Dark Cabins

[ABird747]

Hi guys (and gals!),

An increasing problem that we are coming across on board the aircraft is crew tripping over things in darkened cabins. Basically when the lights are turned down at night there is no light at all (apart from any passenger reading lights that happen to be on) so crew can't see what is ahead of them in the aisles.

We're trying to come up with some solutions and I'd like to know if any of your companies issue you with torches or have any measures to minimise the risks involved in night cabin patrols?

Thanks a million!

A-Bird
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[World of Tweed]

Don't think this is a real issue at my work place.

If the cabin lights are turned down they are usually done to their penultimate setting so that there is sufficient ambient light remaining for safe travel within the cabin. After all the airline does issue sleep masks for a reason.

On landing/take off at night they will normally be turned down to the lowest setting to ensure rapid acclimatisation to outside lighting conditions in the event of an evactuation.

You may want to post this in the Cabin crew forum as they'll tell you if its an issue or not.

[Tee Emm]

On landing/take off at night they will normally be turned down to the lowest setting to ensure rapid acclimatisation to outside lighting conditions in the event of an evactuation.

That reason has been shown to be a myth. Much was written on this subject in Pprune pages going back several years. Passengers are permitted to use overhead reading lights without restriction and this immediately nullifies supposed night adaption of the eyes of not only the passengers in the immediate vicinity but the cabin attendants who have no choice but to see the lights. The cockpit crew have no night adaption on taxi, take off and landing simply because of the bright landing lights and the bright runway lights. The problem with switching the cabin lights to dim is that elderly passengers and those who wear glasses are less able to read the emergency card instructions or see the emergency exit signs properly. Finally there is no restriction on cabin staff having the galley lights on bright during take off and landing and that means their night adaption is lost. Far safer for all cabin lights on bright throughout the take off and landing phase so that exit signs and doors are easily seen and their position remembered if all the lights go out during an aborted take off. Some airlines leave all cabin lights on bright while others go for the dim option. This suggests that opinions differ on the night adaption efficiency question. Medical evidence reveals at least 30 minutes of total darkness is needed for true night adaption. In which case it is next to useless to have the cabin lights dimmed simply because of a possible evacuation. And of course, any fire outside the aircraft would also ruin night adaptiopn.