Why are Cabin lights switched off during take off and landing?

OK, i have traveled a lot by air quite recently and have noticed that the cabin lights are switched off during take off and just prior to landing, standing in my back garden i notice a lot of flights going into BRS, on final approach (about ten miles out) the majority have cabin lights off with landing lights on and undercarriage down.

Question is ......... why do cabin lights need to be off for either take off or landing? and is there a cut off point when the lights need to be off on landing?

I have never understood either, while travelling in cabin or observing from the ground

Hoping ATS can help me on this one, the searches i have done on the WWW as to why, return a mixed bag of results so i am no further forward

Thanks for any input


CbG

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

This is for safety reasons.

Take-Off and Landing are the two most critical phases of flight and thus, every additional step to ensure survivability, be it even just adjusting the light, is taken.

The interior lights or cabin lights are adjusted to match the exterior environment, so that in case of an emergency, especially if the interior lights fail, your eyes are already accustomed to the light setting and you do not require additional valuable seconds for adjustment to a possibly darker or brighter environment. The lights are usually adjusted at dusk, night or dawn to match the exterior environment.1

If the cabin lights do not fail during an emergency, the dimmed light also makes it easier to identify the "EXIT" signs which illuminate and make the guidance lighting on the floor easier to follow. The bright emergency lighting is more prominent to identify when the cabin light is dimmed, saving valuable seconds as the aircraft is evacuated.

This also ties in with having to raise the blinds on the windows. The blinds need to be raised during take-off and landing irrespective of the outside light situation, however, with a darker cabin, any outside light source, especially from fires or other hazards is easier to identify by the crew, making the decision process of whether one side could be inappropriate to use for evacuation faster, e.g. fire on port side --> no evacuation on that side.

The blinds are therefore raised to allow a better view for cabin crew of the outside area and external aircraft parts, such as engines, wings, etc.

aviation.stackexchange.com...

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Huh...well ill be. Thanks Sublime

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

Perhaps if you don't see the danger, you won't be alarmed.

(Shouts out to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

I thought the cabin lights were turned off so you could not see the crew and pilots bailing out.

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

Pilots anymore aren't all that good and most landings are "hard" down landings where the light bulbs often times break. If that happens when the lights are turned on, then sparks fly out of the light sockets and burn the passengers who start screaming which wakes up the Cabin crew and makes them angry.

a reply to: corblimeyguvnor
I always thought it was so you could see everything that happens if you crash.
You paid good money for that seat.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: corblimeyguvnor

Pilots anymore aren't all that good and most landings are "hard" down landings where the light bulbs often times break. If that happens when the lights are turned on, then sparks fly out of the light sockets and burn the passengers who start screaming which wakes up the Cabin crew and makes them angry.

Uhhh.....

Psyop.



Hey, it was once a conspiracy site.

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Well, whatdayouknow? Thanks, Sublime. I always thought it was because turning the lights off made us all temporarily shut the hell up.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
Psyop.

Hey, it was once a conspiracy site.

Right... we should not take official explanations here... bring on the theories!!

originally posted by: Shuye
Right... we should not take official explanations here... bring on the theories!!

Me first.

I fly almost every week and they do it so you cannot see the chemtrail equipment being deployed.

Thanks Obama!!!!!

Every day on ATS it seems I learn something new.
Yesterday I learned how to land a plane, and now this.

Its great stuff, and this was a good one

Thanks.

a reply to: TonyS

start screaming which wakes up the Cabin crew and makes them angry.

Mustn't upset the Crew. hehehe

a reply to: Nivek555

Yesterday I learned how to land a plane, and now this.

Did you learn about the other things the pilots get up to when they set it to auto-pilot?

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

No not really.

I am interested tho..
care to elaborate?

My dad was cabin crew for a long time.he told me they turn the cabin lights off, so if you do have a crash at night your eyes are used to the dark