Our classroom training started bright and early at 8:30am the morning after my last post. We were introduced to our facilitators Jeanie and Katherine that would see us through the next six weeks of Initial Flight Attendant Training.

Jeanie is a Chairman’s Club honoree recognizing her outstanding service and commitment to Delta (she also knows a thing or two about Chicago). Katherine was quickly recognized by everyone as our own “Deltalina” from the new safety video that is shown on-board our aircraft and you may have seen her on YouTube (EXCLUSIVE: Watch new Atlanta travel guide from Katherine here). She is not only the beautiful face teaching our safety procedures on-board but she is also an experienced flight attendant and instructor who will help show us new flight attendants the ropes.

You won’t believe all the safety and emergency equipment that travels aboard a Delta aircraft for each flight. Those of you who thought it was all about Coca-Cola and Biscoff cookies, like myself, will be enlightened to learn about the focus on safety. Delta stocks every aircraft with medical and safety equipment to handle almost any emergency that could arise. In fact Delta was the first airline to equip their fleet with A.E.D. devices to assist during C.P.R.

Do you know how to jump out of a plane? Not with a parachute, I’m talking about how to get out if there is an evacuation due to an emergency. We are trained to quickly and safely evacuate a plane if necessary through large slides which deploy in seconds to provide a good exit out of the plane if there is ever an emergency. We were trained in the proper procedures to safely evacuate an entire aircraft full of passengers in less than two minutes. That’s pretty amazing considering how long it normally takes to exit the plane each time you arrive at the gate at your destination. We have been training in a variety of simulators that can create any type of emergency including smoke or fire inside the plane.

Next stop was a visit to the pool – and not for sun and drinks. This stop at the pool was to train us how to don the life vests located under every passenger seat and to see how they work in the water. Then with our entire crew in the water we had to deploy the remote life raft to keep us safe. We worked as a team to inflate the life raft that can hold approximately 50 people. Take a look at the photos I’ve posted this week for a glimpse at our training. Again it was amazing to see how quickly we could all get aboard the life raft to protect us from the elements we would normally encounter in a true emergency.

It’s been a great week learning how to fly safe!

Eric

In-Flight Service ATL