The list of drills that we went through were smoke drill,door and emergency evacuation drill,slide drill and last but not least wet/pool drill.Drill day was a pretty stress-free day as the important exams have all been seated,so it was time to have some fun!The last time we had these much fun going through all the drills in one day was 6 years ago.Back then,we were flight steward/stewardess trainees at the academy.
First stop was the smoke drill.I'll explain to you folks the process of this drill.It'd always started with each an everyone of us having to fight a fire initiated inside the smoke house using a BCF.After it was completed,the professionals would fill the smoke house with smoke and arranged the interior of the smoke house with obstructions.We were required to enter the dark and smoke filled smoke house 2 by 2 til we found the exit on the opposite side of the smoke house.It was always challenging to walk through the dark and obstructed smoke house,and some of us even got themselves confused when finding the exit.Some took less than 5minutes to escape frm the disaster while some kept going round and round the smoke house,lost their way in finding the exit.The situation portrayed the real situation of an emergency crash where all powers would be shut down automatically and smoke filling the aircraft cabin due to the crash.All you need to do would be staying low,avoiding yourselves frm inhaling too much of toxic smoke and walk your way out of the aircraft cabin.
These were our cheerful morning faces before having to enter the smoke house.
Next stop was the 777 mockup for our door/emergency evacuation drill.This was a drill which all of us hafta brush our emergency command skills by shouting "Emergency,emergency!Heads down,grab ankles and remain seated!" and "Evacuate,evacuate!Release seat belts,leave everything,heels off!Come this way!" as loud as possible.My classmates went hysterical and crazy joking around and laughing when bizarre situations were given by our instructor for us to imply with.One of the craziest situation was all of us were to act as handicapped passengers that chartered the whole flight and suddenly a prepared crash land was about to hit us.Most of us were either leg-less or deaf and dumb,so the operating crews had to think of a way on how to brace us for the crash and how to help us out of the mishap.Like I said earlier,my classmates went crazy acting like total handicaps just to make things more difficult for the operating crews.I just couldn't stopped laughing and holding myself frm taking a visit to the loo,so I stormed out the mockup area straight to the washroom without asking for any permission in mid of the situation.When I came back,most of my classmates were laughing at me as they were assuming that I was either about to vomit,couldn't stand myself frm doing 'big business' at the loo or just plain hysterical!Crazy people!Sheessshhh...
This was one of the situations when 'passengers' panicked during a ditching emergency by wrestling and pushing the operating crews away.It looked more like they were playing American football,weren't they?=)
The favourite of all drills came next,the slide drill!Yeay!!Most of us loved jumping down the slide as we were no longer allowed to go down the playground slides.Well,for those who never had a clue what the slides were for,slides would automatically deployed during a crash landing and doors were opened in the emergency armed mode.All passengers and crews must go down the slides to escape.
I wonder if we would still be smiling such way after going down the slides during a real crash landing situation =P
The last drill of the day,which was our least favourite drill was the wet/pool drill.It was such a shame that I didn't get to capture any kodak moments during the drill as we were all busy surviving in our yellow life jackets in the pool.Swimming and floating using the life jackets in our uniforms was seriously tough,no joking matter.Remember there was an incident where a fishing boat capsized at the Straits of Malacca and one of the fishermen survived after 15hours of floating in the sea?I don't know he did it,but I sure respected his sea survival skills!
It was a wrap for the day after the wet drill.It was hard to say goodbye after seeing each other every day in class for almost 3weeks now,but at the same time we just couldn't wait to invade the blue skies again.The blue skies is where we all belong.But just as I left the parking space at the basement,while driving my way out the academy compound,there was a loud BOOM sound and my car swerved to the left and went out of control!I drove it to an available parking space nearby and saw that my left tyre was completely punctured!Luckily,most of my classmates were still around the academy area so most of them saw me trying to change the tyre on their way out.Most of them stopped and helped out.I don't know what I'd do without them.One of them even said it was their first attempt of changing a 4WD car's tyre but still,guys are totally meant to change tyres while ladies should just sit by the curb and wait=P
To Khairul,Nizam,Fahmi,Hairi,Zamri,Getot and Mandy...you guys are the best!My Nautica was totally in good hands=)
It was an unfortunate tragedy,but overall,I had a great day.The day ended with Sweetie Pie coming by to get my Nautica a new spare tyre at the nearest workshop,then later to Sushi Zanmai at Sunway Pyramid for some delicious sushis at tea time.After all I've gone through in one day,I retired for bed at 9 last night.Man,I was exhausted!
