Fashion Emergency on the Slide Raft

Having now completed my SEP [Safety and Emergency Procedures] Conversion Course for the transition to the new A380, I can proudly announce that I am now double-decker-competent! After a pretty intensive week long course, we shimmied down the slides, sploshed about in the pool after our simulated ditching, and scurried about the Emirates Aviation College trying to hide the damp patch on my bottom!

We were reminded to bring a change of clothes from our regular business attire we were wearing during our course, as to best simulate a real-life ditching, we had to prove our abilities of raft rescue, fully clothed. So after much deliberation, and trying to work out which clothes would a) be lightweight enough to flounder about in, b) maintain some kind of fashion dignity, and c) I didnt mind getting wet, it is pretty safe to say that I failed to deliver in the first two points of my self-defined criteria. My chosen t-shirt and jeans combo became a heavy weighted burdon, and above everything else, I looked absolutely ridiculous! Never the less, I was ready, and I performed my water-landing duties as prescribed. In my wardrobe provisions, I failed to also include a fresh pair of underwear, which I never realised until after I had become entirely saturated, in what looked more like a drowned sewer rat, than glamorous First Class Flight Attendant!! After spending about 10 minutes trying to dry my smalls under the hand-dryer in the loo, I gave up, and hoped like hell, that noone would notice nor comment on any patch of dampness that may have appeared from my foolishness on the one day I decide to wear a lighter coloured pant!
Mental note: Keep Cabin Bag stocked with an abundance of dry underwear, you never know when you may ditch and need a fresh pair!


Two exams down, with 100% scored in both written exams, I am relieved that my SEP training has come to an end, and we now move into a week of specialised Service Training. As I will be maintaining my role as First Class Crew, there are a number of fancy features (which of course, I cant share with you, yet!) for which I must have my skills honed upon, so when I graduate on 03JUL, I can spread a touch of Kiwi flair in the best way I know how.


There are two groups of Cabin Crew currently under their conversion training, for which, each class contains 24 crew, the amount of crew that will be on every flight! Until now, our biggest aircraft (the Boeing 777-300ULR) carries 16 crew, and that used to feel like a lot. Seeing and working with the 24 people that will make up an A380 working crew complement (although not necessarily the same 24 crew that will be on each flight) is a big change to what we're all used to, but very exciting, as the 48 people between these two classes, are all amazing people. By the time we have our first flight, there will be 144 crew trained and ready to operate the first aircraft!

As a bit of team-bonding, we decided to celebrate the end of our SEP training with a few drinks down at Carters, a great bar in Dubai... It turned a little bit messy by the time I decided to leave at midnight, messy in a good way, as we all turned out to get along so well socially, and am looking forward to flying with, what I now would consider a whole new set of friends. Part of the requirements of becoming A380 crew, means that you know longer will fly on the mainfleet of aircraft, meaning the small group of crew will be working together a lot more frequently. It is great to be able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that all of us will get along just fine!

My group of 24 crew, with our trainers Ramesh and Ezzedine. Of typical United Nations EK Crew representation, we come from: Malta, Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Lebanon, United Kingdom, India, Australia, China, Kenya, United States, Romania, South Africa & The Netherlands

Big Door, Hebby Door...

The time has come, I've handed back my flying licence, my wings have been clipped, and this Flying Kiwi is grounded. Well, until August anyway... My 2 week A380 conversion training has begun, and I am doing the mental locomotion with all sorts of new and wonderful information. Forgetting all my old knowledge about the Boeing 777's, the Airbus 330's and 340's, and welcoming in everything that is the Alpha Three Hundred and Eighty! A380. Monster of the skies!

Unfortunately I can't say too much, as it is all still commercially sensitive - and they have warned that we could be involved in a potentially limb destroying exercise should we leak any of the information about what is inside our planes, but lets just say that Emirates is putting the 'abulous into Fabulous! Things that you will never have imagined on a commercial aircraft!

Of course, I will let you know, as soon as I can, but in the meantime, I must get back to my books - CIDS, LAMM's, PIMM's, SRAK's, MPFAP's, mFAP's, AIP, AAP, ACP, ABP... what I can tell you is; AIRLINES LOVE ABBREVIATIONS!

Wish me luck, on the eve of my first exam in the morning: Interior and Exterior components of the A380. Before a wet-ditching drill, meaning, evacuating from the upper deck of the aircraft onto the slideraft in the pool. Followed by another evacuation down the slides, one of which is the industries highest slide, a rather steep 8 metre drop!

Fun times ahead, as you can see, lets just hope that noone has pee'd in the pool!

Snap Happy, Again!!

After a nearly 3 year hiatus, M! Photography is on the verge of a rebirth! Quite literally, when you hear about my first project... Back home in New Zealand, I had created the basis of a small photographical business, and had a couple of weddings on the books which I captured before I moved to the Middle East. I realised how much a missed it after not doing any work for such a long time; the stress of making sure the bride and groom looked perfect, the stress of getting the photos before the light disappeared, the stress of making sure I had loaded the film properly before it was too late, and I had lost all the photos entirely!

A lot of stress involved in photography, and quite an expensive activity, when you wanted to play around and develop your skill. So, I decided, if I wanted to re-explore the world of aperture, ISO and white balance, I would need to invest. Invest in the new-age of technology, the world of Digital! I'd been using the digi-cam for years for my point & shoot needs on layovers, drunken nights of sorrow and the likes, but for whatever reason, had never made the transition to a D-SLR, until last month. Thanks to a 14 week profit share from the company, I treated myself, and am now the proud owner of a Nikon D40 Digital Single Reflex Lensed Camera!

It purrs like a baby tiger, it captures like never before, it is SO simple to use, and best of all: I can take as many dudd shots as I like, and I no longer have to pay for the processing, only to find out the photo looks like 1940's horror film with a grey glaze over the entire print!

M!'s first project is the creati0n of a photographical timeline. Maddie and Drew (Maddie being my old neighbour, and my oldest dear friend in Dubai) are expecting a baby at the end of the year, and I am producing a nugget of history for them from woe to go throughout the pregnancy and then on to the birth of their little bubba! It has been great fun so far, with some amazing results, which i hope they'll be happy with. Can't show you anything yet, as I am not letting Drew or Maddie see the published pictures until I gift them their album once the baby is born.

I photograph people mainly, natural looking shots, capturing you as you are, as normal as possible, but with a modern twist where I can. None of this denim on denim over a hay-stack look. Black and white, sepia, or colour, I dont mind, but what I will do is make you look fabulous! Giving you memories of whatever, whenever, wherever and providing you with a completed product which will make you smile.

One, Two, Three: SAY CHEEEEEEEESE!

CBC: DXB!

Crew Briefing Centre [CBC] (noun); An Emirates Flight Attendants home away from home, formerly in the shape of a run-down portacabin containing threadbare carpet, a failing intercom system, and a barcode reader or ten that don't work. Now in the form of the World's First crew airport, featuring every modern facility that matches a world-class passenger terminal. Our new home.

As of the end of June, we will say goodbye to our old premises, and relocate to our exotic new location consisting of two entire floors of the brand new Emirates Group Headquarters building, a purpose built gargantuous structure, recently opened next to the new Dubai International Airport Terminal.

In preparation for its fully operational cutover date, they have been running tours of the facilities to familiarise the crew so we look less like lost lambs and more like lost lambs with half a clue. And a good idea too, as upon stepping inside, you realise just how amazing our new CBC is.

After being dropped off at the dedicated Crew Departure Level, you process yourself through the eGate automated immigration system and head directly to one of 16 self-service Crew Check-in stations. Swipe your ID card, which will then take you through a series of interactive touch-screen instructions, instantly telling you which of the 36 breifing rooms to proceed to, it will print you a bag tag for your flight, and give you all kinds of additional information for your flight. If you have been lucky enough to be selected for the random Drug and Alcohol Screening, the check-in system will tell you, and you proceed to the specially designed pee-in-the-cup room. If not, you then drop your bag off onto the conveyor belt, and it gets taken into the complex underground maze of automated baggage sorting tracks, and loaded onto your bus without you having to lift a finger!


Each of the 36 breifing rooms is themed in one or more of the 100 Emirates destinations, and without waiting to swallow, I began my search for the Christchurch room. Breifing Room 11. Along with Bangalore and Doha (which to be honest, I wasn't interested nor bothered to look at), Christchurch adorns the walls of CBR11, where photos of the Chalice, 'Kiwi-Crossing' road signs, the Old Stone House, and Whale Watching in Kaikoura, along with a brief blurb of our wonderful city are plastered over the walls of the room! 56 inch Plasma TV screens in every room provide important information about the flight, including passenger loads, crew names/photos/check-in status, minutes until departure, which bus to board to take you to your aircraft and a myriad of other technological fabulosity!


Our new Airport Standby facility, for the times when you are on reserve, now includes several couches, internet surfing stations, showers, bathrooms, relaxation rooms with reclining lounge chairs and a refreshment zone.


There are three additional Crew Lounge facilities for socialising before departure, one which will contain a Costa Coffee shop, there is also a new dedicated Crew Duty Free shop in Arrivals selling everything a regular shop would. Once their licence comes through, they will even stock alcohol, which they promise will be even cheaper than elsewhere.


The Arrivals floor consists of four Baggage Reclaim belts, exactly like being in any passenger arrival hall, thousands upon thousands of crew mail boxes, which is handy considering they plan on growing the crew numbers from the current 9000 we have, up to 21000 by the end of 2012!


A truly amazing facility which is unfortunate that the public won't get to use, but really confirms how great it can be to work for such a rapidly developing and cash-rich airline.

A Fresh Set Of Threads

A new era of uniform is about to be upon us, and I simply can not wait to be fitted, tailored, and primped into my brand new EK identity.

With the launch of the A380 aircraft, Emirates has decided to freshen up their image, and give all the crew who fly on this aircraft some brand new threads. Goodbye Powder Blue, and Hello Chocolate and Beige!... Not a huge change for the girls, as the company still wanted the instant brand recognition that we ARE Emirates, as we sashay through the terminal, but we now will look a lot more modern, in our chic new outfits. Many will miss the potato-sack-esque style of the current image, designed back in 1997, but I know that many more will appreciate this new and exciting look!

While the A380 crew will launch the uniform from 01 August 2008, the remainder of the company will be strutting their stuff from the New Year.

Without much further ado, let me show to you the photos provided this week in the launch of the new get-up...