Reasons for opening window shades during takeoff and landing.

During a flight, the crew will often ask you to pull up the window shades when preparing for takeoff or landing. This simple action has a significant impact on aviation safety.

Windows must be rolled up when the plane is preparing for takeoff or landing. Photo: Reuters

Have you ever wondered why flight attendants often announce before a flight that passengers should pull up their window shades? Peter Gibson, communications director for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), explains: "Passengers do this for safety reasons. In an emergency, the crew needs to quickly decide which side of the aircraft is safest to use the emergency exits. Having the window shades fully raised allows for a much faster decision."

Gibson stated that these measures are part of commercial aviation safety procedures in Australia and apply to all large commercial aircraft. Additionally, there are several reasons for opening the window shades during takeoff and landing:

1. Passengers are very curious, so they will quickly spot any abnormalities outside, such as signs of damage to the wing, engine, or foreign object, and immediately report them to the flight crew. To do this, the windows on the aircraft are required to be opened.

2. In an emergency, the time to evacuate the aircraft is measured in seconds. If the window blinds are open, the crew can observe the outside and quickly decide on an evacuation plan, such as which side of the emergency exit to use.

3. For daytime flights, opening the windows and turning up the cabin lights will help passengers' eyes adjust to the light better. Therefore, if anything unusual happens and passengers need to be evacuated, the light contrast will not change abruptly, affecting passengers' vision.

4. At night, the window curtains are opened to allow rescue workers on the ground to easily observe what's inside.

5. Passengers are required to open the window shades before takeoff and landing because this is considered a critical time and most aviation accidents occur during this phase.

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