The real reason you have to put your tray table up to land

You know the drill. For landing, you have to put your tray table away, put your seat in the upright position and make sure your window blind is up.

Have you ever given the procedure a second thought? Maybe you thought it was because it put everything in order for a quick departure? That is in part true, but as a pilot revealed in his blog, it’s all for safety.

Patrick Smith, an airline pilot, travel blogger and author wrote a post about the procedures on his blog Ask the Pilot and they’re all to do with safety in the event of an emergency landing or evacuation.

“Your tray has to be latched so that, in the event of an impact or sudden deceleration, you don’t impale yourself on it,” Smith wrote. “Plus it allows a clear path to the aisle during an evacuation.”

The fact you have to return your seat to an upright position is to prevent you from slipping out of your seatbelt towards the ground, and also keeps your body in the safest position.

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Smith says there’s nothing more aggravating than hearing a passenger say that should a crash occur they’re guaranteed to die so what’s the point of a seatbelt?

“Most crashes do have survivors, and something as simple as a properly buckled belt could mean the difference between serious and minor injury,” he wrote.

As for raising the window shade, this is to make it easier for cabin crew to detect any exterior hazards such as fire or debris.

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“It also helps you remain oriented if there’s a sudden impact, rolling, tumbling, etc,” Smith wrote.

Dimming the lights has the same effect. If the lights were very bright, it would be more difficult to see outside and having darker lights means that if the whole cabin suddenly loses light, it doesn’t stun everyone.

So there you have it! You learn something new every day.