There’s Been an Airplane Emergency. Here’s What Flight Attendants Do Next.

To prepare for these terrifying but rare onboard crises, new flight attendants on all commercial carriers must undergo four to six weeks of training. Additional one- to two-day training, primarily focused on safety, recurs annually. It varies from airline to airline.

We recently visited Alaska in Seattle to learn about flight attendant training, which includes exercises that simulated emergency landings, fire outbreaks and in-flight medical issues. Here’s what we saw.