Ahh, Bell logic. Let's talk about doors.
Early JR doors certainly are "slammable" in a sense. If the outside handle is pulled out to the detent, you *should* be able to push the door closed and have it latch without having to do anything else. Then you push the outside handle in, or secure the inside handle to the horizontal position and awaaaaay you go!
However, as the airframe ages and the doors bend and linkages go out of adjustment, they don't all work that way.
From the inside, it gets confusing. Most people do turn the D-ring to the fully-unlatched position to get the door to close - which usually means they have to try a couple of times. Slam it harder this time! Reason is because if they are sitting right next to the door it is hard to get the proper leverage on it, even with the wedge windows. And! Pulling while holding the handle in even a slightly locked position will prevent the door from latching. So most passengers turn the handle while closing the door. But which way!
I tell my passengers (back seat and front) to "Lift the REAR of the handle to open the door." That works. Nevermind the clockwise/anti-clockwise stuff. It'll just confuse them. Because the left and right sides are different. On the left side you turn clockwise to open. On the right side you turn counter-clockwise to open. Does that make ANY sense? Nope. But that's our Bell Helicopter Corp. (The front and back doors on the same side work the same way, to clear up a bit of confusion in the preceding couple of posts.)
Later B-models did away with the D-ring. Instead, Bell mounted a little grab handle at about mid-point fore-and-aft on the door. Theoretically, you left the latch handle in the "open" position (at the detent), then pulled the door closed with the grab handle, then latched the door completely. (Bell added a second, upper pin to the door around this point, but the upper pin is completely retracted with the latch handle at the open detent and only comes into play when the handle is fully closed.)
Certain later model 206B's I flew at PHI had both the pull-handle *and* D-rings. Belt and suspenders!
Oh, and another bit of trivia about the old D-ring latches (and the non-D-ring latches too): They WILL open and unlatch the door if you turn them the "wrong" way. How many other 206B pilots have shut down and then opened their back doors only to see the D-ring turned wrong-way-round and at some wierd angle? I certainly have. Use enough force and you can open the door whichever way you turn the handle.
Solution? There is no solution. I never let my passengers "hot-load" themselves. Me, I get out and load them (yes, even with the engine running and yes I know that's a subject for another thread). With the door still open, I *show* them how the inside door latch works. "Open. Closed. To open it, lift up on the BACK of the handle. See? Got it? Good." They still screw it up sometimes because people are stupid and have "more important" things to worry about than some arcane aircraft bullcrap.
Oh, and by the way, when you're sitting beside the door you cannot see those cute little instructional decals Bell many people put on the door to tell passengers how to open it. The decal should more properly be on the bulkhead between the front and back seats, right in front of that particular passenger. And there should be two of them, one for each side.
Aren't 206's great?