The Fly Girl Training is never over!
I just finished my one day annual training and recertification known in the industry as CQ (continued qualification). I am not one that stresses out about these things. I usually tend to stay calm and cool, the same way I did all through our initial intense training. I feel CQ should get easier each year with experience. However, the more I spoke to colleagues, who were stressing out, I found myself getting a little unnerved about the whole ordeal. I found myself up at 10pm watching training videos until I fell asleep and a little fatigued when I needed to awake at 5am.
My main job duty is NOT to ensure you can get that full can of Diet Coke! So what exactly is CQ? This annual event is common across all airlines. The airline I work for, just this year, reduced it from 2 days to one full intense day, starting at 7am and ending at 5pm or later, depending on how well the training class does. We spend time refreshing our knowledge of company policies, programs and procedures. Most importantly, which is the number one nature of our job; we spend time refreshing our knowledge on the use of SAFETY equipment.
You just never know when you are going to have a real emergency.
Many flight attendants go years without having a real emergency situation and needing to use the emergency equipment; while others have had multiple situations. Since I’ve been flying, the only situations I’ve had were once, I had a drug addict that was really tripping out and we had to force her in her seat. You wonder how I knew she was a drug addict. Well, she was tweaking, rocking, shaking and scratching. (I been around a block or two.) Prior to boarding, the gate agent noted they had a situation with her and while we probably should not have let her on the aircraft we were told she needed to get to a funeral. This passenger wanted out of the aircraft mid-flight. She jumped up out of her seat and starting pacing up and down the aisle. The passengers near here were very concerned and some even frightened. I knew the nature of why she needed to get to her final destination, so I had to let her know if she didn’t calm down, and sit down, we would divert to another city, have her arrested and she would never make it to her final destination in a timely manner. She eventually calmed as much as she could. I’ve had to remove a few intoxicated passengers, and I’ve had a child to vomit not only in his seat but all over both parents, in the aisle while his parents were trying to get him to the lavatory. Yes, I had to do the initial clean up while we were inflight. However, I’ve never had to use the emergency equipment on the aircraft (fingers crossed I don’t jinx myself now).
Preparation for allergies, asthma and drunkenness:
During CQ, we are tested on scenarios (usually actual), where we may have to deal with an intoxicated passenger, someone having an asthma attack, someone having severe allergic reaction; and someone who has gone unresponsive. Oh, may I add, we also have self-defense training; so don’t mess with me! We have to learn how to be a nurse, fire fighter (please stop using those e-cigarettes), mediator…..the list goes on. More importantly, we are trained to think quickly on our feet. In normal situations, we don’t have much time to resolve situations. We have to be prepared for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.