aok47

I was wondering if anyone could answer my question:

Why do the window shades need to be UP during night time landings?

Appreciate your answers

Cheers

AK

PAXboy

You will find many threads on this in the archive.

Basically, it depends on which country you are landing in/departing from. It seems that some require shades UP and some require shades DOWN. Overall, it appears to be UP with cabin lights dimmed so that your eyes are accustomed to the dark if you have to get out quick and also, the dimmed cabin lights will not overpower the navigation lights of the a/c, when viewed across the field.

There may be other reasons but this question usually collects half a dozen answers from around the globe.

aok47

thanks for the heads up

found the other threads so i might as well tack them on here in case anyone else comes through with the same question

window shades #1

window shades #2

window shades #3

window shades #4

Cheers

AK

apaddyinuk

Um....I think you will find it more to do with safety as opposed to the country you are flying to!!!!

After all....if the plane suddenly smashes into the runway, the last thing the crew need to be doing is faffing around trying to open window blinds just to see if it is safe to evacuate the passengers!!!! However my airline only requires us to have the window blinds immediately adjacent to the emergency exits open. After that its up to the punter!

PAXboy

apaddy is correct. The reason I said 'by country' is that countries have different ideas about 'safety'! Every rule is made for safety, even when two countries have equal and opposite rules.

It's like some public galleries and museums will not allow you to take carrier bags and shopping bags into the halls - in case you leave a bomb behind. They make you store them in their left luggage facility, for everyone's safety.

Some other public galleries and museums will not store your carrier bags and shopping bags in their left luggage facility - in case you leave a bomb behind, for everyone's safety.

ladyflyby

It is indeed for safety - so your eyes adjust to the light and to check for dangers incase of an evacuation. Worryingly the airline that have taken over my current airline don't see this as necessary and only exit window blinds need to be up.

qatarcrew

So that the passengers can see the wings and if one wing is broken or on fire, they can alert the cabin crew, who will in turn inform the commander. Imagine a group of ignorant people in an A/C, nose-diving into Atlantic, not knowing where they're heading to...

10secondsurvey

Ladyflyby

That sounds a bit worrying. I had always thought this was a safety 'rule', CAA/JAA/FAA or equivalent?

apaddyinuk

Well if thats worrying then it may worry you to know that the worlds biggest international airline also has the same rule...only those adjacent to the exit row need to be open!!!!!

And do you know why???? So the crew can see what they are doing because afterall they are the only ones who have undergone the training! If that crew member was incapacitated I seriously doubt a normal passenger whos only care at that time is their own survival (priority one being to get out of the wreck regardless) would even think of looking outside for hazards because as far as they are concerned, being inside the plane is the biggest hazard!

ladyflyby

I am not comfortable having all of the blinds closed. If there was smoke coming out of the engine on take off, or something similar, how are the crew at the back going to see (on an A320)!!
It was so thick with cloud on approach to LHR that I made them all open up the blinds.

Self Loading Freight

Ah, the number of times this has come up!

I've heard:

1. Adjust pax eyes to night in case of emergencies. Doesn't fly, it takes far too long to adapt eyes to darkness for this to make any difference.

2. Make aircraft more visible to others. Well, maybe. Darn thing's got enough lights and strobes, though, and it's not as if between ATC, radar, TCAS and the bods up front who really should know what an a/c looks like, people should be relying on being able to see in to what 36A's up to. And then what about dousing the cabin lights but letting you put your reading light on?

3. Saves seconds if something's going on and somebody needs to look out to find out what. Again, well, maybe. Can't hurt. Can't make much of a difference.

4. In the event, makes it easy for rescue to see where's safest to cut in through the fuselage without hitting the SLF (I can see that if you survived a crash, only to be dismembered by Fireman Sam's big round chopper, this may be considered unlucky). This is the only reason that makes much sense to me, but then I am rather ghoulish.

Has there ever been an incident where this actually would have made a difference? When did this start?

R