FAs=Safety?

[800Dog]

Would most of you FAs say your job is primarily saftey related? Are you all required to take an annual physical testing your physical strength, agility and overall health? If there is no retirement age for FAs, it seems logical to make sure they have the physical tools to perform and save lives. Thanks for any info.

 

[PSPFAWILL]

No annual physical agility tests are vonducted at most airlines and no set retirement age.

 

[acaTerry]

it seems logical to make sure they have the physical tools ...

Wow man, I saw an FA with some really nice physical tools on, believe it or not, Mesa a few weeks ago.

 

[MQAAord]

F/As go through annual recurrent training. During recurrent, medical procudres are reviewed and CPR proficiency must be demonstrated. Evacuation drills are performed, and the F/A must be able to perform the drill, including the operation of exits for every exit on every aircraft they're qualified on. If a F/A can not physically operate the exit, they can no longer be a F/A. I believe AAs oldest F/A was asked to retire after she could no longer operate the exit on the 727 during her recurrent training. I don't think a big deal was made of it, she retired, not officially fired. But, a F/A must demonstrate that they can operate the exits. Also during recurrent is a written test, that covers basic policies and procuedres, and a security segment.

There is no offical FAA medical like there is for pilots. Personally, I think there should be.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

On occasion, I've overheard F/A's discussing the amount of Xanax they've taken or need to take to deal.

Has anyone else noticed that some crews seem to self-medicate themselves with these forms of tranquilizers?

 

[acaTerry]

On occasion, I've overheard F/A's discussing the amount of Xanax they've taken or need to take to deal.

Has anyone else noticed that some crews seem to self-medicate themselves with these forms of tranquilizers?

If i read it right, that was a factor in that latest ASA gal that got arrested. 2 jobs you couldn't pay me enough to do....cop or FA.

 

[lowlycfi]

Would most of you FAs say your job is primarily saftey related? Are you all required to take an annual physical testing your physical strength, agility and overall health? If there is no retirement age for FAs, it seems logical to make sure they have the physical tools to perform and save lives. Thanks for any info.

According to the FARs, yes the job was primarily safety related. As far as the day to day job goes, no. When I was an F/A I felt it was customer service. The other stuff was on the back burner heated up and ready to use when needed (and occasionally it was). Annual recurrent training took care of that. When I was at work, I felt that 95% of the job was taking care of the pax and making sure they were happy. There was a little of the safety stuff here and there, but it was usually routine stuff. I always felt that’s what separated the good from annoying F/As. If you were able to accomplish the required safety related duties transparently with out coming off as the “rule police” you were on the right track.

As to the physical part, if you couldn’t handle the day to day stuff physically you couldn’t handle the emergency stuff when the time came. The job is sort of self regulating physically. I felt the day to day job was much more physically demanding than the brief emergency duties would ever be. Of course at my airline we worked pretty hard day to day. I never felt medical certification was necessary (nor the pointless FAA F/A certificate). If you couldn’t hack it every day or pass recurrent, you would be gone.

As far as the medication goes…until you’ve had to deal with the people in the back don’t knock it. I knew many F/As who were on anti-depressants, anti-anxieties, anti-inflammatories…. you get the idea. Dealing with passengers sealed up in the tube day in and day out can cause some serious emotional issues. Pair that with problems at home, being on the road and a couple of jackasses in the cockpit and you’ve got a recipe for depression and emotional problems. That being said, the medication and therapy would usually do the trick. I can remember flying with a few F/As before and after they were on medication and believe me their personalities were like night and day.