fully prepared?

[flyblue]

I tend to agree with tightslot on that one. Although I am sure that good training and experience matter.
I have been a CC for a while now, but since AF introduced the new cockpit/cabin simulator, that we get to use together with pilots, the training has become very realistic and gave us a chance to get as close as possible to a real emergency. Just to give an example, after years of talking about decompression, I finally had a chance of experiencing at least the effect it makes to have the masks litterally be ejected from their location. I realised why we are taught to grab any mask available, because of the masks belonging to the row I was sitting, at least one landed on the front row, and the closest to me was one from the other side of the aisle. I had a split second of indecision before automatism set in and I grabbed the nearest available mask. Next time it willl happen (hopefully not for real, but you can never know ) I think I'll be more prepared on what to expect.
Then there's experience. Over the years, you get to know yourself a little better, know your reactions and put this knowledge of yourself and the inputs of training together.