The accomodation during the FNB interview is of a lower level indeed, but then again one should realise that the hotel STD in the UK ia apalingly low and probably nothing else was available at that time!
On top of that, as said before, most companies do not even provide accomodation during an interview so put this in perspective please.
Its only for a night, to facilitate things for you on the day of the interview. Imagine having to take the early morning flight from wherever you are into LHR, to then jumpinto a taxi to FNB ( 60 min at least) to then start the interview process...
I prefer the ****ty accomodation above that.
The sim....well ...its true...It is an old B1900D and you do fly a sector which takes you over the alps. And yes, you only have 30 mins to study a basic pitch/power table and some basic feautures about the plane.
But boy....DID I HAVE FUN! I have been flying big busses for 10 years now, spending my last 5 years on the lazy seat of a widebody monster. But for the first time since a very long time I felt I was actually flying an airplane again! I enjoyed the handling, I enjoyed the scenario and I enjoyed the decision making.
At the end the guys handling the sim and playing my FO said that that they had very rarely seen a guy with a smile on his face throughout the whole flight!
English test....well, I just did the famous RELTA test for my present company and as with all other language tests I did before, as well as the NJE one, I have to say that I find them difficult,boring, time-stressed and non-relevant. But hey....JUST DO IT!
Theoretical....ATPL based thats true...but is that bad? I fly constantly with airline hotshots who have no idea how high you should be on 10NM final on a standard ILS approach! Guys who have no idea what an occluded front is. People who have forgotten to calculate a 3 degree descent profile from FL390 etc....
So I do understand NJE pholosophy regarding these questions as the NJE ops go much more back to the basics! And besides that, it only takes to read up on one book ( Ace the technical pilot interview) and you know absoluetly everything there is to know about this interview!
And this is something most of us should do regardless of a possible interview....just for your own sense of profesionalism!
All in all I left the interview with a very positive view regarding NJE and the people working there....regardless of the bloody hotel and the Mc donalds meal I had to take there...
The only reason why I havent joined yet is mentioned on the previous post....If not for that I would have been there yesterday!
