> Not really, aviation expert Douglas Drury from the University of South Australia says.
Not a common need (thankfully) but windows also provide a way to look into plane as well, say in times of emergency or a hostage taking. That’s one of the reasons you’re required to open them when you take off and land.
I wonder if their answer to that is a live video feed of the inside of the plane to the tower.
I've heard this was more for the reason of passengers safety being able to see whats going on outside - i.e. engine smoke, pieces of wing coming off, etc to let the crew know and in an emergency landing being able to tell what is outside (fire, water, militant guerrillas)
I fly pretty regularly in the US and am unaware of this rule, where have you encountered it? I've only ever heard crew request windows be closed to mitigate the greenhouse effect and keep the plane a bit cooler.