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At a vocational school in Chengdu (the provincial capital of southwestern Sichuan Province), China, potential candidates must undergo a rigorous training period in order to pass the test required to be a flight safety officer.

For those of you reading this from the comfort of home, sit back and be thankful that you’re not among these recruits, for whom daily training involves large quantities of mud and broken dishware!

Chengdu East Star Airlines Travel College requires a mix of training for their safety officers to be, including hand-to-hand combat, military martial arts, and survival training. Once on the job, these officers sometimes take on the role of gracious and welcoming flight attendant, but you can bet that in the event of an unruly passenger on board, they’ll jump into action without a moment’s hesitation. It’s no wonder that they’ve been collectively nicknamed the “Iron Women!”

In case you were wondering, that rigorous training includes:

▼ Breaking plates with their bare hands

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▼ Sticking their faces in and crawling through mud

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▼ ….and even sparring with weapons.

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According to the dean of the college,

“Once an emergency arises during a flight, the safety officers have to respond and solve the problem immediately. Therefore, training on reaction speed and anti-terrorism capacity is essential.”

Let’s check out some of their other training drills:

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Hmm, that last one looks a bit familiar. Where have I seen it before…?

▼ Oh yeah, maybe this will jog my memory!

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It’s good to know we’re in safe hands!

Sources: Shanghaiist, China Daily via Women of China
Images: ECNS, Fanpop