Now here is a funny thing, on a Pacific Blue flight earlier this week, sitting on a 737 (row 15 emergency exit) and was briefed by the CC what to do in the event of emergency, part of which is to get the life rafts from the overhead stowage in the aisle roof before jettisoning the emergency exit (having checked outside for fire etc fiirst)... all makes sense but oops!
Do we take them if we crash on the land I ask? Fortunately CC had a sense of humour (best safety brief ever by the way and the service was fantastic, and yes I did thank them).
Now even though the 737 I flew on from Perth to Sydney (Virgin Blue) flies for 2 hours over water (again I was in row 15) I was not briefed on life raft removal, but was on the emergency exit procedure.
Anyway my point? Well I understand the CAA set the numbers i.e CC to pax/aircraft type, but clearly it is not set by emergency exit numbers as on this 737 (same is true of Qantas and Virgin Blue). On this flight there were only 59 pax (4 CC), so on a 747, for example 400 pax = 8 crew? How does it work?
And how is the duty of care to those passengers that do not have a CC member at the emergency exit equate to those that do?
Bottom line, if BA are able to afford to place CC on a/c to 'man up' every exit, then they get my vote, I believe the training, expertise and familiarity in the event of an emergency being paramount; Ultimately you are not paid for what you do,
but what you know; ergo, if you never use the training and experience you have, Great... however, when the proverbial does hit the fan...
Oops apologies CC = FA, old skool I'm afraid, ie not flightdeck crew but pilot/co