My interview experience
I just got back from London for the Arik Interview and this was my experience:
The hotel: Its the IBIS Gatwick. Its European Standard. One fitted sheet, a blanket and one small pillow. The room itself was just a little larger than that of a mid to large size cruise ship room. What I'm trying to say is that the Hotel for the interview in London would never pass the contract standards of my current regional carrier employer. Breakfast is included with your stay, but its nothing to write home about. The room is clean and does have a T.V.
The interview: The people at OAA were very relaxed. I enjoyed that part of the experience. Day one included the personality test which was the biggest waste of time I've ever experienced. I was asked the same questions what seemed like 400 times. There was also a test that used rudder pedals and a joy stick (fairly simple). Then there was the memory test (you were given altitudes airspeeds and radio frequencies and then asked to input them back into the computer. The math portion was pretty easy (basic addition, division, multiplication, subtraction, and very bery basic algebra). There were two word problems regarding planes leaving their respective airports at "x" time and travel "X" MPH. You had to solve for the point where they would meet. For the ATP questions there were less than 10 or 15 and you may want to study converting feet to meters because a couple of them were in meters which we don't really use in the U.S. There was a portion of the exam including interpreting instruments and having to I.D. which aircraft represented the instrument indications (using RMI, Heading indicator, and attitude indicator). It was pretty basic.
The actual interview was 20 or so minutes just giving your background, and the age old what would you do if captain wasn't following SOP's, or if he were drinking prior to flight. There were two aerodynamic questions one of which was: Why are engines mounted on the wings instead of the fuselage. The other was why we have swept wings on jet aircraft.
The sim was steep turns and flying the complete approach plate for Shannon Ireland's ILS to 24. (ndb intercepting and tracking after dept., including ndb holding (two turns) the the ils to full stop.
My friend who works for Evergreen Aviation selling their ground services was just there last week (lagos) and gave me the following report. Take it for what its worth: "Still here in HELL! City is like a de-militarized zone after a holocaust. Run like hell man. Don't come here unless you have a roundtrip ticket and you came to build huts with your church.
The city is rather clean in comparison to India but still by US standards there is 0 relevance to anything you and my have ever known. I suggest if you want to move to a place like this come here for 2 weeks and you will know. The airport is in much better condition than I expected. There are no more pirates storming airplanes here. around 2000 they gave shoot to kill orders to the airport security. The terminals are in good condition but the bathrooms have no potty seats and no toilet paper. People stink and just don't get it.
Arik Airlines is one airline we will service here and they are flying old junker F-27's.
Hope that doesn't offend anyone, but I'm just passing on one American's experience there last week. He was staying in a posh hotel and experienced rolling blackouts the entire time.
I personally have decided to not take the job is offered. I realized one thing while in London for the interview which is that there are limits to what I will endure to stay in aviation or advance my career in aviation.
Good luck to all. PM me with any other questions.