November 4, 2013

We had 2 simulator exams today on evacuations.  I had to do each of them twice because I missed a little step in each exam (for example: I opened a door too gently rather than throwing it open).  Oh well, a pass is a pass. 

After listening to the safety training, I was almost having a panic attack.  The guy went over every type of terrorist attack ever tried, including those plots that were caught before they could destroy the aircraft.  Apparently, there are a lot more attempted terrorist attacks than I ever realized.  He told us about violence towards flight attendants and gave us real life examples.  He also went over a list of “things that haven’t been tried, but I’m surprised no one has done this yet”.  Agh, what?!?!?!  Half way through the class I was finding it hard to breath and was thinking “omg, what have I done???”.  I’m trying to put some of the scenarios out of my head.

One thing I did find pretty interesting, was that before 9-11, it was common for people to hijack planes.  They would hijacked them just to get something and then gave the plane back within several hours.  He told us that one year, there were 83 hijackings by people who just wanted to go to Cuba.  Once they were dropped off, the plane was released.  9-11 was the first time that planes were used as a weapon of mass destruction, so the approach airlines and the government take towards hijackings has changed significantly.

We also had the Federal Air Marshall’s come talk to us and they gave us a demonstration of what they do.  I would love to write details about the demonstration, but I’m sure you can understand why I can’t.