Hello all
Just did my selection in Utrecht earlier this week. 10 candidates, only one was already rated on the 747. Most of us seemed pretty experienced, 737, 777, 787 captains. First a short presentation about AAI from the chief pilot, they had already worked out the order of the interviews and the pairs for the sim check. Then 30 mn for the ATPL exam, which was somewhat different from the questions I had seen.
23 questions, here are the ones I can remember:
How is altitude read in an aircraft? Pressure altitude, density altitude?
Definition of climb gradient
What is worse for stalling conditions? Light mass fwd CG, heavy mass rearward CG,…?
What are flaps that extend a rearward from the trailing edge? Krueger, zap flap, split flap?
When do outboard ailerons lock? Gear up, gear extended, high speed, low speed?
What is window heat used for? Anti-icing, birdstrike, defog?
Definitions of magnetic variation, deviation.
At a constant TAS, load factor depends on? Bank angle, weight and turn radius, TAS and turn radius?
Optimum descent point in a headwind, TAS must: be reduced, increased, remain constant?
TODA =? TORA+ clearway ?
Engine surge indications? EGT increases, N1 increases EGT decreases, N2 increases EGT decreases?
Which part of the engine controls the temperature? Turbine, combustion chamber, exhaust?
What is the shortest distance between two points on the globe? Rumbline, half a great circle, a great circle?
Effects of flaps 20 on takeoff? Increases stall speed, increases required elevator trim?
What is the movement around the lateral axis? Pitch, yaw, roll?
What is VLO
Then you're called in one by one for an interview with the chief pilot and an HR lady. Very pleasant, just an informal chat about yourself, more details about what will be expected of you, then you can ask any questions you might have.
Finally the sim ride, 30mn for each pilot, very straight forward exercise: Take off from 36L in AMS, Rendy1Z SID, then fly heading 120 after passing PAM for 1 minute and left turn to intercept ILS27. Land, that's it. No failures, raw data in a 737 EFIS fixed simulator. I think they mostly want to see your CRM, crew coordination.
We started at 9, I was done by 2pm. Heard I got the job the next morning.
Good luck to all of you. They are expanding fast, I was told they had 13 Jumbos, they are at 17 now, so they do need pilots!