Sec. 25.783 - Doors.

(a) Each cabin must have at least one easily accessible external door.

(b) There must be a means to lock and safeguard each external door against opening in flight (either inadvertently by persons or as a result of mechanical failure or failure of a single structural element either during or after closure). Each external door must be openable from both the inside and the outside, even though persons may be crowded against the door on the inside of the airplane. Inward opening doors may be used if there are means to prevent occupants from crowding against the door to an extent that would interfere with the opening of the door. The means of opening must be simple and obvious and must be arranged and marked so that it can be readily located and operated, even in darkness. Auxiliary locking devices may be used.

(c) Each external door must be reasonably free from jamming as a result of fuselage deformation in a minor crash.

(d) Each external door must be located where persons using them will not be endangered by the propellers when appropriate operating procedures are used.

(e) There must be a provision for direct visual inspection of the locking mechanism to determine if external doors, for which the initial opening movement is not inward (including passenger, crew, service, and cargo doors), are fully closed and locked. The provision must be discernible under operational lighting conditions by appropriate crewmembers using a flashlight or equivalent lighting source. In addition, there must be a visual warning means to signal the appropriate flight crewmembers if any external door is not fully closed and locked. The means must be designed such that any failure or combination of failures that would result in an erroneous closed and locked indication is improbable for doors for which the initial opening movement is not inward.

(f) External doors must have provisions to prevent the initiation of pressurization of the airplane to an unsafe level if the door is not fully closed and locked. In addition, it must be shown by safety analysis that inadvertent opening is extremely improbable.

(g) Cargo and service doors not suitable for use as emergency exits need only meet paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section and be safeguarded against opening in flight as a result of mechanical failure or failure of a single structural element.

(h) Each passenger entry door in the side of the fuselage must meet the applicable requirements of §§25.807 through 25.813 for a Type II or larger passenger emergency exit.

(i) If an integral stair is installed in a passenger entry door that is qualified as a passenger emergency exit, the stair must be designed so that under the following conditions the effectiveness of passenger emergency egress will not be impaired:

(1) The door, integral stair, and operating mechanism have been subjected to the inertia forces specified in §25.561(b)(3), acting separately relative to the surrounding structure.

(2) The airplane is in the normal ground attitude and in each of the attitudes corresponding to collapse of one or more legs of the landing gear.

(j) All lavatory doors must be designed to preclude anyone from becoming trapped inside the lavatory, and if a locking mechanism is installed, it be capable of being unlocked from the outside without the aid of special tools.

[Doc. No. 5066, 29 FR 18291, Dec. 24, 1964, as amended by Amdt. 25-15, 32 FR 13262, Sept. 20, 1967; Amdt. 25-23, 35 FR 5676, Apr. 8, 1970; Amdt. 25-54, 45 FR 60173, Sept. 11, 1980; Amdt. 25-72, 55 FR 29780, July 20, 1990; Amdt. 25-88, 61 FR 57956, Nov. 8, 1996]