A330 Escape Hatches
 

The topic about escape slides reminded me of something I have been wondering about for a while....

I was looking at a Qantas A330, and it didn't seem to have any escape hatches (at least in the roof)

I am sure of seeing hatches in the roof while paxing on jumpseats (never mind they looked so tiny only a 5 year old would fit). Now when I look at anything from a 737 up, they don't seem to have any hatches.

Am I crazy? Did jets used to have hatches in the roof? If so, why do they not have them any more? Have they decided they are no longer 'useful'? Or now putting hatches in the floor/sides? Or some other method of escaping the a/c? (In the event the pilots may not be able to escape with the pax)

Silly question I know but it's driving me crazy! :}

Sky

The regulations require an emergency exit from the cockpit, even if the cockpit door is blocked. Kickout panels in the door are acceptable, but a seperate exit is clearly better.
If the cockpit is equipped with sliding windows (as it is for most large transports) this provides an additional exit.
For smaller airplanes like the Canadair CRJ, it is hard to embody a window frame that allows some cockpit windows to be opened. Therefore these planes are equipped with escape hatches in the cockpit roof. Some even have both, with the sliding windows optional (as for the 747-400, don´t know for the older ones) and therefore the hatch as a standard.

Here you can see the escape hatch of the L1011, and the inertia reels (yellow) for up to 5 people to get from the hatch to the ground.

I don´t know whether the flight manual allows to use the hatch for a lookout :}

The A330 has sliding windows on either side of the flight deck that can be used as escape routes. Both are equipped with escape ropes, and either rope is long enough to be used on either side. You can also escape throught a hatch in the flight deck floor, go down the ladder to the avionics bay where another ladder (looks life my loft ladder!) takes you down to the ground by the nosewheel.

Thanks! That's exactly what I meant (especially the Tri Star one)

I do remember the inertia reels, and the roof hatches, I am sure a pilot once pointed one out on an A320...?

As for the guy peeking out of the top of that last pic, maybe it was just hot in there??? ;)

Sky

(Edit for post made while I was typing the above)

I had wondered about the possibility of an escape thru the avionics bay, especially with the 330. Once on a turnaround, a 330 was in the bay, and an engineer appeared to open a panel in the nose, just forward of the nose gear compartment, did something, then closed it again. It made me think whether you could get into the inside of the plane from the ground - and so it appears to be possible!