In a simulated plane crash....

Where did the little yellow birdie on the top of my page go???

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Every year, as mentioned previously usually at this time of the year, I have to go back for tests and drills.
Last year was a ditching drill so we had to jump out of the plane and into the pool, swim and then climb onto a raft (that's the shittiest part because you have to be damn strong to do it on your own).
This year, it's a dry drill meaning we do crash-landing evacuations. Instead of jumping into water, we jump onto slides. It can be very daunting taking that one step onto the slide.
We've recently acquired a new trainer and we had our drills there today.

This year was the first time I felt fear during the drills, especially when it was my turn to be the crew. We took turns being crew and passengers.
The new trainer is realistic. All doors had windows which were actually screens and could show a variety of scenes. The fire scene (as can be expected from a crash landing) was pretty realistic. Thick smog, orange, blue, grey hues...
Not only that, the new trainer actually produces smoke in the cabin.
So during one of the scenarios, the smoke was thick (but not the thickest it can produce) and it was hard to navigate through the cabin. When the plane 'crashed', the lights went off and my heart almost stopped. Then it was waiting for the evacuation horn to come on and for the crew to shout "Open seat belts!"
The exit closest to me was unusable (on purpose*) so we had to look for alternative doors to escape. It was really chaotic. I imagine that in a real situation, people will be hysterical, the scene is just going to be a million times worse.

*Doors may not open for reasons such as there are obstruction or fire outside, or that the slide failed to deploy, or the slide failed to inflate or that the door just simply will not to open.

When it was my turn to act as the crew it was an unplanned crash, the scenario being the plane got involved in an aborted take off. The sound of the plane crashing and coming to a complete stop (that took about 30-40 seconds) was really scary... :(
Thank goodness the trainer doesn't vibrate!

Let's pray that we all have safe flights, always.