Flight Attendant Safety & Emergency Training
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration regulations require flight attendants working for commercial air carriers to be fully certified in emergency training and inflight safety procedures before being legally able to work. These procedural standards are constantly updated and re-enforced so as to be useful in the unlikely event of an inflight emergency. With the safety of the flying public being the core responsibility of a flight attendant, the FAA, airlines and flight attendants work together to remain current in its management.
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Federal Aviation Administration
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is an operating unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It oversees all airline safety standards and regulates all operating procedures concerning civilian aviation including maximum hours worked by crew members, ratio of crew members to passengers and crew member health requirements. Along with the Transportation Security Administration, the FAA regulates the emergency training procedures that every U.S. air carrier is required to qualify inflight crew members in.
Airline Regulations
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Every flight attendant is qualified in safety procedures by aircraft type and, while each airline has its own unique secondary safety policies, the FAA-regulated procedures are uniform throughout the industry. Therefore if a flight attendant terminates employment with one U.S. carrier and begins working at another, the flight attendant will not have to pass initial certification training again if certification has not lapsed. They must only continue to attend the yearly recurrent training. However, if there is new equipment (a different plane type) at the new air carrier, the flight attendant is not allowed to work until being FAA certified on it.
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Initial Flight Attendant Safety and Emergency Training
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Flight attendent's initial emergency training lasts approximately one week. Within that time frame, the trainee will log the required training hours on each piece of equipment that the employer uses within its fleet. Final qualifying tests will be given on all evacuation procedures and inflight safety incident procedures. These tests are allowed only one retake and demand a score of 100 percent. Ample training is given to prepare the trainee for this very important pass or fail qualification phase at the end of training.
Safety Procedures
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In addition to emergency techniques such as unscheduled landing, ditching (unscheduled water landing) and aircraft emergency evacuation procedures, the flight attendant trainee will be instructed in FAA-regulated inflight safety procedures. The trainee will learn inflight fire fighting, medical emergency handling with basic CPR and first aid equipment use, hazardous materials training and inflight security incident procedural handling. Also taught is the flight attendant safety proficiency check that is preformed before every flight using an issued, revised and up-to-date FAA Inflight Rules and Regulations manual.
FAA Inflight Rules and Regulations Manual
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The FAA is an active governing body, so revisions of regulations and updates of safety standards occur often. The flight attendant will once a month receive a packet of revisions and updates for their personal FAA Inflight Rules and Regulation manual which is required by law to be within their possession during each active flight hour. FAA officials can and do step in at any given time to check that all procedures are being complied with and non compliance brings stiff fines to both the individual flight attendant as well as the employing airline.
Recurrent Training
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Annual recurrent training is mandated for each employed flight attendant whether active or on medical leave (having to be completed before returning to work if recurrent date was missed). This training covers important new training or procedural changes that are not covered in written revisions. Flight attendants must complete yearly recurrent training during either a "may go" month (preceding) or the "must go" month (mandatory). Failure to do so initiates re-qualification training nearly identical to initial training. If the re-qualification training is not completed or if failed, FAA certification is revoked and it is illegal for the airline to employ the flight attendant to fly active flight hours.
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References
- Rising Up: FARS 121.421: FA Initial and Transition Ground Training
- Rising Up: FARS 121.415: Crewmember and Dispatcher Training Requirememts
- Flight Attendant Cabin Crew Training: Emergency Procedure Training
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Flight Attendants
- Federal Aviation Administration: Public Home Page
Resources
- Photo Credit pilots image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
