Line trainer
An experienced crew member who trains and assesses new crew on live flights during their first supervised sectors.
Definition
A line trainer is a working cabin crew member with an additional training qualification who supervises new joiners on their first live sectors — the familiarisation flights required after initial training under EASA and most other regimes — and signs them off to fly unsupervised. They also coach crew returning from long absence or converting to a new aircraft type. Unlike a classroom instructor, the line trainer flies the sector as part of the operating crew.
What it means for you
Your line trainer's report is the last gate between training and the line, and it covers service standards and grooming as much as safety drills. Later, becoming a line trainer is a common first step off the pure flying ladder: it usually carries a daily or monthly allowance, protects your roster from some standby, and is looked for when airlines pick pursers and instructors.
In practice
A new British Airways joiner flies their first Heathrow short-haul days with a line trainer shadowing every drill and announcement, and only after the sign-off do they appear on a roster as an ordinary crew member.
Go deeper
Related terms
4 terms- Cabin crew instructorRoles & ranksA ground-based trainer who delivers initial and recurrent safety, service and CRM courses at the airline's training centre.
- Check flight attendantRoles & ranksA crew member who conducts formal line checks on operating crew, observing a live flight and grading procedures and standards.
- Initial trainingSafety & trainingThe four-to-eight-week course that turns a successful candidate into a licensed, type-qualified cabin crew member.
- Junior cabin crewRoles & ranksEntry-grade crew in their first one to three years, on the lowest pay band and, at seniority airlines, on reserve.