Passengers sometimes lower window shades to block heat and fall asleep. Flight attendants require shades up for takeoff and landing because those phases carry the highest risk of accidents. Statistics show takeoff and landing together account for a disproportionate share of fatal accidents relative to flight time. Contributing factors include proximity to the ground, nearby obstacles, increased pilot workload, and weather below cruise altitudes. Keeping shades up helps passengers and crew maintain external situational awareness, allows rescuers or crew to see into the cabin, and improves evacuation assessment and response if an incident occurs.
There are two reasons I like to pull my shade down as soon as I settle into my window seat after boarding a plane. For starters, the cabin is usually warm-which is ironic given how chilly I'll be at cruising altitude. Pulling the shade down helps keep the heat out. Second, I'm the kind of passenger who tries to fall asleep immediately. Unfortunately, neither of these two reasons will convince the cabin crew to let me keep my window shade down for takeoff or landing.
While airplane crashes are extremely rare, your chance of being in a crash is greatest during takeoff and landing. "While cruising at altitude makes up the majority of time in the air, this phase of flight accounts for 10 percent of all fatal accidents," noted Boeing in its 2024 Statistical Summary. "Conversely, the landing phase accounts for only one percent of flight time, but 37 percent of all fatal accidents.
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