the last two days

Here I am again!  I was going to do a blog post last night about the EP course, but got caught up with other things like eating and drinking, which usually come before blogging on my schedule, and then it was late, and I had to get caught up with other things like brushing my teeth and sleeping.  After two days of my brain being slowly pulled out of my ears with a pair of blunt pliers, it was a nice thing to be able to eat and drink in my own time.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Wets yesterday:

Here's Ian and JG posing before jumping in...

at which point, we were all instructed "do NOT jump into the pool!"  So of course...

does diving count?  I think GM and DK were a little confused on this count!

A little bit wet, waiting to get our life jackets inflated:

Ian pretending to be dead (see, JG and myself were not the only ones messing)

And proof at last that I am alive!

Cannonballing into the water while holding my nose (because I am a sissy):

Before Wets, we did our verbal and physical assessments for EP.  This included saying where everything was located in the airplane, and what it does, and what the precautions are, etc. etc.  For instance, there are 4 oxygen canisters with 2 supplemental and 2 therapeutic masks.  These are located 1 under each CCM seat, and 2 above row 9D/F.  They must be correctly stowed, dust covers fitted, free from oil and grease, have their masks located in the same place, and at least 1500 PSI.  To use, you have to hang it around your neck, use the high pressure valve located at the right of the gauge, connect the mask tubing, turn the valve all the way on, and then 1/4 back, check that the green flow valve is showing, check that the oxygen bag is beginning to inflate, and put on the passenger's face (upside down on an infant).  Precautions for use are that no dust is in the valves, it's free of oil and grease, the passenger isn't wearing heavy oil based make-up (wipe it off if they are) and make sure that the tube does not over extend.  Stop using it when it is down to 50PSI unless all other oxygen cylinders have also been depleted.  After use, it must be replaced in stowage, and the PIC must be informed of its use.  That is just one item of emergency equipment that we had to learn about !!!

After we did all of that, individually (while the others waited in the canteen for their turn in the hot seat), we went out to the aircraft and learned how to open the doors.  Quite amusing to see a previously captain such as JG with 11 years' ATR experience and a previous examiner, reaching forward to lift up the main door only to be told by the girl "stop!  I have to demonstrate it to you first!" after which, JG attempts again, only to be told "no!  You can't hold it there, you have to hold this particular handle here, you're doing it wrong!"  As JB said: "how degrading can this get?" and C said "save me from this inane drivel!" amongst other things that I won't include on my blog.

I apologise for doing this post all backwards.  Really I should have started with the assessments, moved on to the door operation and fire-fighting, and finished with a description of Wets and the pictures.  I also want to point out that the messing carried out during Wets was mainly due to 2 days of listening to "this inane drivel" and being so frustrated that all 8 of us just had to vent somehow!

Another post coming up shortly :)

TTFN!