Ryanair assessment.
Hello everyone. Thought I would post some feedback as for the most part this forum was generally useful.
Background - 20 Y/O, finished training 4 months ago. around 240 hours. (DA20,C172,DA42 and then MCC/JOC on 737). 3rd Interview (Jet2, Aer Lingus and RYR).
Applied around end of Nov 2017, they responded within a week, sent my signed flight report in 4 weeks later, within 2 days they called offering me an assessment end of January 2018.
The phone call itself was very simple, asked about all my results, first time passes, any fails throughout training? no, etc. All easy. They then gave me a date straight away and sent through the RYR forms to fill in.
Good place to stay - Clayton hotel, really good quality place about 7 mins away. Depending on budget obviously. (prem inn 5 min walk away).
Assessment - Arrived by 7.45am for an early 8am start. Day gets kicked off with presentation about RYR and giving them all copies of documents. Then the first pair go into the sim and the other pair go into an interview. On my day it was 8 people, so 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.
Simulator - Departure was a WAL2T from LPL. They amended the clearance and climbed us to 5000ft. Then some general air work, speed up, turns, and climb/descend at 1000/2000ft per min. Before finally getting us to slow down 170 and flap 5. He then asked me to point out positon on the map. and asked what hold entry it would be. (Direct) we then carried out the procedural ILS for RWY 27. No holding was required, he said i could if i didn't set up for the approach in time. However i did and went straight outbound.
Emergency - Fire in cabin on the outbound leg, (hand over control, give him SA of position, mayday call, DODAR+NITS). Got back control in time for the base turn to intercept localiser.
They constantly give advice and tips on how you are doing, even may set the thrust (57%N1) for you. There's no tricks in the sim and believe me you will know if you've passed or failed based on your performance in the sim, he will be very complimentary on good things and critical on bad things.
Advice - Ensure you actually know how to trim and fly a 737 accurately, they want to see you flying the correct attitudes and power settings, if you've waited a long time for this opportunity ensure you Book sims in the 737 for practice, this will make the difference. If you do bust altitude by 100ft etc just relax and correct for it. People will say its about CRM, which it is, however, they want to see you can actually fly and pass a type rating course and go onto be a competent pilot. With regards to CRM speak to your partner, encourage each other and work as a team, exactly like MCC. Its a great opportunity to show off your manual flying skills so don't be nervous, just relax and enjoy it.
Technical interview + HR interview.
I wasn't looking forward to the technical questions in all fairness, as they can ask such a broad range of questions. They started by asking me about the 737.
Flight controls on the 737, how do they work? As soon as i got talking and mentioned the hydraulic system, bang next question came.
What can you tell us about the hydraulic system?
V2? what is it?
Where is the screenheight?
DA20 speeds, how far would you get in 15 mins doing 105 knots?
That was pretty much it, no new questions or tricks that aren't out there. For prep i used 'Ace the pilot technical interview', Used some B737 type rating documents for the systems, and latestpilotinterviews.com for the HR and general aviation questions they could ask. *Lenticular cloud, advection fog, windshear etc'. Just to be sure.
HR questions?
Why Ryanair?
What can you contribute to RYR?
Why didn't you go EasyJet?
Why did you accept Jet2?
Tell us about yourself and your background?
Hardest part of training?
Quick run through on all your training to date, all marks and everything passed first time questions.
What have you been doing since finishing training?
Any questions?
That was it, the end of a very enjoyable day. Finished for about 3/4pm. EVERYTHING you need to pass this assessment is out there, whether its on here or other paid websites. As for the sim get as much practice as you can and show them youre good enough to pass the Type rating and you have good CRM.
A few days later they will send the positive email, for me its around the middle of April for induction. 4/8 passed on the day, which was only 1 from each pair.
Good luck to everyone in the coming months, and I hope you are successful.