This morning, on a very early flight on an Airbus (5AM), the lights stayed on in the cabin during take-off. I thought the crew normally dims the lights to "match" the outside conditions.

That is controlled by the purser. I don't know if it is a requirement or just a technique.

My understanding is that it is desirable (so that in the event of an emergency your eyes take less time to adjust to the ambient lighting) but not a requirement (I certainly can't find a FAR, it may be a UA SOP)

On some European airlines it is common to leave the emergency lighting on for climb (until 10000) and decent (after 10000) which is a little disconcerting when you aren't used to seeing all of the exit signs lit up but I imagine it's the same goal achieved a different way (do cabin crew have control over the emergency lighting or is that from the flight deck only?)

I don't have any information on how European airlines operate, and only three or four legs riding on LH and KLM over a decade ago. I do believe that on some Airbus aircraft the emergency lights are on based on the position of the gear and/or flaps which would result in them being on for takeoff and landing.

Yes, on DL Airbus aircraft, the emergency lights are on until the gear is retracted, and illuminate again when the gear is dropped (with an audible chime as well). As far as I have been able to tell as a passenger this is entirely automated based on the gear position.

Can you share a couple examples of supervised entry airports? How common are they? Just curious

My qualifications page shows the following airports for the 737 fleet. I've been to all of them except EYW as that service is relatively new.

EGE - Eagle County, CO (Vail)
GUA - Guatemala City, Guatemala
BOG - Bogota, Columbia
JAC - Jackson, WY
EYW - Key West, FL
MEX - Mexico City, Mexico
SAP - San Pedro Sula, Honduras

For the qualification, do you need to go to all of them, any of them, or something between? Sounds like any?

I have flown as passenger to all non US destinations :)

Plus, the drive from southeast Florida to Key West is great :tu:

Educated guess is each airport would be individually certified since they all have different terrain.

Not a pilot, but I’m pretty sure this is correct: the point is for the pilot to become familiar with the specifics of that particular airport.

That’s why there are something like 30 people in the world allowed to land at Paro, Bhutan: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q...t-paro-airport

Actually .......

Key West is as flat as a pancake ...... is it the presence of Naval Air Station at Key West that necessitates this ?

Or short runway? I hadn't realized that there were 737s flying there.

For most, it's each individual airport. There's something new with MEX and some Central American destinations that weren't previously classified as supervised entry. I don't remember the specifics as I was grandfathered into those based on previous entries. I think one down there can qualify for several. I'd have to look up the specifics on those. GUA was a supervised entry airport previously.

SFO 1K may know more details.

The very short (for a 737) runway. Only the 737-700 can operate into EYW.

I didn't realize the 737 flew to EGE. That's not too far from where I live and I think I flew that route on a turboprop before... I think it was a Saab 340 through United Express.

Only upgauged last December.