Rigorous 12-Week Training of Flight Attendants Unveiled

① Flight Attendant Safety Training

Airline cabin crews are responsible for onboard safety. According to Article 2 of the Aviation Act, they are defined as flight attendants who perform safety tasks onboard, such as evacuating passengers in emergencies.

The cabin crew will be trained upon entering the company. The training can be broadly divided into safety training and service training.

Flight attendant safety training includes basic training such as emergency first aid, aviation security, and fire suppression. The training is conducted to respond to potential emergencies onboard appropriately. Intense exercise is provided as they are responsible for directing passengers’ evacuation in emergencies. 

Only those who pass the training process can wear the flight attendant uniform. If they fail, re-education is conducted, and if they fail the re-examination twice, they are disqualified and dismissed.

Flight attendants receive CPR, fire suppression, and emergency escape training using slides as much as they are responsible for the safety of passengers. According to the regulations, passenger control relief must exceed 110 dB. The test will be retested or eliminated if the voice does not exceed 110 dB in the examination.

One of the education that trainees find difficult is safety training using equipment. They conduct emergency evacuation training to evacuate passengers in an environment similar to an aircraft. The golden time for safely evacuating passengers is considered to be 90 seconds. The training ensures all passengers can evacuate to the emergency exit within 90 seconds.

They receive training to escape through a 10-meter-long slide from a full-size aircraft. Flight attendants approach the training with the mindset of not missing the golden time. Flight attendants undergo safety training for about 10 to 12 weeks immediately after joining the company. Even after becoming an official flight attendant, the training is conducted regularly for 15 hours and 30 minutes yearly.

② Strengthening In-flight Security Training

Flight attendants also receive in-flight security training. The training is conducted using handcuffs, tasers, and lanyards.

Cabin crews can restrain or detain passengers who threaten onboard safety, such as onboard assault, device manipulation, and attempts to enter the cockpit. Since flight attendants also handle security management, they must speak to passengers in informal and commanding terms in case of emergencies.

As air security incidents increase, crew security training is expanding. Each airline is beefing up security training to respond to all emergencies.

In November last year, Korean Air said it provided consignment training to cabin safety instructors at the Presidential Security Agency. They completed the ‘Aviation Security Training Course at the Presidential Security Service’s Security Safety Education Center. Nine people participated in the training and shared it with the cabin crew at the regular safety training held annually by Korean Air.

Korean Air has been training at the Presidential Security Agency’s Security and Safety Training Center for the first time as a private company since 2017.

Asiana Airlines fully strengthened its crew security training last year. To respond to illegal activities on board, the practical know-how passed on to counter-terrorism personnel and security experts of the Special Warfare Command was applied to regular safety training completed annually by all crew members.

Security training was conducted, such as suppressing riot passengers, special martial arts, how to use electronic shock devices and shooting training. Asiana Airlines has also introduced an electronic shock device capable of continuous firing. They trained flight attendants in their use and shooting

③ Training to Identify Passengers Also Conducted

On the 9th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it had announced legislation to revise the National Civil Aviation Security Education and Training Guidelines, which aims to strengthen aircraft security training for flight attendants. This amendment has increased the number of flight attendant training contents to eight. Training hours have also been expanded from two hours to three hours.

In the future, the crew will be trained to identify passengers’ unnatural behavior. Flight attendants must complete at least once a year of training at a designated agency to acquire security information and skills related to their job performance. This manual was made by referring to the manual for signs of abnormal behavior used in the police and military.

Passengers who observe are classified into passengers who repeat specific questions to flight attendants. These passengers are overly expressive, suddenly make multiple expressions, sweat a lot, and are dressed out of season.

This prevents acts like when passengers opened emergency doors on Asiana Airlines last May. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport determined that the flight attendant was not immediately aware of the emergency door when the passenger manipulated it. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that Asiana Airlines violated the Cabin Crew Operation Manual content that passenger trends should be monitored for safe flight. 

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