What do you DO at Flight Attendant Training?

When people think of flight attendants, they usually think about them passing out snacks and Vanna-White-ing seatbelt use.

I understand why people are surprised that I’m in class 9 hours a day 6 days a week for 4+ weeks to become a flight attendant. What could be so complicated about pouring soda and pointing to exit signs while smiling?

Well…have you ever heard about how flying in a plane is safer than riding in a car?

You see, it’s true, but that’s because the FAA and airlines have put a lot of work into making planes very safe.

On a good day, my job will be being nice to people and giving them snacks. On a not so good day, it will be about saving lives.

Think about it. In regular life if you see someone being assaulted, what do you do? You call 9-1-1! Or if someone suddenly loses consciousness? 9-1-1 again! What about a fire! Yes! 9-1-1.

At this point in time, ambulances do NOT fly to aircraft to help. While on the ground we have first responders to help in emergencies, up in the air, we have…flight attendants! Our job is to keep passengers safe and that means that we have to be ready to fight fires, give CPR, stop dangerous people, and be ready to evacuate the plane efficiently if something goes wrong. In addition to learning HOW to do these things, we have to learn WHERE to find the emergency equipment on many different aircraft types (each aircraft type has items in different spots…it’s super fun).

So, while I’ll love having fun with passengers and making sure they get snacks and sodas, I’m spending my time here learning how to save lives, check the aircraft for emergency equipment, and communicate appropriately and efficiently with my crew. We will have ONE day of training focused on how to prepare food and serve it. The other 23 days are focused on safety training.

Here’s a picture from today. I named my CPR dummy “Ken” because he has cool plastic hair. (Most of the dummies are bald, so he was very special).