Once passengers are aboard, the minimum crew is present and ready to act, awake and alert in the guidance's gloss, and may be reduced in exactly three cases: during normal ground operations at the parking station without refuelling or defuelling; in unforeseen circumstances when the passenger count is reduced, with a report to the competent authority after the flight; and to provide in-flight rest in the cruise, under the fatigue rules the next lesson meets. The first two reductions carry conditions: an equivalent level of safety, the senior cabin crew member still present, at least one cabin crew member per 50 or fraction of 50 passengers present on the deck, and, for ground operations on multi-crew aircraft, one more per pair of floor-level exits. Unforeseen means in-flight or away-from-base incapacitation, or unavailability at a layover; a crew member falling sick before dispatch from base, or a thin standby roster, justifies nothing.
Joining, learning, staying current
Assignment has three personal conditions: at least 18 years of age, assessed as physically and mentally fit under the medical rules, and all the subpart's training and checking completed with competence per the operations manual, with freelance cabin crew verified across every operator they serve, exactly as for pilots. The training ladder then climbs: new entrants without a valid cabin crew attestation complete the initial training course and its examination first; aircraft type specific training, including the actual opening of every door and exit type in normal and emergency modes, and operator conversion training with the operator's procedures, fire and smoke, evacuation, security and CRM, both checked, come before first assignment or a new type; and before counting in the minimum number, each cabin crew member completes supervised familiarisation, flown as an extra crew member above the minimum, under the senior cabin crew member's supervision, in uniform and recorded. Differences training covers new variants or changes in equipment, its location or procedures.
Currency then runs on two loops. Annual recurrent training covers each member's assigned actions, with yearly touch drills on every door and exit type and yearly donning of the life-jacket, portable oxygen and PBE, while the heavier drills recur at intervals not exceeding three years: actual opening of the exits in a device or aircraft, the flight deck security door, the pilot-incapacitation seat, restraint and oxygen drill, pyrotechnics, and fighting a characteristic interior fire with PBE donned in simulated smoke. The annual validity is 12 calendar months from the end of the month, with one scheduling kindness: renewed within the last three calendar months, the new period counts from the original expiry. Six months without flying duties inside a validity period demands refresher training before reassignment, or, when only one type went unflown, refresher or two familiarisation flights on it; past the validity period entirely, only type specific and conversion training reopen the cabin.
The senior cabin crew member
Wherever more than one cabin crew member is required, the operator nominates a senior cabin crew member, and the nomination has two gates: at least one year of experience as operating cabin crew, and a completed senior course with its check. The course covers the leader's craft: pre-flight briefing, cooperation within the crew, a review of operator and legal requirements, accident and incident reporting, human factors and CRM, and the flight and duty time rules. In operation the senior is responsible to the commander for the conduct and coordination of the cabin's normal and emergency procedures, including discontinuing non-safety duties for safety or security; and the operator keeps procedures for choosing the most appropriately qualified replacement when the nominated senior cannot operate, notifying the authority of changes to those procedures.
Three types, sometimes four
The cabin crew's type cap is stricter than the pilots': assignment to no more than three aircraft types, stretchable to four only with the competent authority's approval and only when, for at least two of the types, the safety and emergency equipment and the type-specific procedures are similar, and the non-type-specific procedures identical. Variants join the count as separate types whenever they differ in emergency exit operation, in the location and type of portable safety and emergency equipment, or in type-specific emergency procedures.
Not to be confused with the crew
One short rule guards the cabin's chain of command: personnel or crew members other than operating cabin crew who work in the passenger compartment must not be confused by the passengers with operating cabin crew, must not occupy required cabin crew assigned stations, and must not impede operating cabin crew in their duties. The distinction is the operator's responsibility, and it is why the operating crew's identification to passengers is a rule rather than a courtesy.
The specialised operations corner
Commercial specialised operations run their flight crew recurrency on their own clock: recurrent training and an operator proficiency check covering the aspects of the specialised tasks described in the operations manual, with appropriate consideration of IFR and night, and a proficiency check validity of 12 calendar months, double the commercial air transport rhythm. The check may be combined with the licence proficiency check, and where it is not, it need not repeat what the licence check already covered, concentrating on the specialised task instead.
The task specialist, the photographer at the open door or the surveyor at the sensor, has a short and sharp list: responsible for the proper execution of the duties the standard operating procedures assign; restrained at the assigned station during critical phases and whenever the pilot-in-command requires it; personally ensuring restraint when working with external doors opened or removed; and reporting to the pilot-in-command any fault, failure, malfunction or defect that might affect airworthiness or safe operation, and any incident that endangered or could have endangered it, the same reporting reflex the rest of the crew carries.