Becoming a cabin crew trainer: the path from the line, the instructor courses, what the job involves, the pay compared to flying and the trainers who went back

Ex Azul, now flight attendant instructor, teaching doors for a living, and the question from the line crew in their fifth or sixth year is how to become the trainer. Isabel teaches in Rio and Dan in Brisbane and Terry at a college and the path differs by airline and country, and here it is from the four of us and the trainers on this forum.

The path from the line

Most airline trainers are line crew who were noticed: the check flights done well, the pursers who briefed clearly, the crew who helped the new joiners without being asked, the ones who volunteered for the buddy programmes and the recruitment days. The training department posts the vacancies internally and the application is the CV plus the record plus the recommendation from the fleet, and the selection is an interview and a presentation (teach us something in ten minutes) and sometimes a teaching assessment on the trainer. The ones selected do the instructor course and start by assisting on the courses before leading one.

The instructor courses

The regulator's requirements for the SEP instructor (the instructional techniques course, the type specific training, the examiner qualification where the trainer will assess), the airline's own train the trainer programme, the first aid instructor qualification for the medical module, the fire and smoke instructor for the fire week, the wet drill instructor for the pool. Each is a course and a check and a recurrent, and the full SEP instructor who can teach and assess every module has done several. The service trainers have the airline's service standards qualification instead. The qualifications travel: the trainer who leaves the airline takes the instructional techniques and the first aid instructor with them, which is how the college and the regional airline trainers (Terry, Dan) made the move.

What the job actually involves

Teaching the initial course (six to eight weeks, the same course every intake, the same doors, the same drills, the trainees who are terrified and delighted), the recurrent training (the senior crew once a year, who know the material and need it refreshed and sometimes corrected), the conversion courses on the new types, the assessments and the exams, the paperwork (the records, the regulator's audit trail, the training files), the course development when the procedures change, and the check flights on the line for the trainers who keep the line qualification. The day is nine to five with the occasional early and the occasional evening and the trainers who came from the line love the regularity and miss the layovers in equal measure.

The pay compared to flying

A salary rather than the basic plus the flying pay and the allowances, and at most airlines the trainer's salary is around the line senior crew's basic plus a training allowance, which means the trainer who was a long haul purser with heavy allowances takes a pay cut and the trainer who was short haul takes a rise or a level move. The regularity and the home every night are the compensation, and the trainers with families count them as pay. The college and the consultancy trainers (Terry, Charlotte's side) are paid as teachers and consultants, which varies.

The airlines that promote from within

Almost all of them for the SEP trainers, because the type experience is required. The Gulf carriers' training centres are staffed by ex line crew and the posts are competed; the European legacy carriers' training departments are the same; the low cost carriers promote the number ones and the cabin managers; the US majors have the inflight training teams drawn from the line with the union's involvement. The external hires are the regulatory and the development specialists, not the SEP instructors.

The trainers who went back to the line

Some do, after a few years, for the allowances and the layovers and because the same course every intake wears on a person who loved the variety. The ones who stay are the ones who found the trainees more interesting than the destinations. Both are fine, and the line qualification kept during the training years makes the return easy.

For the line crew in year five or six who want it

Be noticed: the check flights, the briefings, the new joiners helped. Volunteer for the buddy programme and the recruitment days. Watch the internal postings. Prepare the ten minute teach. Do the maths on the allowances you will lose. And teach the doors you used to fear, which is the best job description I know.