I applied during the summer of this year and got a call for the stage 1 interview in 3 weeks! I had HK as my preferred location and I followed up my application with a very detailed email expressing a deep interest in the job. (check out pilotcareercenter.com for CX contact info)
. I have a degree Aeronautics and over 1000hrs total flight time through working as a flight instructor in the United States. My stage 1 was on Sept 20th and here is what I was asked:
- How did you find out about this program?
- Are you eligible for any other Cadet programs?
- Why didn't you apply to them?
- Why did you go to the USA to study?
- What would you do if we don't hire you?
- Why are you moving to Dubai?
- What got you interested in flying?
- How did you pay for your flight training and CFI/II?
-Why don't you just stay in the USA and work your way into a major airline there?
- Describe your experience in flight training?
- Describe your flight instructing experience? What challenges confronted you? How did you overcome them? What did you learn from them?
- How do you feel about being a student pilot again?
- What is the upgrade time for our second officers?
- Who is our director of flight operations?
- Who is our CEO?
- What is the composition of our fleet?
- What aircraft did we recently place on order for? How many?
- If you had the choice, which aircraft would you fly in our fleet? Why?
- What destinations do we fly to in Europe?
- How would your friends describe you?
- What are your strengths? Weaknesses?
- What do think of Hong Kong?
- How do you feel about moving to Hong Kong? Living expenses? Lifestyle?
- Where do we do our cadet pilot training? What school, airport, city, state, and country?
- How long will you be there? Is there a short course for candidates with experience?
- What training aircraft and simulators will you fly?
- What licenses/ ratings will you come out of there with? How many hours will you get?
- What job will the airline potentially offer you after cadet training?
- What are the duties of an SO?
- Why should we hire you?
Technical:
- Why have you logged PIC and Dual received during the same flight?
- What is International Standard Atmosphere?
- What is the weight of air?
- What are the weather patterns in Hong Kong?
- What are the ingredients of a Typhoon? What is the required water temperature and to what depth?
- What runways do we have at Hong Kong International? How long are they?
- What does CFR stand for when you see that sign at an airport?
- What is the usable fuel in a C152?
- Does a C152 have a utility category?
- What is the blue line speed on the Duchess?
- What is the critical engine on the Duchess?
- What aircraft is that parked outside? How did you figure that out?
- What engines do have on our B747's? B777's? How much thrust do these engines produce?
-Explain fowler flaps?
- What flaps are on a B747? What about leading edge high-lift devices?
- Have you done much actual instrument flying?
- What are the dimensions of a localizer?
- How many satellites in the GPS constellation? How many are needed to triangulate your position? What is their orbital altitude? Does GPS use CA or P?
- What do you teach a student on their first lesson?
- Teach me about spins as if you are teaching a student pilot?
- Can you spin a twin?
They asked me if I had any questions. I asked them about the short training course, logging time as an SO, payscales, taxes, benefits, and upgrade times.
Had my stage 2 interview a few days ago:
The HR questions were about the same except they REALLY wanted to know why I didn't follow through with Aerospace Engineering in University. They were trying to convince me that it would have been a lot more exciting than working as a Second Officer because all you really do spend a lot of time in the dark and there is no hands on flying. I think they were just trying to gauge my reaction under pressure.
A few new HR questions during stage 2:
-Would you be willing to commute to HK for the job if you had to?
-Later, when you become an FO and are older and may have a family, you will still not get housing allowance. How do plan to deal with that?
-The cadet program was only for HK residents. Why has it gone international.
-Why do we have a cadet program at all?
-Have you considered Type-Rating yourself and getting into an airline that way?
There were a few technical questions that were repeated but there were a few new ones too:
-Draw the RB211 and GE90 engines on the board, highlighting the differences.
-What gauges do we have in the cockpit for these engines?
-Where is the EGT measured from?
-Where is the RPM measured from?
-Identify the model on the table (777-300ER)
-What is the purpose of the raked wingtips and how do they work?
-Describe all the fire extinguishing systems on the 777.
-Once both bottles for 1 engine have been released into the engine and the fire has not been put out, can we use the bottles from the other engine? (fire extinguisher crossfeed?)
-What are the brakes made of?
-What are these? and what is their purpose? (points to the canoe flap fairings)
-What is the pressure, in PSI, of the flaps' hydraulic system (777)?
- What is the composition of the air in the tires?
Unfortunately, I cant remember precisely everything that was asked and how it was asked but I hope this helps
