Ok guys, just got back this morning from Flydubai.
Here are some important things I'll spit out right away.
1. The 16000dhs per month for housing allowance is just that. The only change that is not on the website is that they are now giving you a 6 month allowance in advance.
2. The 24,000 USD bond is sticking, everyone has to pay it.
3. Insurance. 100 % coverage for yourself. 75% coverage for your dependants. Pre-existing conditions is not covered. They don't know about dental as yet.
4. There will probally be a shipping allowance but again they haven't ironed out the specifics.
5. There will probally be pass priviledges but they have no specifics.
6. First airplane to arrive 29 April 2009 . Delay that by the amount of days Boeing is on strike plus two weeks.
7. Sim Instructors will be from CAE, Line Checkairmen from flydubai.
8. No furniture allowance.
9. Will be operating out of DXB until Jebel Ali is finished. Parking will be provided at Jebel Ali but they were unsure about DXB.
We talked face to face with the COO. His main point was flydubai is not Emirates. They are not there to run a property rental business or airport shuttle. Its sounds as if he wants to run it like the Southwest atmosphere. Average day is about 7 hours, Regs let you fly 10. Average 80 hour month. HE wants to work you hard on your days so you can have a better quality of life. IF my math works out that means you'll fly 11 to 12 days a month. All out and backs for the most part. Of course thats after the airline is established , until they they'll need a little flexibility.
Now for the process.
Day 1
Meet with sim instructor for a quick brief. In the box you power up the buses and he will then start the engines and put you at the end of 12L. You then get ATC clearance, Brief the crew emergency procedures , radios , clearance, and complete the before take off checklist (This he refers to as the ABC's),,,,,the crew brief is whatever you do now at your current airline. Use your SOPs they don't give any. Normal take off in VMC on departure radar contact was lost and he told us to track the SHJ 140 outbound. He also asked us at what point we would cross over a fix. Something will happen to get you to turn back to the airport. For me it was a bomb threat for my sim partner it was a cargo fire. On ILS short final we did a GA and an engine failure at about gear up. Came back around for a single engine ILS landing to full stop. Thats it folks, don't sweat it.
Then over for the Advanced Compass testing. 24 math problems in 20 min. Simple addition, simple algebra, simple trig, actually only had one trig question. Find the hypotnuse of triangle if one side is 6 and the other is 8.
There was a coordination excersize with a joystick , rudders, and airspeed, fly the bars , keep it coordinated and on airspeed. There was a aviation test of 30 questions over regs and general aerodynamics. There was also a memorization segment where they would flash you alt, as, heading and radio instrumentation. 2 or 3 of them would have numbers assigned. After about 3 secs the instrumentation would go away. You would then have to recall the numbers and enter them. While at the same time in the upper 2 corners of the screen you would get a red alert and you had 3 sec to cancel the alert. you did this by using your number keys 1-9. The 2 alert panels were broken up into 9 segments. For instance if an alert was in the middle of the box you would push key number 5 to xcell. If it was in the northeast corner you would push the number 3 key to xcell. It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete this.
Day 2
Psychometric Testing, don't study for this one boys, just record what you feel. ONe is a 187 question test taken manually. IE, "If you had a choice you would rather create an art project than build a house" YOU agree , sometimes agree or disagree. The second test is on the computer on how you think at the work place , about the same number of questions I think. IE "Sometimes I think I am superior to others" or "I try to please my boss" again its 3 choice yes , no or sometimes. YOU are instructed by the Psyc. to stay out of the middle as much as possible.
Then we met with The COO, refer to first part of my post.
Panel interview time, no technical questions so relax. The play book they are using is Checklist for Success by Cheryl Cage. Mine were:
1. Why do you want to work here?
2. How does your family feel about moving to Dxb?
3. What did you do to prepare for this interview?
4. Tell me a time you had to make a decision where you did'nt have the full picture.
5. Tell me a time where you had to make a stand and stuck to it when others tried to influence you in another direction.
6. Tell me a time when you had to say no.
Then back to the pshyc, to see if I needed a small , medium or large straight jacket. This actually was an extension to the interview. He told me what the test came up with and what weaknesses it indicated. Personally I think he gives the results to the panel before the interview because they both asked the same questions to me.
Finally over to medical for:
Urine analysis
weight and height
ekg
blood pressure
color vision, same cards you see every six months
near and far vision , reading sentences and the standard eye chart with differnt letters than we are used to.
Ear test in the booth
and finally a blood draw to just check for HIV and other diseases.
Thats it guys , they will get back to you in 4 weeks.
The experience was great, flew me to and fro on business class OMG! That was nice!!! Everyone involved were top notch, great people !