Boeing 757-200 (N410UP)

It must have been somewhat difficult to cope with that bright sunlight shining in the face of the left-seater. I've sometimes wondered if cockpit windows are tinted to help reduce the glare from sunrise hour and sundown hour landings and departures. Anyone know?

No tinted windows or windshield, just movable see through dark tinted shades.

Howdy, Jim. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised to hear that. There are lenses in sunglasses that darken in hard sunlight conditions so I had figured that 21st century technology would have found some way to do the same for pilots in modern paxbirds. I could not think of exactly what innovation might have been employed, but I had expected to hear there was something "more tech" than just movable dark tinted shades. Movable dark shades seem so "last century-ish." Do you know how they are secured? I mean, do they just use little rubber suction cups on the corners or etc.? Or are they in actual aluminum frames? Anyway, thank you for replying and answering my question, Jim. Very much appreciated. (Wave)

Hi Gary, I've never been the cockpit of an airline plane so I don't know exactly what they have. You have to remember the windshields and the forward side windows are electrically heated for ice and bird strike protection. The windshields have hundreds of tiny wires embedded between the layers of glass or plastic. Most of the smaller Citations have bleed air for heat though. How that would affect automatic darkening technology, I don't know.
I do know that I've always been warned about using polarized sunglasses with heated windshields. I shot some photos last summer with a new polarized filter on my camera and got some weird colors and hues in the photos.

I do know that the planes that I've flown have one form of clear but tinted plastic movable shades. Some of them slide left to right on an upper rod at the top of the windows so you can position them where you need it. The ones in the Hawker 800 that I fly are hand slid into slots at the top of each window. The Citation III that I used to fly had movable solid shades that pivoted on an arm. I used to say that they reminded me of something out a '67 Pontiac.

Here's a link to some info about shades on the airlines.
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/26846/why-would-a-copilots-window-be-shaded-covered

And again I Thank You, Jim. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth ...." and those pics in the info article said quite a bit. And I have actually seen those shades in use in several closeup photos I've taken of aircraft on approach. This will sound pretty dumb, but on one occasion I distinctly recall thinking that the pilot had brought one of those silver-reflector-backed fold-open auto windshield sun blocking shades with him to use if needed because I saw it over the side window on his side of the cockpit as his pax jet passed by on s/final. So, with your assistance, I now know the facts. But honestly, I still find it difficult to believe that in this day and age, aircraft manufacturers have not devised something better than translucent shades that pull down or across like mini-curtains. They've devised ways to keep them (cockpit windows) from shattering apart in bird strikes and ways to keep them from fogging or frosting over, but the best they've come up with for handling brilliant sun glare is to tell pilots to buy Ray-Bans or to close the curtain. Be that as it may, I now know and I am grateful to you for taking time to satisfy my curiosity. And BTW, if you are ever in my area, I'd consider it an honor if I could shake your hand and perhaps treat you to a meal or at least a brewski. My e/m is [email protected] if you are ever heading this way. (Thumbs Up)