My new workplace

Yesterday I took my final exam for Air North flight attendant initial training, and I passed. I'm not quite there yet, I still have my service training, familiarization flight and line indoctrination before I'm officially a flight attendant. The line indoctrination sounds like something unpleasant the Borg or a cult might do, but it's a training flight where you have all the flight attendant duties while you are shadowed but a supervisor. Probably the Borg would do it too.

Today is service training. I really hope I learn how to pour coffee. I can't even drink coffee without spilling it on myself. If the service training is anything like safety training, I'll be a pro in no time. Maybe they'll even teach me to drink coffee.

You know you're a flight attendant trainee when...

You know you're a flight attendant trainee when...

You audibly say assessing and reassessing while reversing your car.

When your son tries to sit up on the dinner table you say REMAIN SEATED in a loud authoritative voice.

You've said something like, "So then I grabbed my Halon, while my ABP informed the PIC," and had to explain.

You dictate your actions aloud, as in "I am opening my door, I am now locking my door, I am now closing my door, confirmed, the door is locked."

People are surprised when they find out that after the first four weeks of flight attendant training you are absolutely no better at serving coffee or handing out mints (but you could put out a fire, administer first aid oxygen, evacuate an aircraft and about 11,000 other safety and emergency related actions.)

You've said "Don't touch my FAM," or "Be careful of my FAM" at least once.

Your neighbours are expecting flashing lights and sirens after hearing EMERGENCY, BEND OVER, STAY DOWN shouted from the next apartment for the last four days.

When you're with another flight attendant trainee you tend to show things together in sync.

You start abbreviating the names of random items.

You shout your name, "out, door 1L" when you leave a room.

Imaginary round houses and real yellow slides

It's five-something in the morning. After a restless night dreaming of fighting fires and evacuating passengers I've spent the last two hours desperately trying to sleep. I've tried counting sheep, meditating, designing imaginary round houses and any other trick I've ever heard of to try to sleep. 

My round house has four levels, a courtyard and a wrap-around deck and I don't even want to tell you how many sheep are in my paddock.

Eventually I gave up and just studied. I'm not sure how much is retained at 5am but there you go.

Yesterday was intense. I went from highs to lows and upside down, around and back again. The day began with an exam and then we had drills until the early evening. My name was drawn to inflate the escape slide, which was awesome, and then we all got to jump down the slide, which was also pretty awesome.

Christa Galloway deploying the evacuation slide on JLB. Photos by Roxanne.

Then I voluntarily strapped myself into a jump seat, heart pounding, limbs shaking, gave a thumbs up to start the drill, shouted evacuation commands and "evacuated" a B737 while an instructor evaluated my every move. And again, and again, and again for the next seven hours on different planes with different scenarios.

Several times I felt the strong overpowering urge to run away and weep uncontrollably in a dark corner, but I stuck it out. I went into these drills knowing they would be very hard for me but with the intention to do my best. I made more than my fair share of mistakes, but if nothing else, I did my best.

I had help. I remember once, after feeling quite beaten, Jessica looked me in the eye and said "We got this." At one point Erin said a quirky "erinism", like only Erin can, and the tension evaporated into laughter. When I nailed a drill I got high fives and "You rocked it." I feel closer to my team mates than seems possible after four weeks. I consider every one of them a friend and without them, and my instructors, I could have conceivably been out on day one. My instructors are fair, tough, encouraging and relentless, all at the same time.

I can't congratulate myself on getting through it quite yet. I have more drills today and a final exam on Monday, service training, not to mention my line indoctrination. If I don't pass, I will be extremely disappointed but I feel like I've grown so much, the experience is worth it. Plus, it's like the most effective weight loss program ever!

Sunset over Red Ridge

Another spectacular sunset tonight. This is the view from our deck towards Red Ridge.

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Sunset over Red Ridge, March 23, 2014. Photo by Christa Galloway.

The day I yelled "bend over" to four of my co-workers

We've had three solid weeks of very serious safety training, capped off with two days of first aid training last week. This week-end we've all been studying for our exam on the Hawker Siddeley 748 on Monday. Today we had a study group and practiced evacuations in preparation for emergency procedures training and evacuation drills this week. 

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Erin Sanderson studies the FAM (flight attendant manual). Photo by Christa Galloway.

Evacuations involve memorizing commands verbatim, developing the right authoritative and loud voice and endless practice. We need to know exactly what to do and exactly what to say in every conceivable evacuation scenario. I believe the goal is to get to the point where we won't have to think about what to say and do in an emergency, we will just do it.

By the way, if you are ever unfortunate enough to be in a plane crash, the best advice I can give you is listen to your flight attendant. We know this stuff inside out. By the time we graduate we will have passed a drill where we evacuate two types of aircraft in front of our instructors, which for me is the most terrifying scenario I can think of.

I've tried yelling emergency commands in my car, shouting: EMERGENCY, BEND OVER, STAY DOWN so many times that my three-year-old son has the command memorized. 

My three-year-old son Oscar has picked up the emergency command to brace from my practice sessions in the car.

Today in our study group, we had a chance to practice yelling commands at each other. We set up an unplanned land evacuation on a make-shift Hawker 748 today. The Hawker was actually Susan's kitchen, the seats were lawn chairs and the jump seat was a bar stool. We practiced two scenarios, one where both the aft exits were clear and one where the aft exits were blocked and the ABPs were unable to open the window exit. (ABP stands for able-bodied person.) 

I've learned a lot about my co-workers today. I now know that if you hear Angelica, Susan, Jessica, Erin or Eric shout "BEND OVER," you bend over. We are a forceful group, let me tell you.

After several run-throughs, some of our more gregarious personalities made things a little more challenging with some erratic passenger behaviour. While we are very serious about safety and emergency procedures, it is nice to have a little fun every now and then. Plus, the challenge of successfully remembering evacuation commands while a "passenger" is repeatedly making loud tropical bird noises, is very good practice.

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Jessica Clark practices evacuation commands while Susan Burton, Eric Girard and Angelica Daravingus-Muric pretend to be passengers. Photo by Christa Galloway.

By the end of the study session my voice was starting to get hoarse from shouting so for now, it's back to studying the Hawker.

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Susan Burton has actually been found asleep on the couch with the FAM (flight attendant manual) before. Here she re-creates the visual. Photo by Christa Galloway.

If only I'd studied like this in college

So my week-end so far has consisted of studying, some more studying, and then I took a short break and studied. Tomorrow though, I am heading into town... for a study group.

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Studying for the Hawker 748 exam on Monday with my self-made study quiz, a way to re-organize information in order to remember it better.

Monday's exam is on the Hawker Siddeley 748, of which Air North has four that I need to worry about, and it seems each one is very different from the other.

Fortunately for me, my husband is a teacher and has some great study tips. One tip he gave me was to re-organize the information so I could remember it better. So far I've been doing a lot of flash cards on the advice of my classmates, but I tend to get bored easily so today I decided to create my own 61 question test including every difficult question I could think of. 

I'm feeling pretty confident but I suppose I will find out Monday if this technique works for me. For now, I think I'lll (can you guess?) study some more.

Saving Herbert

For some reason, we do not practise donning and inflating infant life vests on actual infants. I can't imagine why. Thank goodness for Herbert. Herbert is a stuffed bunny who has gamely allowed us to practise life-saving skills on him.

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Jazmine Carey inflates Herbert's infant life vest. Photo by Christa Galloway.

The Hawker loves the camera

A few weeks ago I probably would not have thought a Hawker Siddeley 748 being towed out of a hangar was nearly as fascinating as it is now. Maybe it's because we are starting to get to know the "personalities" of the Hawker fleet at Air North, maybe it's because I've been walking past a Hawker in the hangar every day the last week or maybe it's because I'm turning into an aircraft geek, but honestly it was pretty cool.

Exciting news from the Mount Lorne free store

The Free Store now has... well, I guess you would call them departments. Some artistic soul hand painted signs for the various sections of the two structures. They seem to have very little to do with what is actually on the shelves but the intention is there. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

I didn't find anything for us this time but I did notice a few gems.

The funky shoe collection

A child's snowsuit

A new-looking Columbia jacket

5 secrets about flight attendant training

I'm in my second week of training to be an FA. FA means flight attendant. (Aviation professionals are like teenagers texting, why waste time when you can abbreviate.) In my two weeks of FA training I've learned some other things that may surprise you.

1. The course is intense. Your flight attendant is not just a service professional, they've gone though extensive training in safety and emergency procedures. We're talking late nights, early mornings, a five-inch-thick manual of information to learn, study sessions, pressure, stress, drills and exams. In my case, tears have been involved two or three times. Okay, four times.

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FA trainee Susan Gregory Allen studies the FAM (Flight Attendant Manual) onboard a B737.

2. Flight attendant trainees get wet. Today we all inflated life vests and jumped in the pool. If we weren't close before, we are now.

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Instructor Michael Sofko supervises Sonja retracting the airstairs on a B737. Photo by Christa Galloway.

3. Passenger comfort is not a flight attendant's first priority. In fact, safety is the highest priority for a flight attendant. Out of the five weeks of training, only two days are dedicated to service training, the rest basically split between classes, drills and exams related to safety and emergency equipment and procedures. Don't worry though, you'll still get great service.

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Today, we removed the window exit on a B737. Photo by Christa Galloway.

4. Training is very hands on. We spend a good portion of our course on an actual airplane. (This is specific to Air North, many other airlines aren't able to do this.) We have given each other first aid oxygen. We have removed window emergency exits from two types of aircraft. We've all sat in the flight deck (cockpit). We will be putting out a live fire, learning first aid and jumping down an emergency slide.

5. Flight Attendants are all "A" students. You need to score 85% to pass exams. And there are seven exams. And there is a very thick book of drills to pass. Passing is by no means guaranteed. In fact, from what I've heard, many people do not make it through training.

I did not fully appreciate flight attendants before now. Not only do they get you your water, blankets and food (well, there's food on Air North anyway) but they are trained to deal with just about any situation that could arise. 

All and all, it's not the interesting summer job I had pictured before I started. It's so much more than that. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've discovered I want this job more and more every day even though most of it is miles outside my comfort zone. 

Flight Attendant Training Update

No time to write - study, eat, sleep and train.... that's all I do. Passed another exam, studying for an exam on Friday, passed all my drills so far, jumping down an emergency slide in a pool tomorrow, can't remember what free time feels like, hope my instructor don't read this and realise that I'm not studying this exact second, hope my friends and family don't think I'm ignoring them, hope Oscar remembers his mummy.

Good morning!

It's another beautiful morning here at our cabin in the mountains.

There's nothing like a snowflake after a long stressful week

Rich insisted we go for a family snowshoe today, and I'm very glad he did. I needed it. I've been so obsessed with studying for my flight attendant training, I've had trouble talking about anything else.  

I'm pretty sure Rich knows the passenger safety briefing by heart from practise sessions. Oscar has been running around asking us if we want a pillow or a blanket after he spent a considerable amount of time pretending to be a passenger with an infant this morning. When I practised the same briefing with Rich later, he ran over and gave Rich his "baby" (a hot water bottle.)

I've been dreaming about safety procedures, stressing about exams and I actually had a mini breakdown while waiting for my test scores yesterday, sure I'd failed. The more the girls were nice to me, the more I blubbered. When we got back into the exam room, I sat and stared the back of my test until they finished whatever they were saying and we were allowed to check our mark. We need to score 85% percent to pass exams and thankfully I passed. The relief was palpable.

I don't even think I realized how much I wanted to be a flight attendant before I thought I'd screwed it all up by failing an exam.

Funnily enough, every question I got wrong was a number question. Thank goodness I'm not training to be an accountant.

After a few hours walking in the woods my thoughts drifted from safety procedures and the alphabet soup of aviation training (ABP, CAR, CASS, ICAO, ATAC, IATA, TC, IC, FA, FAM, CT, WX, COM, IR.OP, COB, SPAX and PIC to name a few) to blissful silence. 

Ozzie and I took some time to lie in the snow and catch snowflakes with our tongues. Maggie raced around like she was on crack. Poor thing hasn't had a walk in a week. We came back and had a hot chocolate with marshmallows. 

From now on, I'm going to continue to do my best in training, but I'm going to try to keep some perspective. The most important thing is my family. I'm going to take the stress and pressure for what it is, a learning experience and an absolutely wonderful weight loss tool.

Day 3 of flight attendant training

I just finished day three of my Air North flight attendant training. So far, so good! All of my fellow trainees are genuine, nice and friendly people. I would happily work with any one of them. The training is intense and thorough. The ice breakers are unsurprisingly painful - I had to tell a story for a minute about "the time (I) had a ride on Santa's sleigh" and it was the longest 60 seconds in recent memory. The real surprise for me has been how approachable everyone is. We've been visited by or visited almost everyone, other flight attendants, the president, a pilot, the catering department, the safety department, people from marketing and everyone in between.

Yesterday, the Chief Operating Officer, Allan Moore, came into our training room and spoke to us about how we were hired not for our good looks (thank goodness) but for our heart, how Air North wants the Yukon to start when a passenger boards an Air North plane with Yukon hospitality (this is definitely a thing, I've experienced it) and how Air North is still providing meals and service while other airlines are cutting back. It may be lame, but I actually had tears welling up during his talk, he was so sincere, and I felt proud to be referred to as a Yukoner. He gleefully ran to his office and came back with a huge stack of comment cards and started reading them to us. Comment after comment were complimentary about the service and the food. I was glowing with pride for "my airline" but at the same time there was quite a lot of pressure to keep up the standard. Time will tell I suppose.

The biggest thing I've noticed about the people in this company is that they care, and you can tell. 

We have an exam on Friday, here hoping I pass (a pass is 85%) Wish me luck!

How affection changed my life

Last year at about this time, I went to WPPI, a conference for photographers in Las Vegas. WPPI was flush with life-changing opportunities and inspiring speakers, not to mention an epic visit to the Grand Canyon. 

What was the most life changing thing about the trip to Vegas? It was a snippet of a program on PBS, watched by chance, while channel surfing in the hotel.

The program was a talk by neuroscientist Rudolph E. Tanzi about something called the Super Brain. Tanzi spoke about many interesting facets of the brain and how to use knowledge of the brain to achieve happiness. 

One piece of advice Tanzi gave, and the only one I remember, was something like "regard others with affection."

Since then I have used this little gem over and over. I used it in stressful situations, while working, shooting weddings, with family and on countless other occasions. For me this mindset does two wonderful things. One, it mentally connects me to people in a positive way so I can see the best in them, and two it stops me from judging others while at the same time removing the worry about people judging me.

For a chronic over thinker like me, this view of people changes everything. It's no longer me against the world. I feel like we're all in it together.

As I was giving myself a "pep talk" on the drive to my first day of training at Air North, I realized I was just psyching myself out. My stomach was in knots. I was sure everyone would be more prepared than me, would be more comfortable than me, be better dressed than me. Then I remembered that one piece of advice, "regard others with affection." The knots began to unwind.

The day involved many things that would normally make me uncomfortable, meeting new people, trying on uniforms, getting my hair done, being the model for a cosmetic make-over (yes, that happened) and touring the labyrinth of hangars, offices and buildings. 

Normally I'd think the make-up artist was judging my hairy face, the uniform co-ordinator thought I was fat, the trainers were rolling their eyes at me and the hair stylist was wondering how many years it had been since my last haircut. But I didn't think that. I thought they were all trying to help me. And I do think they were.

Old me would think my fellow trainees were judging me for being socially awkward and dull/overbearing/shy/arrogant/bossy/mousy/condescending. I know, right. No one could possibly be that bad. But this time I didn't think that. In fact, I think they are a stellar group of people with whom I have a lot in common. I actually do feel real affection for every single one of them.

And as for what they think of me.... well, that's none of my business.

Best friends

I took advantage of the warm weather today and went for a walk with Ozzie and Mags. The "warm weather" is a bit relative at -10C but after a week of -30C it felt warm to us. Oscar stayed out after our walk and played with Maggie in the snow and sunshine for another hour while I sat on the deck with a hot chocolate and thought about studying. I still can't used to all the sunshine up here. Today is another day without a cloud in the sky. 

Wow

Just, wow.