The pilots can see next to nothing
Until I open the window and stick my head out, which will take me all of 5 seconds. Not to mention the engine fire warnings and temperature gauges which you can't see.
The tower can be over a mile away.
It's a terrible world we live in where ATC can't even afford a pair of binoculars.
The people best situated are the cabin crew by the rear doors.
Why? On an A319/320 and presumably anything longer the cabin crew won't be able to see the engines through the tiny windows in the rear doors.
If I see the cabin crew people on the job and taking initiative, that's one thing. They don't necessarily have to open the doors if they're looking out the cabin windows and keeping the SLF in the loop
Well you probably won't unless you have a mid-fuselage crew station because any proficient cabin crew member will be in their seats, by their door awaiting an evacuation command. They wouldn't be mincing around in the cabin (for once!) keeping 'the SLF in the loop'.