Emergency exit
Any door or hatch certified for evacuation — the doors crew operate and the overwing exits passengers are briefed to open.
Definition
An emergency exit is any door, overwing hatch or window exit certified for use in an evacuation, marked with exit signs and floor-path lighting. Floor-level doors are operated by cabin crew and fitted with slides or slide-rafts; overwing exits on narrow-bodies are opened by passengers seated in the exit row, who must be briefed and physically able to do so. Each exit has a certified evacuation capacity that determines how many seats the aircraft may carry.
What it means for you
Every duty starts with knowing which exit is yours, how it opens and what could make it unusable. Exit-row briefings are a legal requirement before every departure, and moving an unsuitable passenger — under age, unwilling, needing an extension belt — out of the row is your call. In the evacuation, your exit's assessment and command sequence is the part of SEP you will be checked on most.
In practice
Before push-back on a Pegasus A320, the crew member responsible for the overwing exits briefs the six exit-row passengers in Turkish and English and confirms each is willing and able to open the hatch.
Related terms
4 terms- EvacuationSafety & trainingGetting everyone off the aircraft through the exits within 90 seconds, on the captain's command or the crew's own assessment.
- Door armingSafety & trainingSetting a cabin door so the escape slide deploys automatically when it is opened — done before push-back, undone after arrival.
- Safety cardRegulationThe regulator-required pictorial card in every seat pocket showing exits, brace positions and equipment for that exact aircraft type.
- Brace positionSafety & trainingThe body position passengers and crew adopt before an emergency landing to reduce injury on impact.