, the following apply:

(1) There must be a 2-inch colored band outlining each passenger emergency exit, except small rotorcraft with a maximum weight of 12,500 pounds or less may have a 2-inch colored band outlining each exit release lever or device of passenger emergency exits which are normally used doors.

(2) Each outside marking, including the band, must have color contrast to be readily distinguishable from the surrounding fuselage surface. The contrast must be such that, if the reflectance of the darker color is 15 percent or less, the reflectance of the lighter color must be at least 45 percent. “Reflectance” is the ratio of the luminous flux reflected by a body to the luminous flux it receives. When the reflectance of the darker color is greater than 15 percent, at least a 30 percent difference between its reflectance and the reflectance of the lighter color must be provided.

(g) Exits marked as such, though in excess of the required number of exits, must meet the requirements for emergency exits of the particular type. Emergency exits need only be marked with the word “Exit.”

[Amdt. 29-3, 33 FR 968, Jan. 26, 1968, as amended by Amdt. 29-24, 49 FR 44438, Nov. 6, 1984; Amdt. 27-26, 55 FR 8004, Mar. 6, 1990; Amdt. 29-31, 55 FR 38967, Sept. 21, 1990]