There was a crunch, a grumble and a high-pitched whirring sound. "That was just the engine, folks. Don't worry about it." Chuckles, a few genuine and a few nervous, came from the group of passengers sitting in the seats of the Brasillia 120 as it pulled away from the little county airport of Sheridan, Wyoming. I resumed my safety briefing. "This aircraft is equipped with four emergency exits. The door through which you entered is opened by...." I continued on through the flotation devices and fire extinguisher operation until I was satisfied that most of them had paid attention to most of the information. I performed my final compliance check to make sure that these fully capable adults had listened to me when I told them to put their iPods away and open their window shades. Satisfied, I sat in my jump seat, buckled my lap belt and called the cockpit. "Lets get this bird in the air," I said, which is code for "The cabin is secure and ready for take-off."
My original thought when applying for the job of an airline flight attendant was mostly about making connections and determining whether or not I liked the lifestyle of a frequent-traveling-jet-setter. My imagination painted the idea of working in the airline industry as glamorous, as I visited new destinations, met interesting people and held the mystique of someone who got to wear a sweet uniform and wings and who walked right through security with so much as a nod. The reality of eating meals from either fast-food establishments or out of Tupperware, watching more TV in a week than I have in my previous lifetime, and getting to know hotel employees in Williston, North Dakota by name, was a little different than what I had envisioned. But hey, if I want to be a pilot someday and wish to log a few hours as an airline pilot, I may as well get an inside look at the daily grind before completing all my flight training and locking myself into a new career.
"Sir, would you like coffee or water?" He looked at me and without even blinking said, "what kind of juice do you have?" I cleared my throat. "I have coffee and water." Silence for a moment. "Do you have Sprite?" In the future, I will not complain about learning V-Speeds, minimum equipment lists or weight and balance information. My only hope is that there will not be any coffee in the cockpit.
