Nose mounted cameras in A320

[buzzc152]

I was a pax on a Finnair A320 the other day. The pax cabin video displays were showing live footage from cameras somewhere in the nose of the aircraft ; a foward looking camera during taxi and downward looking camera on gear retraction/extension. I've never seen this before. Is it standard fit on Airbuses and just never used or special order by Finnair ? Also, does it have any other purpose except for passenger amusement?

Thx

[Loose rivets]

Might be easier to keep free of ice than the windshields.

Neat idea, though I expect some passengers will freak when landing in severe weather.

[Reimers]

Condor has them as well, Lufthansa doesn't.
It is an option, doesn't make sense for Lufthansa and others who have no screens to display the pictuers (they are also optional).
At Condor they cannot be displayed in the cockpit, but we do have a switch to turn them off.

[Kestrel_Stu]

At Thomas Cook we have these on some A330 aircraft (the ex MyTravel ones) and one newer A320. A forward and downward facing camera is fitted and can be watched by the passengers on the seat back / overhead IFE (but the image itself is not available in the flight deck).

There is a button on the overhead panel to switch the cameras off.

It is a customer option when ordering the aircraft from Airbus. The system is called the "Landscape Camera":

The Landscape Camera system consists of two cameras installed forward of the nose landing gear. These cameras provide images to be shown on the Passenger entertainment system.....
....The cockpit crew can select the system off.

[Slasher]

....were showing live footage from cameras somewhere...

What the hell is "live footage"?

Theres live video (feed, streaming etc) then theres footage from a video recording (footage being the "feet" of a feeding film - a hangover from the 35mm days).

Or am I missing something?