Why Airlines Ask You To Raise The Window Shade During Takeoffs And Landings
Ever wonder why you are always prompted to raise the plane’s window shades during landings and takeoffs, we will tell you why – most time the hostess will not necessarily start elaborating on his or her reasons, but you need to know the reason so next time you save yourself and them the interrogation.
The FAA requires that every airplane can be fully evacuated in 90 seconds or less, meaning a flight crew only has 90 seconds to direct passengers to emergency exits.
To prepare for a potential evacuation, Flight attendants ask passengers in emergency exit rows to lift up their window shades before takeoff and landing.
One flight attendant informed us, “if there’s an emergency, we have to be able to look out the window to assess outside conditions.”
“If there is debris, fire or water blocking the window, we won’t use that exit and will direct people elsewhere.”
“It may seem like a small thing, but in an emergency every second counts.”
“You don’t want to have to fiddle(trying to open) with a window shade when you are trying to safly evacuate a plan in 90 seconds”
Story from Business Insider.
