No matter where you fly to or from in the world, one thing is the same at each airport you visit; the air traffic control tower. Even if you have not actually seen a tower in the flesh, you would have, no doubt, seen one on the news or in a film. No doubt you would have noticed how the design is almost exactly the same on each tower you’ve seen, with one particular constant – the windows.
The windows in the towers are always dark and they are always slanted towards the base of the tower too. A lot of people mistakenly believe the windows are like this in order to protect pilots flying into land and taking off, from the reflection of sunlight. However, they are in fact positioned in this manner to help those working in the tower.
Those working in air traffic control need to be protected from all distractions so they can just focus on their job. The tilted glass helps keep them from any such distractions by directing any wayward light away from the main section of the tower.