You’ve considered many career choices, but there’s one that intrigues you more than most: becoming a member of a cabin crew. It’s a unique job that comes with some key benefits, the main one being that you’re able to travel the world while getting paid. Cabin crews may often get to stay for multiple days in exotic locations before getting their return flights home, and it can be a pretty lucrative career in terms of salary, depending on what airline you work for.
But before you start applying for these jobs, it’s interesting to take a look at what it takes to become a member of a cabin crew. Turns out it involves one of the craziest and most interesting training programs out there.
Stationary Aircraft Familiarization
You’re obviously trained in all the usual health & safety stuff, but cabin crews also spend a lot of time on stationary aircraft. This will either be an old aircraft that’s no longer in use or a special model that the company has built for you to train in. It doesn’t move or do anything; the purpose is to help wannabe cabin crew workers get to grips with what it’s like to be inside a plane, where everything is located, how to operate doors, etc.
Of all the weird and wacky training scenarios you’re put through, this is probably the simplest – though it does feel like you’re on a movie set at times!
Aircraft Simulations
Now this is where things get really crazy and cool.
Airlines will use cabin crew training simulators to mirror what it’s like being in a plane thousands of feet up in the air. Unlike the stationary “sets” or old aircraft, these simulators mimic the feeling of flight and are usually on a rig that lets them move about to copy the feeling of turbulence. It’s sort of like what astronauts go through when they train to go up in space, but less intense and without the no-gravity feeling!
It looks like such a surreal experience, as you genuinely feel like you’re in their air, and it’s the best way for cabin crew to prepare for the real thing.
Water-Based Training
You need to be prepared for every scenario, and this includes the extremely rare situation where an aircraft might need to perform an emergency landing in the ocean. Cabin crews always talk about this during the safety demonstration before you take off, but they genuinely train for this situation by going to swimming pools and acting out scenarios!
They’ll dress in their uniforms and practice putting on life jackets and deploying emergency rafts. It’s one of those weird training exercises that’s actually fun – if you forget what you’re actually training for for a second.
There’s probably more intensity involved in cabin crew training than you initially realised, but this can make it an even more exciting career choice. Most jobs slap you in front of a PC and get you to complete a basic training seminar before you’re good to go. At least this job keeps things exciting from the off!
