Airline staff reveal why window shades must be kept open during takeoff and landing

Many travellers are unclear if it’s meant to force those on board to put down their books or phones and pay attention, or if the lighting is simply a ploy by airline staff to ensure a dramatic finale when they finally touch down.

It might not seem like a very important procedure, but raising our window shade for landing and take off is actually is a crucial safety precaution. Take off and landing are considered to be critical times in aviation when most accidents happen.

“The window shade opening is a part of a long process to prepare the cabin for sudden (unexpected) emergencies”, an Aviation Safety Officer, Saran Udayakumar, explains in Quora.

Furthermore, the open window shades help in sizing up possible situations that might occur during the flights’ take off or landing and allows crews and passengers to be prepared themselves. This is because flight crews are only given 90 seconds to be able to easily evacuate passengers should accidents happen.

Specific reasons :

1. To allow natural light in as well as to allow people in the cabin to see outside to discover potential emergency issues.
2. Shades are open so cabin crew can easily see outside conditions to help them in planning the evacuation (which doors to use for evacuation etc.).
3. During the daytime, opening window shades and dimming cabin lights makes our eyes used to sunlight so if something goes wrong and passengers need to be evacuated there will not be a sudden change in light contrast which might lead to temporary blurred vision.


However, a pilot has finally revealed why the lights go out as soon as an aeroplane descends - and it's a much more important safety measure than first meets the eye.

Pilot Chris Cooke, who flies with a major domestic airline, has told Travel + Leisure magazine that the procedure is a precautionary measure that allows passengers' eyes to adjust more quickly to darkness. This is in case something goes wrong on descent and an emergency evacuation is suddenly required.

Source : Quora

Share on Google Plus

About 'Hugot Balita'

To be a global leader and website of interest of all market levels; offering an array of topics, from current events, social media trends, trivia and anything that each generation can think about.