RemAir,
I did the assessment on the 22nd of September 2010. It was quite an enjoyable day really, the Ryanair guys want to put you at ease and make you feel as relaxed as possible.
We first had a briefing which mirorred what we are given in the Assessment briefing pack you receive once you've paid for the assessment. We were all then told that if we were successful on the day (there were 8 of us) that we'd all have jobs. Next we were handed the SIDS and STARS for East Midlands which is where the sim assessment would take place out of.
The interview was next. The technical questions that were asked were as follows:
Why do jet aircraft have sweptback wings?
What is Mcrit?
Where does a sweptback wing stall first?
What do spoilers do? (They just wanted to know the different uses of spoilers)
How does a wing stall?
What does a mode S Transponder depict on radar screens?
What do you know about CRM?
Personal Questions:
Why do you want to be a Pilot?
When did you start to develop interests in aviation?
Do you think you got good value for money at your flight training organisation?
Why should Ryanair employ you?
That's about it really for the interview side, overall took about 25 minutes.
Then the sim assessment came. The 737-800 sims are fantastic! Try to enjoy them as much as possible.
My flying partner and I were placed on the threshold of RWY 27 at East Midlands. We started our cockpit preparations like we did during our MCC and JOC. Luckily we had both attended the same school so we both followed the same procedures. We did our pre-departure briefings (PF only) and then took off (PM liasing with ATC). Did part of the SID and then we were just given radar vectors. We did two steep turns, one in each direction, climbing and descending at certain rates and then went back to the airport for an all engines operating NDB hold and approach to land.
We then swapped seats and everything was exactly the same, except in this flight the assessor gave us a cabin fire to deal with. We gave the assessor a NITS brief (Nature of the emergency, Intentions, Timescale, and Services required upon landing). The scenario then ended and my flying partner continued the flight profile as normal.
That's it really. We've still not been told whether we've passed or not 23 days on but hoping for that phonecall sometime soon!
All the very best with the assessment
GD