A skylight or roof hatch that is manually opened and closed. The skylight is formed of a window mounted to a casing frame by way of one or more hinges, which allows the window to open and close. One or more gas springs mounted between the window and casing frame are configured to exert force against the inside of the window. The gas springs are used to urge the window into an open position. Once in the open position, the window is closed by overcoming the biasing force exerted by the gas springs. This is achieved by winding in a cable that is connected to the window. A single pulley wheel that is mechanically linked to other mechanical elements is utilized to spool in the cable connected to the window in order to close the window and to unlock a reel lock to allow for automatic opening of the window.