Air Japan (AJX) B767

[Lepo]

Interview

Hello everyone!
I'm going to write here my experience on the screening as there's a lot of time no one posts an update about that.
Unfortunately I was not successful at the screening and I know exactly what I did wrong, so I will try be as detailed as I can on everything to help future candidates.

Screening Date: Jan/2018

Some important notes:
1 - Before even applying to this job READ THIS ENTIRE THREAD, EVERY SINGLE PAGE AND POST. I can't stress this enough. There's a lot of useful information here, not only about the screening, but also about the long training, about the company and its evolution throughout the years and about the positive and negatives of this contract. Things you might never thought about asking but that are useful are somewhere lost on all those pages. This is probably the best airline thread on Pprune. There are people here commited to providing accurate and insightful information about AJX, about flying in Japan and the contract. While I was reading I took notes/print screens of the pages with the posts I considered more helpful, so it would be easier to check those infos later. It helped me a lot and I would like to thank to all who contributed throughout these years, specially The Dominican, Fratemate, Jrmyl, Gtseraf and others.

2 - Have you flight hours and logbooks well organized and accurate. The JCAB requests some very specific kind of information, so having everything correct and updated will help you out filling the forms and checklists required for this job.

3 - Do your research on the ANA Group and Japanese culture. It will help you during the interview and while in Japan.

4 - Prepare the best you can for the simulator. It's the core of the screening process. If you don't do well there you won't suceed. Chair flying/mental flight, whatever you call it, know these profiles better than your name. I wrote a step by step guide with what I would have to do on each moment of each profile and also the pitch and power settings required for each of those phases. It helped me a lot to memorize everything.


Initial Application:
Applied through Crew and recommend it. They were fast on replying my emails and on approving my application with AJX and very helpful with all doubts about the company and screening.

Travelling to Tokyo:
It took me around 30h to arrive in Tokyo as I came from Brazil. I had the chance to fly with ANA on the leg from the USA to Japan and enjoyed it very much. Their service is way ahead of traditional american legacy carriers.
Try to adjust your sleep pattern to Tokyo's timezone as much as you can on your flight. It will help to be awake and well rested on the screening day.
I arrived through Narita, took the Limousine Bus to Haneda and the Keikyu Line to Otorii Station, which is right next to the hotel they put you. All very simple, safe and organized. Very different from what I'm used to in Brazil.
The hotel room is quite small, but it's clean and there's space to hang your suit and other clothes. Wifi works very well. Not all the hotel staff speak good english, so they might have difficulty understanding you sometimes. The breakfast is Japanese style, quite different from western countries, but there's a 7-11 right in front of the hotel where you can buy some stuff (including small meals if you're too lazy or tired to look for a restaurant) and there's a Mc Donald's about 400m away. There's no tipping of any kind in Japan (restaurants, cabs, hotels, nothing is tipped).
Sleep as much as you can on the first night.


Screening:
Crew's representative in Tokyo met me at the hotel lobby on the assigned time and we took a cab to ANA Training Centre, which is just a few minutes away.
The screening started with the paper test. It's based on the FAA ATP. 20 questions. It differs quite a bit from the Brazilian regulations, but I used an app called Prepware, which contained all the questions. It's available on Google Play/Apple Store for 10 USD. So do all the ATP Multi Engine questions on this app and you'll be well covered for the test.

After that there's the SIM orientation with HR and the Check Captains. They will read some initial informations and then play a recording about the sim session, stopping from time to time to explain some stuff on the board. Know your pitch and power settings for each fase of flight. They will ask you that and you should know because on the sim check guidance sent by Crew there's a table with this information. Take notes about what they say and ask all your doubts. They are very open and helpful.
When the orientation is done there's a 10min break and then it's interview time. REMEMBER TO SPEAK SLOWLY. This is a big issue for them, they're not native english speakers and have different proficiency levels. One check captain specifically was very difficult to understand as he spoke very basic english and with a hell of a strong accent. Slow down your pace so that all of them can understand you.
All five will be seating one next to each other in a long table and you'll be seating in a small one in front of them. First questions were from HR, they asked my first impressions from Japan and then to talk quickly about me and my aviation carreer. Then they asked what I knew about the ANA Group, why I wanted to join AJX, what my family and girlfriend thought about that, how did I prepare for this interview, if I had sim practise before coming to Japan, when I had had received the sim profile, how I would keep motivated during the long training, what would I do if I was struggling to succeed on training, what I would I do if my sim partner was struggling to succeed or was not motivated or did not want to study and practise for sessions, if I get nervous before sim evaluations. They asked when I would be able to join AJX, my notice period and they asked A LOT of questions about my current airline. I don't know if they were genuinely curious as I believe there shouldn't be many candidates from Brazil or they just wanted to test if I really knew about the place I'm working, but they made it very clear that I didn't have to answer any question I didn't feel comfortable with. They asked about fleet size, how many pilots work for the airline, my operating base, if we have layovers, how many legs a day we usually fly, the longest and shortest flights we do, the destinations where we operate, if the airline is expanding, how long would it take for me to be upgraded to captain and etc.
Then they passed the word to the check captains. The first one asked about the memory itens of the engine fire non normal checklist on the airplane I fly (they wanted me to tell the actions as if I were actually doing the checklist, like "thrust levers, confirm, close" and etc), then asked my concept of CRM, if we had callouts at my airline and the importance of them on the operation. Also asked my actions if I had an engine failure in cruise with VNAV engaged, how would I decide the cruise flight level after the failure (they were interested in obstacle/terrain clearance and how would I know the altitude of the highest obstacle in the area I was flying) and also asked about runway lighting, both for centerline and runway edge lights. The second captain certainly did a previous research on my airline and asked me to explain about the only accident on the company history and what happened there (he even knew the flight number), asked about what was TCAS, how does it work, how long before the possible impact you receive a TA and RA. He asked if I had a RA to climb and ATC asked me to descend what would I do, if I was at the certified operational ceiling of the aircraft and had a RA to climb, what would I do. He also asked when could I go below DH (he wanted me to say both about visual cues and being stabilized on loc/glide). The last captain asked me what do I do to improve my flying skills, what is MSA and gave me a scenario where our ATC clearance was to climb to FL290, but restricted to 7000ft until further instructions. If we had a lost comms under radar control in this scenario what would I do.

About a 20min break then Sim Session.
It's exactly the same that is on the sim guidance. Seat on the chair, adjust height, distance, shoulder harness, headset and lighting. They will give a brief explanation about the panel and answer any other question you might have.

Importante notes:
1 - Acknowledge every single radio transmission by ATC with a thumbs up or by saying roger/ok. The PM won't readback until you do it. After he reads back confirm the instruction given by atc and change mcp accordingly/if necessary.
2 - This is not in the briefing. They want you to say "right/left side clear" before every turn, even on IMC. It's difficult to remember that sometimes and might not make any sense, but they like it, so on your mental flight remember training that.

3 - This is also not on the guidance they send you, but they want you to say "checked" for every callout the PM says. So it's not only on the 80kt callout, but also on the V1/Rotate/V2, FMA announcements, approaching minimums, minimus, 1 dot to final approach course (on the vor approach), glide slope alive and etc. You have to say "checked" for whatever the PM says. They like that. So remember to put that on your chair/mental flight too.

4 - Briefings are REALLY short. Basically weather suitable for departure/approach, flaps used for takeoff/landing, takeoff speeds/vref, authorization given on departure, rejected takeoff briefing, the briefing strip on jepp plate and missed approach procedure. No need to do a step by step explanation of the procedures/charts.

5 - The PM is passive. He won't do anything unless you tell him so. You have to tell him to report when joining downwind on the visual, to report high station and on final approach course on the vor, to expand his vor and advise one dot, to start time on both visual and vor approaches, to report established on the ILS and etc. There are some things you can do to help you remember when to ask for some of the checklists. After every briefing there's a checklist. If you are on the ground, after departure briefing comes the before takeoff checklist. If you are inflight, after the approach briefing comes the descent and approach checklists. Whenever you reach 3000ft on the normal takeoff profiles ask for the after takeoff checklist. The PM will call when the landing gear is 3 green. That's when you ask for the landing checklist to the dashed line. He'll also call when flaps reach 30. That's when you ask to complete the landing checklist.

6 - After you reach 3000ft they will position freeze the aircraft until you finish your approach preparations and tell atc you're ready for the approach.

Then it starts with a training non evaluated 3 mile final autocoupled ILS approach followed by autolanding. All you have to do is watch it do its own thing. Pay attention to N1, pitch, vertical speed and how the papi goes from 2red/2white to 3red/1white on short final and how to flare. Don't forget to apply full reverse thrust, disengage the autopilot by 80kt, stow reversers by 60kt, apply manual brakes, stop on the runway and set parking brake.
After that it's a non evaluated visual approach.
Start by setting up the MCP (V2, runway hdg and altitude 0), set speed and altitude bugs, autobrake rto and flap 5. Ask the PM to get the weather and atc clearance. Set MCP accordingly (HDG and Altitude). Do your takeoff briefing. Ask for the before takeoff checklist, then get takeoff clearance and do as it's in the sim check guidance. Don't forget the right/left side clear call before turns. After you join downwind disconnect the autopilot and maintain pitch 5 and 62/63% N1. You won't have to change power setting for the rest of the approach, except for adding 1 or 2% N1 while turning to final so that speed won't drop. Then return to 62/63. Don't forget to correct the wind on downwind to stay on the 2.0nm X-Track error. Add 2 or 3 degrees on your heading to compensate the wind.
Whenever you ask for Gear Down and Flaps 20 momentarily lower the pitch to 2.5 to avoid the balloon efect, then return to 5.
When you reach 35s after abeam the threshold the first thing you must do is start turning base. They don't want you to delay that. Then ask for F/D off, flaps 30, speed 140kt, arm speed brake and conduct your landing checklist after the 3 green call from the PM. Wait until you reach 140kt to start descending and do a defined base leg (even if it's just for a few seconds), that's how they want you to do it. Then maintain 2.5 pitch and 62/63% N1 for the whole time and you'll be able to fly a stabilised approach on path. In case you get high or low correct path as quickly as you can, but don't go over 1000fpm below 1000ft. Don't forget to go 3 red/1 white on the last couple hundred of feet. The sim is quite touchy and there's no speedtape (at least in my sim there wasn't), so you really need to cross check all the instruments every 3/4 seconds. Very gentle movements of the yoke, avoid large corrections. Don't try to grease the landing. Aim on the touchdown zone.

As this was just a training non evaluated session they will tell you what you did wrong and how they want you to do it.

Then it starts all again, but this time for real.

One important thing that I forgot to say is when you descend from 3000ft to 1500ft for the visual or from 3000ft to 2000ft (or 1600ft depending on atc instruction) for the VOR approach you'll use V/S. Usually around 1000ft/min for changes of 1000ft or more. There's some kind of delay on the auto throtlle and power won't decrease as necessary to maintain the desired airspeed (don't know if it's like this on the aircraft or a sim glitch), so just pull back the thrust levers to idle or your speed will increase and then let the auto throttle add power again as necessary to maintain your bug speed.
For the VOR approach the only difference from the sim guidance was that ATC asked me to maintain 3000 until high station.
Wait until the needles on the RMI turn to report high station and start time. While on the outbound leg don't forget to set 500ft on the altitude window on the mcp after you hear the ALT HOLD call at 1600ft, check the PM has his VOR in manual and final approach course set on his side and set the HDG bug to 120 as this will be you next heading. While on procedure turn don't forget to ask the PM to expand his VOR and advise 1 dot. On final approach course descend to 500ft and maintain final approach course until the PM report runway in sight. Use power around 75% to maintain 140kt at 500ft. Set missed approach altitude after ALT HOLD on 500ft. Align with the runway and start descending on path after vdp or visual with papi. Power 62/63% and pitch 2.5.

For the V1 cut don't forget to keep your ball centered and avoid using aileron. After 400ft you may use rudder trim. Pay attention to stay around 5 units.
Remember there won't be autothrottle with single engine so you'll have to adjust speed manually after reaching 3000ft. Set around 78-80% N1 to maintain 195kt.
Declare emergency around 1500ft and tell atc to standby for intentions.
After checking the weather is suitable for the approach you may request vectors for the ILS, but only do that after you're done with the engine failure and shutdown and the after takeoff checklists.
While descending to 1600ft during radar vector pay attention on power setting for maintaing desired airspeed.
After the glide slope alive call, ask for gear down, flaps 20, speed 149kt and arm the speed brake. When the PM calls for 3 green ask for the landing the checklist. Don't reduce power too fast to slow down from 175 to 149kt, or you will cause yourself trouble with large thrust and, consequently, rudder variations. There's a post a few years back by Fratemate with a suggested technique that really worked for me. Set power around 70% N1 and speed will slowly drift from 175kt to 149kt and will pretty much coincide with G/S capture. Then power around 67% N1 and follow LOC and G/S guidance (flight director will be available for the whole V1 cut/ILS scenario, but don't forget to check the LOC and Glide dots). Don't forget to set missed approach altitude after G/S capture. Remember you are single engine, so just one reverser available after touchdown.


The reason for my failure:
The visual and VOR approaches went pretty much as on the profiles. I think I started descending a little bit earlier than the vdp on the vor, but I managed to stay on path.
The big problem was basically on the single engine ILS. When I reached 3000ft I let speed go to 205kt before correcting power setting to slow back to 195kt, but that was a minor error. I used a rudder trim setting larger than necessary and it took me some time to correct it, but I think that was not the biggest problem as well.
I managed to come pretty stabilized on most of the approach, but after G/S capture I let the speed drop. Target speed was 149kt and I kept it variating between 145 and 148kt most of the time. I did callout that I was correcting airspeed but my power inputs were low and slow and I couldn't reach 149kt. I knew I was slow, but was afraid of using too much power to correct airspeed and becoming unstable. It was a fatal error. After stoping on the runway the first and only thing the observer captain told me was that if I am slow I need to add more power, because the slower I am the more drag I will have.
I knew I had messed it up and wouldn't get the positive result.

Later that night I got the email saying I didn't meet AJX requirements. I was the only candidate on that day, don't know if there were other people on different days.

I am deeply saddened with the outcome. I prepared the best I could, had the whole sim profile completely memorized, knew my pitch and power settings for every phase of flight, did my job preparing for the tech and hr questions on the interview and was confident I would be able to make it, but failed on a simple, but important thing, which is maintaining correct airspeed on the single engine final approach.

I really wanted to succeed and was looking forward to working for AJX. I'm very disappointed with myself for throwing away this opportunity. I don't know if I'll be able to apply to AJX again one day, but I certainly learned a lot from this screening and will take that for my carreer. I'm still young and hopefully other good opportunities will cross my path.

Sorry for the very long text, but I hope this helps future candidates. If anyone has any further question feel free to PM me or ask below on this thread. I will keep an eye here.

Good luck!