Training for the Unthinkable

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Independent corporate flight attendant training is available through several reputable providers including Aircare International, Beyond & Above, FlightSafety International, and DaVinci Inflight. Aside from the fine points of cabin service, these organizations all emphasize emergency, medical, and security training. Areas include firefighting, cabin decompression, water ditchings and emergency evacuations; medical inflight emergencies including cardio--pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), operating automatic electronic defibrillators, administering first aid; and security awareness.

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Paula Kraft founded DaVinci on the sensory Montessori model of learning and stresses the passenger safety aspect of the job. That includes placing students in realistic situations—such as practicing performing CPR in the aisle of an actual Gulfstream jet. “We do it in the classroom and then we go do it in an airplane. We want students to feel confident in their decisions and react on impulse rather than panic. You don’t want to be asking questions about how to do something at 40,000 feet.”

Other medical training covers how to deal with hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), the proper use of emergency oxygen masks, and choking. Communicating with the pilots in these situations is also included as part of the crew resource management (CRM) component.

While DaVinci trains for inflight medical emergencies, it also spends considerable time instructing on how to avoid them. And that largely comes down to food. “Aside from the budgetary constraints when it comes to ordering [aircraft] catering, there’s a science behind it,” she stressed. “How to pick up restaurant food and keep it safe, keep the cold food chain from being dislodged and have safety and security with the food, to make sure it is not harmed or tampered with in any way.” Kraft noted that VIP passengers can sometimes be high-profile targets for disgruntled former employees or even members of the public who may be looking for retaliation by “poisoning the food.”

Another safety concern that sometimes flies under the radar is cabin cleaning and “disposing of the garbage before it turns into a hazmat situation by being left unattended on the aircraft.”

Scenario-based safety training is often ripped from the pages of accident/incident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board. Personal safety and emergency egress training is taught in cooperation with another industry-related firm, Aviation Secure.

Classes are kept small by design, and students can always ask follow-up questions after graduating. The company has contracts with several fleet, charter, and fractional ownership companies. “We teach flight attendants to work with the same equipment that they have onboard.”

DaVinci encourages flight attendants to continue with their professional development and assists them with resourcing scholarships and providing professional memberships, including in the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

“This is a profession, just like pilots,” Kraft said.