Why are the windows on airliners so low?
Every time I’m on a plane I think how nice it would be if the window were higher than the armrest of my seat. It seems to me that the only people who could really comfortably look out an airline window would have to be about three feet tall.
Is the window placement necessary to the structural integrity of the fusalage?
Or do the airline designers take some sort of sadistic pleasure in knowing that travelers will have sore knecks from trying to peer out the windows?
Bubba
Maybe the window height is set so that kids can see out the windows, whereas they trust adults to not whine about it? :dubious:
My WAG is that they know that most people are going to be looking down at the ground, so a low window is actually more comfortable for most of the flight. A high window would make it more difficult to see what is below the plane.
I’ve got a copy of the New Scientist’s Last Word books at home that explains this, but I’ll try to recite from memory.
If engineers had their way, there won’t be any windows due to structural integrity reasons. Like Fear Itself said, the windows are low because typically people want to look at the ground when they’re in the air, not perpendicular to the plane. They could be made bigger, but then you run into structual problems. Also, a lot of the Boeings were designed around the typical heights of people living in the 1960’s/70’s, and we’ve gotten taller since then.
I considered the “looking down” situation as one possible reason but even to look down you have to crane your neck in a very uncomfortable position.
I just get the impression that the windows would be so much more useful if located 6 inches higher.
I have a theory on the placement. The windows seem to be at the apex of the curve of the body of the plane. Since the passenger area sits on top of the luggage area that apex is closest to hip level. I’ve been on a private jet (no luggage area below) and the windows seemed to be higher up in relation to the seats.
I guess what I was looking for here is somebody with some authority on the subject to prove my theory or provide another explanation - safety, asthetics, cruelty or whatever.
And I doubt ** Ethilrist’s ** suggestion that the placement is for kids. As far as adult whining goes, there’s plenty of that when you’re delayed on the runway in 95 degree weather.
Bubba
A lower window lets less light into the cabin while I am trying to sleep on those early morning flights.