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Just user friendliness. Humans really like being able to see out of the vehicle they’re moving in. Hence passenger windows in airplanes, even though this is st

Just user friendliness. Humans really like being able to see out of the vehicle they’re moving in. Hence passenger windows in airplanes, even though this is structurally problematic and requires expensive reinforcement around the windows. Not to mention windows in metro systems that are entirely underground. It’s just a comfort thing. Removing it would likely decrease customer demand.

rurounijones 9y ago
Wonder if it would be cheaper / safer / lighter to remove windows from airplanes and just mount window shaped monitors in their place that display footage from fuselage mounted camera. Wonder how people would react to that.
- sky_rw 9y ago
  They are already doing this https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/ https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/
- bryananderson 9y ago
  It would be cheaper, and also lighter, which means even cheaper. It would not be safer; the reason windowed planes are heavier and more expensive is because they must meet full safety standards while also having windows. This concept has been brought up numerous times and has never taken off (ha). I don’t think passengers would react well unless it was literally indistinguishable from a window, and we’re a long way from that.
  - crysin 9y ago
    I'd be willing to give up windows in planes if they had the ability to switch to different perspectives around the plane from like a tablet or something. Like being able to have a view from the Pilot's perspective or being able to look directly beneath the plane. That'd be pretty neat. Maybe add the ability to link up some type of account where you can save photos from the flight if you saw something cool.
- username223 9y ago
  I certainly wouldn't like it. Flying is largely unpleasant these days for anyone who isn't paying for first class and TSA pre-pass, but one bit of joy is watching the earth recede, and the clouds and landscape pass below. (It's even better in a little Cessna where you can open the windows.) Having the window replaced by a low-quality video screen that will probably soon be showing no-skip ads like the seat-back screens do these days would kill that.

rurounijones 9y ago

Wonder if it would be cheaper / safer / lighter to remove windows from airplanes and just mount window shaped monitors in their place that display footage from fuselage mounted camera. Wonder how people would react to that.

sky_rw 9y ago
They are already doing this https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/ https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/emirates-virtual-windows/
bryananderson 9y ago
It would be cheaper, and also lighter, which means even cheaper. It would not be safer; the reason windowed planes are heavier and more expensive is because they must meet full safety standards while also having windows. This concept has been brought up numerous times and has never taken off (ha). I don’t think passengers would react well unless it was literally indistinguishable from a window, and we’re a long way from that.
- crysin 9y ago
  I'd be willing to give up windows in planes if they had the ability to switch to different perspectives around the plane from like a tablet or something. Like being able to have a view from the Pilot's perspective or being able to look directly beneath the plane. That'd be pretty neat. Maybe add the ability to link up some type of account where you can save photos from the flight if you saw something cool.
username223 9y ago
I certainly wouldn't like it. Flying is largely unpleasant these days for anyone who isn't paying for first class and TSA pre-pass, but one bit of joy is watching the earth recede, and the clouds and landscape pass below. (It's even better in a little Cessna where you can open the windows.) Having the window replaced by a low-quality video screen that will probably soon be showing no-skip ads like the seat-back screens do these days would kill that.