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CRJ-220
15th Jul 2008, 04:19
Hi guys

I'd just like to buy some books for the airline interview. It's not like I have interview coming soon but I'd just like something to read and something to maintain and refresh my knowledge for the possible future interview

So far I had one recommendation about "Ace the technical interview" but I also heard that book has lots of error and inaccuracies. They certainly agree it has loads of good questions in it but not recommended for studies.

But I might as well buy that book because I like the format of the book and looks like fun to read it.

Any recommendation on other books?

thank you

potkettleblack
15th Jul 2008, 07:33
Well done for realising at an early stage that there is more to getting a flying job than going to the cheapest school and sending out a zillion CVs at the end of your training.

I don't have the book you referenced to but have been told it has a number of errors. I know it has been discussed before so a search should bring up some relevant posts.

As to interviews in general you should split them up into the technical side and the HR for your research. Technical questions can be challenging but are not insurmountable with a bit of study. There are some great threads in the fragrant harbour forums which relate to Cathay but are relevant nonetheless to any airline. Also there is a long running Ryanair thread which is full of various technical questions that people have been asked. I would set up a word document and cut and paste into it and work your way through until you have them all nailed.

At the bigger operators it is more than likely that you will have an HR interview or perhaps even be in front of a panel. I found a book called "Brilliant answers to tough interview questions" useful for this. It has all of the usual "what are your strengths/weaknesses, give me an example of a stressful time in your life and how you coped" mumbo jumbo. What set this book out from the rest was how it not only had vast lists of questions but it gave you an insight into why the interviewer asks the question and how you should go about preparing a decent answer.

If the airline you are targeting or called for interview has psychometric or other types of testing then a search of the British Airways threads would be worthwhile as they have a whole battery of entrance tests.

Ryanair thread

http://www.pprune.org/forums/interviews-jobs-sponsorship/222538-ryanair-interview-sim-assessment-merged.html

Interview questions from hell

http://www.pprune.org/forums/interviews-jobs-sponsorship/80197-interview-questions-hell.html

BA direct entry pilot

http://www.pprune.org/forums/terms-endearment/147292-british-airways-dep-selection-lowdown-merged.html

CRJ-220
15th Jul 2008, 09:20
potkettleblack

thank you for great advices and links :ok:

MIKECR
15th Jul 2008, 09:31
CRJ,

I have the Ace The Technical Interview book and find it 'so so' as far as explanations go. Theres some obvious mistakes, as well some of the answers which arent particularly well worded. There are some good questions in it however and worth a read if your struggling to find something else.

To be honest though, every interview is different...some are full of tech stuff, some love the HR questions, some just have a chat with you over a beer at the bar! I had 2 interviews recently and to be honest, I wasnt asked anything that even remotely resembled any of the questions from the Ace book. In one interview I was hit with loads of rule of thumb IFR calculations and asked to work them out ie. Top of descent point, rate of climb, rate of climb/decent, height on glideslope given a dme readout, distance/speed/time etc. Theres none of that stuff in the book so I could arguably say the Ace Book was a waste of time for me.

CRJ-220
16th Jul 2008, 03:30
MIKECR

I appreciate your review about Ace the interview :)

bonalste
16th Jul 2008, 06:22
"Checklist For Success" is an excellent book for the HR-type questions, in my opinion. If gets you thinking about your past experiences and trains you how to answer questions personally, rather than reading off memorised answers verbatum.

transfer jack
16th Jul 2008, 10:31
The "PilotsReference Guide" is an excellent book covering all the important ATPL basics: www.pilotsreference.com (http://www.pilotsreference.com)

CRJ-220
17th Jul 2008, 06:43
bonalste and transfer jack I appreciate your recommendation as well :)

I have seen good review about "Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot: Excruciatingly Detailed Explanations of Everything Essential for Every Pilot"
by Richie Lengel (http://www.ziwi.co.nz/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Richie+Lengel)

Does anyone know about this book? It will cost me $160NZD apparently :}

Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot: Excruciatingly (http://www.ziwi.co.nz/everything-explained-professional-pilot-excruciatingly-detailed-explanations-everything-essential-every-pilot-p-43938.html)

Airline Pilot Technical Interviews: A Study Guide (Professional Aviation series) (Paperback)

by Ronald D. McElroy (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Ronald%20D.%20McElroy)

Amazon.com: Airline Pilot Technical Interviews: A Study Guide (Professional Aviation series): Ronald D. McElroy: Books (http://www.amazon.com/Airline-Pilot-Technical-Interviews-Professional/dp/0964283948)


Airline Pilot Interviews: How You Can Succeed in Getting Hired /921T (Paperback)

by Irv Jasinski (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Irv%20Jasinski)

Amazon.com: Airline Pilot Interviews: How You Can Succeed in Getting Hired /921T: Irv Jasinski: Books (http://www.amazon.com/Airline-Pilot-Interviews-Succeed-Getting/dp/0942195019/ref=pd_sim_b_4)

I found these one as well. Does anyone have reviews on these book?

Frankly Mr Shankly
21st Jul 2008, 13:57
Well, as riveting as it is(hmmm) JAR-OPS in Plain English by Phil Croucher is also worth having a plough through maybe. As a serving pilot its handy to keep in my bag, and although not strictly an interview prep book, theres alot of relevant stuff in there for flight planning type questions, legalities etc, which you're sure to get at an interview.

Plus if you can show a decent knowledge of jar-ops, it would go down quite well. Ace the TPI is also good, albeit as mentioned with a few errors but generally a decent prep book.

Edit: Whoops just noticed youre from NZ CRJ so I guess it depends on where you get a job as to whether jar ops is relevant for you.

Mercenary Pilot
21st Jul 2008, 14:09
You guys have missed out the standard books used by (lazy ;) ) airline interview panels. These are:

"Handling the big jets" by David P. Davis

and

"Preparing for your Cathay Pacific Interview" by Captain's X, Y & Z

Ace is a good book to rejog your memory and get a feel for what could get asked but If you find yourself disagreeing with an answer in there, check it out with other references. You're probably correct. I think its a decent book but long overdue a revision.

:ok:

Alltheway
24th Mar 2009, 14:06
Hello Mike,

May I ask which Airlines you've had Interviews with - I'm hoping for a RyanAir Assessment soon.

bigjarv
30th Mar 2009, 00:00
My recommendation is a book I found called "Get a head for the sky". You can get it on Amazon or directly from their web site. I got it when I went through CTC's interview which is definitely a bench mark for the industry. Got me through. It is obviously based on their process but it is a really good book for any interview. It just gets you in the right frame of mind and leads you through the whole thing from start to finish! Good tips and a whole heap of maths and HR questions as well as sim and aptitude test advice. Really good all rounder.

Get a Head for the Sky - Airline Interview Preparation (http://www.getaheadforthesky.com)

Get a Head for the Sky Airline Interview…Amazon.co.uk: Mr A Pilot: Books (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Head-Airline-Interview-Preparation/dp/B001SMWUZC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238371301&sr=8-1)

wall-e
14th Apr 2009, 10:00
JAR Professional Pilot Studies (https://www.aviationexam.com/shop/shop.php?action=item&iditem=249&fold=4&idp=4&idi=1)

Author: Phil CROUCHER
ISBN 0-9681928-2-3
https://www.aviationexam.com/shop/imgdata/books_1_sm.jpg (https://www.aviationexam.com/shop/shop.php?action=item&iditem=249&fold=4&idp=4&idi=1)

PRICE: 69.95 €

p.s. maybe the cover is change but still a very complete book also for your ATP




JAR OPS in Plain English (https://www.aviationexam.com/shop/shop.php?action=item&iditem=251&fold=4&idp=4&idi=1)JAR OPS 1 & 3, Parts 1 & 2 translated into plain English! Quick reference for people involved in European Aviation, from pilots to Ops staff, to save you either carrying around a lot of large files, or a CD, which requires a laptop.


Author: Phil CROUCHER
ISBN 0-9732253-6-X
https://www.aviationexam.com/shop/imgdata/books_3_sm.jpg (https://www.aviationexam.com/shop/shop.php?action=item&iditem=251&fold=4&idp=4&idi=1)


PRICE: 39.95 €

hambim336
5th Oct 2011, 12:04
Hi

I read some opinions in this topic. I do not agree above ideal. We can find out some articles at about.com by using Google search.

If you want to get more materials that related to this topic, you can visit:
Airline pilot interview questions (http://pilotinterviewquestions.info/airline-pilot-interview-questions/)

Best regards.

Otto Throttle
5th Oct 2011, 14:23
Books aside, common (and disappointing) mistakes I have repeatedly seen;

Not researching the employer, especially any recent major developments.

Not understanding the market the employer operates in, what they do, where they fly & who they compete with.

Having no clear idea why they want to work for that employer, or even why they want to be a pilot. Sad but true.

Being completely unable to string a coherent sentence together in recognisable English. Constant umms, ahhs and "like" or "you know" doesn't leave a positive or professional impression.

Dressing in an inappropriate fashion.

Easy areas to address, but all ones which will almost certainly get you a big fat "no" virtually from the first question if you can't make the effort.