Cabin crew training from the instructor's side: what we actually mark, why people fail and the three habits that predict a pass
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#1 Eight years flying at GOL, three years as a cabin crew instructor in Rio, and the training threads on here are all from the trainee side, so here is the other chair. What we mark, what actually fails people, and what I can predict on day two.
What we mark
The written exams are objective and the pass mark is the pass mark. No instructor can help you with a 86 when the line is 88. What we have discretion over is the practical: the door drills, the fire fighting, the CPR, the service role play. There we mark sequence, command, speed and composure. A slightly slow drill with the correct sequence and loud clear commands passes. A fast drill with a missed step fails, every time, because a missed step in a real evacuation is the thing that kills people.
Why people fail
In my three years, in order of frequency:
- Volume. They tried to read the manual instead of testing themselves and the numbers did not stick.
- Freezing on a practical. Usually the door or the fire. Usually someone who knew it and could not perform it watched. The fix is repetition until the body does it without the brain, and we give a second attempt for exactly this reason.
- Attendance and lateness. Late is treated as a safety issue and I have removed two people for it. I did not enjoy it and I would do it again.
- Attitude in the service module. Rare, but a trainee who argues with the role play passenger, or with the instructor, is showing us the cabin.
- Medical. Something turns up at the pre training medical or during the course. Not a failure, a life event, but it ends the course.
Nobody in three years has failed because they were not clever enough. Not one.
The three habits I can see by day two
The people who pass comfortably:
- Test themselves out loud, with a partner, from day one. I can see them in the breaks with flashcards and I can hear them in the corridor saying door commands to each other.
- Sleep. The ones with dark circles on day three are the ones who studied until 2am and retained nothing.
- Ask. The trainee who comes to me in the break and says 'I do not understand the slide arming sequence on this type' is going to pass. The trainee who nods in class and never asks is the one I worry about.
What I wish every trainee knew
We want you to pass. Every instructor I know is on your side. The strictness about time and uniform is not personality, it is the standard the cabin requires, and we would be doing you no favours by relaxing it in the classroom and letting the line find out. Ask us things. Use the door trainer at lunch. And on the practical, breathe, say the words loudly, and do the sequence. Speed comes later.
Happy to answer questions from trainees in any country. The content differs by regulator. The habits do not.
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#2 Trainer at easyJet and every line of this is true here too. Nobody fails for being stupid. The out loud with a partner habit is the thing I now tell every course on day one, and I credit the ones who do it.
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#3 Ryanair Dublin, finished training last month, and the 'ask in the break' point is real. The trainer who I asked about slide arming on the MAX in week 2 remembered me at the final drill and I could see her willing me through it.
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#4 Ex crew Rio, dispatch now, and Isabel trained two of my friends. They both describe her exactly as this post reads: strict on time, kind on content. That is the right way round.
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#5 Gatwick, week 3 now, passed the week 2 exam at 92 after the wall. Studying out loud with two others is what did it. Thank you for confirming from the other chair that it is the method, not a coincidence.
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#6 @emmaflies2 92 after a wall is a good sign. The wall is normal. The people who hit it and change method are the ones who become good crew.