This webinar was conducted with the aim of acquainting the students with how things work in the aviation industry, as recounted by a former cabin crew member, to offer a better understanding of the nature of and the challenges faced by a professional in the field.
The webinar was held on 26th June 2020 where 22 students and one faculty participated in the webex online platform between 4 to 6 pm.
The webinar started off with an introduction to the resource person invited, Divine Dsouza, by the facilitator present, Dr. Alphonsa Jose K.
A presentation consisting of her experiences in the industry in answer to questions asked by the students was shown for the duration of the event.
The first question had to do with the skills of a cabin crew member. According to Ms. Divine, there were quite a few important ones to be remembered. Communication by way of body language, verbal tone and spoken word were one of the most important, with crew members in India being required to know both Hindi and English, at least. Having good interpersonal skills seeing as there would be nearly 200 passengers along with crew, and the ability to be diplomatic and tactful to appropriately deal with any issues from the passengers arising from service not matching up to expectations or delay is of paramount importance in the industry. One is also required to be medically fit both physically and mentally. Empathy to attend to the needs of all passengers alike, appropriate cultural awareness and acute attention to detail go a long way in ensuring a safe and comfortable travel for the passengers averting any dangerous or volatile situations. Lastly, a cabin crew member should be able to be adaptable and flexible to the demands of the profession as there is no fixed schedule for the body to get accustomed to.
Ms. Divine then spoke about the roles and responsibilities of a cabin crew member. Pre-flight, they needed to ensure that they were not intoxicated (being so carried grave penalties), and did not take any medication on them, unless otherwise authorised. Furthermore, they would be briefed for safety, service, and first aid, and would be required to be adequately groomed with company-approved makeup, well-kept nails and presentable hair. There would also be discussions held of emergency procedures for worst cases by the senior most head, and checking of all equipment, especially those related with emergency scenarios. Onboard, the crew has to take care of making announcements, briefing of emergency procedures, and obtaining clearance for takeoff. In-flight, there needs to be quick service for the captains and the passengers, and making sure of everyone being seated when necessary. Although, the biggest responsibility of any cabin crew member is the door they are assigned to as its opening in non-emergency situations would lead to termination of their duties and freezing of their bank account. En route transit, the comfort of the passengers staying back needs to mainly be ensured. Post-flight, all doors need to be closed, all cash retrieved and deposited back in their accounts, and signing off of their duties for the day, done.
The biggest challenges faced as a cabin crew member were professional, with regards to irate passengers, having new colleagues every day, abusive and harassing passengers; personal in that one would be required to leave family and friends and be away from them, building new relationships around the crew, sickness, and problems of promotions; physical especially regarding personal health involving back issues, UTIs, and kidney stones due to artificially pressurised environments; and mental challenges by way of the stress and pressure demands of the profession.
With regards to the importance of decision-making and presence of mind, she illustrated the helpfulness of service recovery and how satisfying the passengers’ needs comes foremost. Timely identification of safety hazards and medical emergencies, and being able to analyse the situation to take appropriate decisions, are of extreme importance. They are also required to work with time constraints by way of short flights, keeping in mind the no-contact period for the pilots during takeoff and landing to ensure, even then, the taking care of any passenger requiring immediate attention during this time.
Following a five minute break, Ms. Divine addressed what is done when a passenger raises a false alarm about a security threat or onboard malfunction. Regardless of whether the threats are hoaxes or real, they still need to be reported, but any malfunction can easily be spotted from the cockpit control panel and the captain is the last word on any possible mechanical threat. Bomb threats are classified as green, amber, or red, in increasing order of specificity, with bomb disposal squads taking necessary countermeasures.
Crew members are also expected to know about the pressurisation and air conditioning on board, having five pressurisation sections, and three air-conditioning sections. The effects of rapid or slow decompression are acute, causing hypoxia and delirium, with prolonged exposure leading to hair loss, and impaired memory, among others. In order to distinguish condensation-related white fog from fire-related smoke, the effects of air conditioning in the cabin are kept in mind. She also cited the example of Aloha Airlines 243 in which a fuselage crack led to the ceiling being blown off due to decompression with the loss of the life of one senior cabin crew member.
Cabin crew training takes place for safety, service, first aid, crew resource management, and airline security training. Each cabin crew member is only allowed on three kinds of aircrafts to avoid any confusion between them, and the duration of training is mostly three months. After that the member will be sent on ‘fam flights’ as a passenger crew member to get familiarised with the entire process, following which they are sent on ‘check flights’ to evaluate their learning based on their performance.
Crew resource management is very important the lack of which can lead to fatal accidents; proper communication to ensure no misunderstandings take place and that pride does not impede good decision-making, leadership skills to prevent misuse of the power gradient, quick decision making to turn around seemingly hopeless situations, good situational awareness to react appropriately to the need of the moment, monitoring of the arming and disarming of the doors and checking of equipment, and cross-checking fellow crew members’ tasks are all very important when it comes to resource management. The crew’s limitations are also to be taken inventory of, understanding how their high emotional quotient can lead to immense guilt in times of passenger loss, and of the possibile paucity of time, resources, or knowledge, when the situation calls for it.
The main obstacles in crew resource management involve management of stress, the power gradient, physical conditions, lack of situational awareness, and miscommunications (of great importance as there usually is never a chance to correct one).
Most inflight emergencies include hijacks which are not around much anymore since the passing of the Non-negotiation Policy by the government, crash landings, ditchings where a water landing is forced, bomb threats, pilot incapacitation, and decompressions.

Near the end of the session, Ms. Divine gave the following case study recommendations:

• Flight IC 814, Kathmandu-New Delhi, Airbus A300, 24th Dec 1999 (hijack);
• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 en route Addis-Nairobi, B767-200ER, 23th Nov 1996 (hijack and fuel starvation);
• US Airways Flight 1549, New York-North Carolina-Seattle, 15th Jan 2009 (ditching)

At the end of the session was held a Q&A session, where she spoke about what she likes most about being a part of the cabin crew, her experiences with red-level bomb threats and burst tires, and about the procedure that goes into the documentation of a death on-board. She also spoke of the viability of and relative safety that comes with being a part of the aviation industry, and about the many new and pleasant experiences she had had as a result of it.