PART 2 (due to allowable length!)
The penultimate exercise is the Psychology test. Answer things truthfully. That's all there is to it! There are 100 questions, each with 4 answers of which you must pick the most and least accurate.Themes and questions recur, so that coverups and non truths will become evident. Avoid this by being honest.
Finally is the motivational test…mainly asking how certain things at work would affect your motivation to work. Again be yourself. It will ask questions like "An increase in pay will"
A. Greatly decrease my motivation to work
B. Slightly reduce my motivation to work
C. Have no effect on my motivation to work
D. Slightly increase my motivation to work
E. Greatly increase my motivation to work
That is the completion of stage one. As outlined earlier, you should be called within about a week if you are successful. If not, expect a letter within 2 weeks.
The sim ride
The Sim ride is conducted the day before your final interview. No matter how you perform in your sim ride, you will still do the final interview. There is no pass or fail for the sim ride. Capt Greenop is looking to realistically assess your flying skills, your ability to learn, and your IF scan.
A comprehensive briefing is given prior to the ride…Capt Greenop makes you feel pretty much at ease, and he is quite friendly and approachable. The operation is designed to be flown as a single pilot operation. He will give you all the speeds and power settings for the operation (also listed below). For GA
pilots, the major difference is the fact that the power lever is very important in controlling the speed in cruise. Remember this and try and fly the figures that are given to you accurately. It is prudent to write the figures on the side of your charts to reference them in flight if required. You will not really have a chance to look at your charts much, so learn them [as] well.
You will be flying either the 744 sim or the 767 sim, depending on availability. The 744 is flown at min fuel weight - about 4 tonnes, and only the 2 inboard engines are used, the outer are at idle. PEC is not required.
As outlined earlier, it is all flown as a single pilot operation, except that you call "gear", "flaps" and the radio aids to be set up.
The settings for the 744 as given to you by Capt Greenop are as follows:
TAKEOFF:
Full power, rotate 120 kts
10 deg nose up, accelerate to 140 kts.
Call gear and flap (20) (the whole flight is flown at flap 20, except appraochat flap 30).
CRUISE:
140 kts 6.5 deg nose up 1.25 EPR
180 kts 2.5 deg nose up 1.37 EPR
ILS
One dot high, gear down
On glide slope, flaps 30
2.5 deg nose up, 120 kts, 1.22 EPR
TWIN LOC
14 nm Gear down
Flap 30 leaving 4000'
2.5 deg nose up, 120 kts, 1.22 EPR
GO-AROUND
Full power
Flap 20
Rotate 12 deg
Gear up
140 kts
For the Melbourne approach, the flight was as follows:
Take off and climb on rwy heading to 4000'. Level off at 140 Kts (about 1.25 epr).
Climb at 1000fpm to 6000', turn right onto 270. Descend at 500fpm, turn onto another heading. He calls all the headings to turn and bugs them.
You will be vectored towards Bolinda, and told to intercept the 040 inbound. You will have to call the heading bug, and enter the holding pattern (usually a sector entry) halfway thru the sector entry he will call
cancel the hold, clear ILS or Twin Loc approach. Fly the approach.
He will call go-around somewhere before minima. Full power climb to 6000, maybe some turning etc, and then will track you to the east towards Epping. Intercepting the 360 inbound radial to Epping, then the 030
outbound radial. Shortly afterwards he will order a steep turn to the left or right. Then a parallel entry into the Twin loc or ILS approach (whichever you did not do first).
You will have to call for the appropriate navaid to be called up on the relative instrument (left or right).
Fly the approach, again somewhere near minima, he will terminate the approach, end of sim ride, and you will be wanting a drink.
During the approaches although it is a single pilot operation basically (although you call flaps and gear and he sets them for you) it would be prudent to give a good briefing before launching into the approach - if you have time!
Failing that, help yourself by calling out heights above minima - ie "1000 above minima, 500 above minima" etc. It is the QF SOP so show that you can do it now.
A few pointers: If the aircraft feels like it is going through turbulence and you cannot 'catch it', you are over controlling so let go of the control column and it will settle.
The thumb trim is not like GA electic trims. When you trim, it does not relieve any control column force, you have to relax your pressure and see how that has changed the force required. Due to this fact, you need to
trim in 1 second spurts.
He knows that you have never flown a 744 before, and that is why it is given a performance decrease to look like a big GA twin. You are being assessed on your scan, your knowledge of IF skills and you ability to learn and improve in a short space of time. When you have finished, think about how you went, give yourself a score out of 10, and write down all of your mistakes that you made. You will be asked about it
tomorrow....
Final interview
The panel is usually 2 pilots - either 2 captains, or a captain and an FO. They begin by saying that it is a behavioural interview and that it is split into 2 parts, one for you, the other tech stuff and company. There
will be a break and you will have time to ask questions. They will be asking the odd question trying to put you under pressure (maybe making you defend a decision you made once) and seeing how you react.
What follows are actual questions people have been asked over the last few months.
When did you get down from ****? (small talk)
Tell us a bit about yourself, starting from when you left school to where you are now.
Why you did straight sciences at year 12 level?
How did you pay for your flying?
Why did it take so long for you to get your PPL?
Your first job was at *****. Tell us what you did there.
Did you ever drive around to find work?
How long did you apply for work at ***?
Why, if you enjoyed **** did you change and start flying with ****?
Why did you change work and go to *****?
Did you apply before you were given an interview?
Tell us about a time that you thought you made a big mistake.
What did you learn about the whole situation?
Why did you decide to do that? Surely it would have been better to do****? (Trying to get you to justify your decision)
Did you ever have a situation of conflict at work, did it get heated?
Tell us a little about [your current job's] flying.
When did you have a situation where you panicked, would you have done it differently?
Did you ever have to make a snap decision without all the facts?
What are the minimum qualifications for Qantas?
You had these qualifications in 19**, why did it take you till 19** to apply?
Have you applied to anyone else?
Can you give us a score out of 10 for your sim ride?
Ok then, but do you think you passed it?
What area did you think you needed to improve on?
What mistakes did you make?
What's my biggest achievement so far in flying?
Did that motivate you at all?
Any times when you had no checklist that covered the emergency and you had to think for yourself and make it up as you went along?
What characteristics do you think Pax think a captain should posses?
You've probably got a list of strengths, so tell us 3 of your weaknesses.
You're coming into YPDN at 2500 in a cat b twin. It's night and they give you a clearance to track for a 6nm final, cleared visual approach. Can you see any problems?