I was on a Delta regional jet recently and during the flight safety demo, the FA mentioned that the window shade in the exit rows and Seat 1A (where I was seated) had to remain up for takeoff and landing. I’ve heard this many times before on regional jets, as I usually prefer Seat 1A in First Class due to it’s location in exiting the plane first, but haven’t taken much thought as to why they require the window shade to remain up.
Does anyone know?
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Likely that in an emergency, the FA may need to look out the first window to gauge the situation. Many regional jets don’t have windows on the doors like many mainline aircraft do. This is just a guess, though.
Like Amol said, so the FA can see the situation outside and decide whether to yell “Open it” or “Don’t open it” to the exit row pax. If there is heavy smoke or fire on one side of the aircraft, opening the exit on that side may cause panic and preventable deaths.