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Emirates Planes Could Be Going Windowless (abc.net.au)
An anonymous reader shares a report: In the future, you could find yourself booking an Emirates flight without a real window seat. The airline has just unveiled a new first class suite on board its latest aircraft that features "virtual windows" instead of real ones. The President of Emirates, Tim Clarke, is hoping it will pave the way for removing all windows from future planes, which he says will make them lighter and faster. "What we may have [in the next 20 years] is aircraft that are, and I hate to say this to a number of passengers, windowless," he told the BBC. So there's no windows on the outside ... But Mr Clarke says on the inside there will be "a full display of windows," which will beam in the images from the outside. This will be done using fibre-optic camera technology. So, instead of being able to see directly outside, passengers will view images projected from outside the aircraft -- which is almost like the real thing.
They want to take away the ONE THING I love about flying? Seeing the world from above the clouds is beautiful and helps make the hellish experience of commercial airline travel bearable.
What the hell is wrong with these airlines?
Scotty gave you the formula in 1986 where is it!
selling ad space
While the Cockpit would need windows, the rest of the plane doesn't. We can still have exit doors, and most of the other things can probably be done via video feed.
Being lately we had a few issues, with Windows failing on airplanes. It is probably overall safer to not have windows.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
They will be peril-sensitive and go dark in emergencies, to reduce passenger stress levels.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
This is Emirates Airlines we're talking about. The people who charge $15,000 a ticket and give you a bed seat and an in-flight shower.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
The cockpit doesn't need windows, it needs Linux.
Why?
1. Stronger
2. Lighter
3. Faster
4. Safer
5. Cheaper
And well, what happens when there's a glitch in the system and all the virtual windows go dark?
Queue the claustrophobia.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
While the Cockpit would need windows, the rest of the plane doesn't.
That's not true. One of the instructions you get in an exit row seat about opening the door in an emergency is that you need to first look through the window to make sure that it is safe to open the door. It's going to be somewhat hard to do that without a window.
Actually the rest of the plane does need windows. In an emergency, flight attendants are supposed to look through them to see whether there's anything wrong with the wings and engines (and more importantly, which one), since the cockpit windows don't extend far enough back to allow that. Cameras are great and all, but they tend to fail in lightning strikes or when the plane has issues with electrical power.
I use windows on an airplane as a way to calm down my motion sickness issues and stress relief during turbulence. There's nothing worse than sitting in a completely enclosed tube, being bumped around and not being able to see the true horizon.
Actually the rest of the plane does need windows. In an emergency, flight attendants are supposed to look through them to see whether there's anything wrong with the wings and engines (and more importantly, which one), since the cockpit windows don't extend far enough back to allow that. Cameras are great and all, but they tend to fail in lightning strikes or when the plane has issues with electrical power.
I'm not an expert and I don't even play one on TV; however, I would suspect there needs to be a balancing act done here. Someone needs to crunch some numbers.
Will the number of lives saved by having a fuselage outweigh the number of lives lost because of every camera being taken out at the same time trying to view the engine/wing. (and all sensors failing to work too). How often are those cameras going to go out?
What I think would be a smart middle step would be to run cameras on some planes that HAVE windows and see how reliable those cameras are. Try that for a few years first. If the cameras tend to work in all conditions... Hey, maybe give windowless a go. If the cameras have problems, aren't you glad you didn't go windowless without a trial run first on a windowed plane?
There might be some advantages to cameras over windows. The lighting can be adjusted so you get better visibility in the dark. Perhaps they can detect infra-red so you can see if the engine is running hot if you doubt the temperature gauge is accurate for some reason. Heck, the pilot can look out the side of the plane himself whilst remaining in the cockpit.
Aesthetically, being in an aeroplane without windows would suck... but I'm all for them looking into whether it really is safer. Just test the camera BEFORE you remove the windows.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I'm pretty sure pilots can tell whether engines are still attached to wings even without windows or cameras.
Actually the rest of the plane does need windows. In an emergency, flight attendants are supposed to look through them to see whether there's anything wrong with the wings and engines (and more importantly, which one), since the cockpit windows don't extend far enough back to allow that. Cameras are great and all, but they tend to fail in lightning strikes or when the plane has issues with electrical power.
A few windows might be useful for backup but the vast majority are for passenger comfort. Look at military planes. Even the ones that haul soldiers only have a handful of windows. You could easily eliminate 80%+ of the windows without affecting the visibility of the flight attendant. This would probably actually make the plane safer as windows are a common cause of depressurization. That being said, passenger comfort is kindof a big deal and screens are a poor imitation.
I've always wondered why planes today don't have positioned cameras for the pilots to use to look at their plane
Would it kill them to put a couple of big rear-view mirrors on either side of the planes to look backwards?
I mean, really, cars have solved this since forever. /s
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It'll be virtual windows, giving them the ability to display ads to all the people looking out the windows, that's all it is ;)
As someone who has been on more commercial flights than I care to count I'm all for removing windows. After you get above a certain altitude there really isn't anything to look at any way. I always preferred a isle seat anyway. I found it much more convenient to be able to get up and go take a piss with out having to trip over bubba on the way out.
For the record, I no longer fly commercial. I refuse to be packed into a can like a cow and have to sit that in a seat designed by a bean counter for the next few hours with the guy behind me shoes up my ass. Nope, trains are the way to go.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
The Blue Screen of Death, a.k.a. 'the sky', is a desired feature in this release. My how things have changed!
I was on a plane with a fuel leak from a fuel pump cover on the wing. Pointed it out to the flight attendant, one of the pilots walked back and looked out the window. He determined that it wasn't severe enough to be a concern, and we made a normal landing at our destination (we were only about 40 min away when this happened).
I would love if they added AR (augmented reality) options. Maybe every once in a while have dragons of UFOs flying around, or maybe a gremlin on the wing
> Will the number of lives saved by having a fuselage outweigh
As a passenger, I certainly feel safer if the plane still has it's fuselage.
Mainly because I'm sitting in the fuselage, I prefer it to still be attached to the plane (which is the wing and tail).
More seriously, a more efficient design actually doesn't have a fuselage. A flying wing like the B2 is more efficient, and airlines have researched using them, but passengers prefer windows and boarding is easier with a fuselage and aisle, as opposed to theater style seating in a flying wing.
The 767 and the 777, I believe, have emergency exit doors above the wings. I see no reason these doors can't keep their windows to serve this function.
I loved the 767. Plenty of room in the over head bins. You know if you need to hide body of the little snot behind you who keeps kicking your seat. Not that I did that but I did want to keep that option open.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
You must not be much of an engineer yourself if you don't even know how to weld one of those big '57 chevy stick-mirrors to the outside of a big 'ol metal plane.
Or at least just let the pilot roll down the window so they can stick their head out and take a look behind them. Cars have had roll-down windows for years too! Time to modernize our planes. /s /s /s /s /s /s
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I flew London to Milan a few years ago on business and from my window I got to see the White Cliffs of Dover, the Eiffel Tower and some stunning views of the Alps. I don't think I've ever seen so much stuff out of the window.
I was flying on the company dime. If the cheap ass bastards could have shipped my ass baggage I'm sure they would have.
I've put so many miles in the air in the first decade of the 21 century I can clearly say that I have been to every one of the lower 48 states in the Union and most of Canada if you count flying over them. I can similarly boast to having been in almost every major city in the western hemisphere if you count running from one departure gate to the next.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Man, you are totally Wight.
I'm a undead monster that rises at night to suck on the souls of the living?
I know. I shouldn't correct other people gramer or spelling but I couldn't pass that one up. :)
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
I was on a plane with a fuel leak from a fuel pump cover on the wing. Pointed it out to the flight attendant, one of the pilots walked back and looked out the window. He determined that it wasn't severe enough to be a concern, and we made a normal landing at our destination (we were only about 40 min away when this happened).
I just watched show on TV last night that had a story of a mid-flight engine failure. A passenger was recording it when over the loud speaker the pilot asked over the PA that if anyone notices any changes with that engine the they should let the flight crew know. So yeah, windows for passengers do come in handy...
The fly "IFR". Instrument rules. The better ones may look out occasionally to appreciate the view. But not to fly.
Example is of that fellow that landed in the Hudson River. Did not see a huge flock of geese in good weather. What was he looking at? Computer screens.
This is real. Whenever I travel from Brazil to Europe shades MUST be up during takeoff and MUST be down before sunrise (flight crew check and enforce it). I don't know if it's a regulation or an internal thing from the airline. ... But then you have the planes where windows don't have shades and it's all controlled digitally, which is easier for this case.
As a Slashdot discussion grows longer, the probability of an analogy involving cars approaches one.