English for Cabin Crew Trainer's Guide - Heinle

UNIT
7 Case study
you just go into automatic so the doors were opened and the slides infl ated,
but funny things happen when people are scared and panicking, and the
passengers – I had been watching them as we were trying to open the doors
and, you know, make an exit for them, just seeing those knuckles – I’ll never
forget those people sitting poised, waiting to dart out of their seat, and one
man, as we began shouting instructions – unfasten your seatbelt, leave your
seat, come this way – this man, he ran to the door and the slide hadn’t fully
infl ated – it was just unfolding and he jumped out before anyone could stop
him. Fortunately, he didn’t hurt himself because by the time he was going
down the slide, the bottom of the slide had actually infl ated and he was able
to evacuate. I think he just had a few damaged, scratched knees. Also, some
people become really, really selfi sh. There was a lady, she had two children,
and she actually went down the slide leaving her children at the top, and
I was stunned at that – you know, to think that she would go down before
her children. So people behave very, very strangely in, in a scary situation
like that. They just see an opening – they see the smoke coming round the
fuselage of the aircraft and they just want to get out and yes, it surprised all
of us.
When we evacuated the aircraft, people again – some people don’t realize
the enormity or the emergency of the situation and as people were leaving
the cabin, particularly from Economy, one gentleman, I hear, was trying to
take his briefcase from the overhead lockers and this was impeding other
people’s access or stopping other people from getting forward to the doors
that were open for them to evacuate. So that caused a big problem and the
crew were trying to shout instructions to the passenger who took absolutely
no notice. He was determined, he was having his briefcase and that was
it. Also the captain had instructed that the over wing doors must not be
opened because the fuel tanks were there, but two passengers took it into
their own authority to push past the stewardesses and actually physically
open those doors. Obviously, during the debrief, with the report, this was a
serious situation. Fortunately the fuel tanks didn’t explode, but those few
passengers that evacuated over the wing were, very, very, you know, in danger
of, you know, losing their life, I think, and they had totally ignored the
stewardesses and again unfortunately the stewardesses at the over wing were
very inexperienced and didn’t have the authority to stop those passengers and
I think possibly a bit of that plus their inexperience and their own personal
need to get out maybe have forced them to allow the passengers to open the
doors. Fortunately this story was a happy ending because the evacuation went
well. We evacuated all the passengers within eighteen seconds and we had a
hundred and ninety passengers on board so that was pretty good, and there
was no danger to anyone and the aircraft although very sick, didn’t cause any
problems to any of us, and there were no injuries for passengers either.
3 What special qualities as a fl ight attendant do you need in emergencies?
S: I think all fl ight attendants have to be able to cope with pressure and stress.
They have to be able to demonstrate a calmness, and they have to also be
competent and feel confi dent about what they’re doing and what their role
is and what their responsibility as a safety offi cer on board is, and if you
can be calm, if you can absorb your training and know your drills as to what
to do in any given situation, particularly emergency, then the training will
automatically take over and your calm approach plus your training will help
you deal with the situation in the best way possible.
EXERCISE 5 Speaking
Ask students to discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. Get
feedback in open class and encourage students with interesting ideas to
share with the class.
ROUND UP
Revise vocabulary from the unit by asking students to write down
as many phrases as they can under the following heading:
Instructions in an emergency situation
Ask students to work in pairs to write all the words and phrases
they know, or to search the unit to fi nd words and phrases to
write.
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