Airline cabin crew train extremely hard for their training in a short period of time. Their training is intense and loaded with tonnes of information. No! They are not there to sell you luxury duty free perfumes or hot cocoa! Their primary and most significant role is in your SAFETY and well-being.
The crew are well trained on every aircraft they operate in terms of all essential safety drills. These drills and procedures could potentially save your life if caught up in an aircraft accident, therefore, the first contribution a passenger can add is to give them their full attention during the pre-departure safety demo.
Cabin crew are trained to a very high standard and to maintain this level, have to annually do recurrent training. This ensures they are always ready and proficient in the event of a real emergency. The crew are trained to manage and deal with several serious situations such as an onboard fire, decompression, medical, hijack, unruly passenger events, etc. Each of these is unique and requires different methods, procedures and tools to resolve and safely manage.
For instance, did you know the crew are trained to evacuate a burning aircraft’s entire passengers in less than 90 seconds using just half the available exits. This is because it is also a regulatory requirement and a task like this does not happen easily without the proper skills and training. This is also why, it helps when passengers listen and observe instructions given to them. How many times have we seen real incidents of passengers evacuating an aircraft with their luggage? Yet, crew specifically instruct you to not do that! Inappropriate actions like this can delay evacuation severely resulting in serious loss of life.
An aircraft and its environment are complex. Your crew are the only ones adapted and trained to manage incidents and abnormal situations inside it. Please do co-operate well, observe their instructions and share this to allow our frequent flyers and jet setters to appreciate and learn the importance behind all this.
Thanks and wishing all crew safety on board and in life.
Capt. Faraz (instagram - @Flightcopilot)