CHRONICLES OF A CABIN CREW....EXPERIENCES FROM MY LOG

THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFE TIME.... This was my first experience of severe turbulence. Nowadays whenever there is a turbulence my mind automatically compares the event with that one incident and I am at peace realizing that this one is nowhere near that one.   We were coming from Sydney, Australia. Capt Burjorjee was our commander. Cockpit crew and cabin Crew stayed in different hotels, don't ask me why. We met the commander at the airport and he said, " crew I need to brief you all" My Inflight supervisor Mr Kalidasan looked worried. Any such briefing meant some problems and we were at risk.   Very somberly Capt Burjorjee started his briefing. " Ladies and gentlemen we will face a severe turbulence once we reach an altitude of 24000 feet. I have asked for higher altitude but that is not available and hence we will be cruising at 24000. I will keep the seat belt signs ON till we get out of this weather system and that will approximately 45 minutes into the f...

( Disclaimer:   All names of the crew have been changed in order to protect their privacy..Any resemblance of the names mentioned herein is purely coincidental without any malice to anyone) In my career I have flown many aircrafts and the first huge aircraft that I flew was the 747-200 classic aircraft. Before I go into the details of the incident that I am about to write I need to familiarize my readers a little about the aircraft and the crew compliment. In any case the jumbos are JUMBO and they are huge in terms of size and volume. Hence the crew compliment during those times were 19 comprising of an IFS (Inflight Supervisor), 4 Pursers,4 assistant Flight pursers and 10 hostesses . At the CCMCO ie Cabin Crew Movement Control office we would all assemble, IFS would then allocate working positions in the aircraft and that was purely based on seniority. We being the junior most would always end up getting the tougher zones mainly the aft economy. The economy configurat...