Cathay Pacific Cadet Pilot Programme

[holdmetight]

Advanced Flight Grading

I think I wrote about this quite a while back, with my post based on the research I had done. This time I am writing as someone who has actually been there and done that. Hope this helps people get a good picture on what to expect on arrival into Adelaide for advanced flight grading (people with 30-220 hours).

Upon arrival, you will be received by FTA staff and taken to the college. You are usually given 1-2 days' free time from the day you arrive to your first flight, but don't take my word for it, it is probably different for everyone depending on when you arrive and whether your instructor is immediately free to fly with you or not. During those 1-2 days you are given your uniform, grader ID tag, grading study materials, some introduction documents to FTA, a mass briefing and a tour around the college. You are also obviously given your rooms to stay in. Spend some time speaking to the cadets, as they are very friendly and will give you advice on how to tackle flight grading. Also read the study materials thoroughly, in particular the checklists. Individual instructors may or may not need you to be familiar with the checklist, but by knowing them it will show good preparation.

You will do 3 flights in the Grob115, spanning over 3 consecutive days (weather permitting). Each flight takes around 1.2-1.6 hours. You basically need to complete the following exercises:

Straight and Level
Applied Straight and Level
Climbing and Descending
Steep Turns
Incipient Stalls
Full Stalls
Wing-overs
Unusual Attitude Recovery
Normal Circuit
Glide Circuit
Forced Landing

You don't do all these in one flight. You do a combination of these exercises in your first flight, then in your second you move onto other exercises but you are still required to demonstrate that you have retained your knowledge of the exercises in your first flight. Then the third flight is where it all comes together and you are required to show them everything you've been taught in the previous flights. If there is something you have never done before or don't do to their standard, they will teach you and all you need to do is relax, pay attention and try your best to do what you are told. Individual instructors will give you stress, some won't, but it is all part of the assessment. Apart from pre-flight checks, you should not required to do anything outside actually controlling the aircraft, i.e. radio calls, fuel/loading calculations.

Following your completion of the three Grob flights you will do three IFR simulators in the generic B200 Kingair sim. You will be given a briefing before-hand and you will have materials to study, so don't sweat. Just pay attention during the briefing and make sure you understand, because the information they give is vital towards your completion of the tasks, especially if you have no IFR experience. Don't worry about the CSU and multi-engine features of the sim, they will give you help with it so it should not be overly difficult. Each simulator session takes around 1-1.6 hours, and throughout the 3 sessions you will do the following:

Basic Aircraft Handling
ILS
Tracking radials on VOR/NDB
Point-to-point navigation with VOR+DME and NDB+DME
Missed Approach

They will give you practice at each exercise before grading you. The sim session consists of you taking off from Parafield, flying around Adelaide doing all the exercises above, finally doing an ILS back into Adelaide airport. There is no wind in the sim so you should be able to focus on learning and flying the sim.

Finally, there are two tests that FTA will require you to complete. The first test is a computer-based test, whereby you are given a joystick and asked to fly a simulated aircraft through a tunnel of squares. You do this 10 times and I suppose an average score will be drawn. The second test is a difficult IQ test, similar in style and format to the ones you may have done in Stage 1. It is quite hard and impossible to finish so just try your best.

If you finish your grading before the prescribed 14 days in Adelaide, you are free to leave provided you give adequate notice to Cathay and the FTA staff. Ask the HR personnel at Cathay for more details during your briefing, or shoot them an e-mail if you are an international applicant. Advanced flight grading took 6 days for me to complete, and I was in Adelaide for a total of 8.5 days.

Some hints that could make/break your day:

Take Notes
You will be given debriefs and because your ability to learn is being assessed, always take notes and do some mental flying during your spare time. There is a lot of information to process so this is important.

Speak with other people
Cadets can obviously give you good advice since they have successfully been through the process. They are very friendly and should help you if you initiate contact. Your fellow graders are also a source of help and support if you need it. Everyone there can and are willing to help you, you need to be proactive in getting their support.

Be humble and polite
Everyone doing Advanced Grading will have a certain amount of flying experience under his/her belt. I think part of flight grading looks at whether or not one can take criticism and learn how to do things differently from when they were first taught. I would suggest you open your mind to how they teach you, and try to assimilate it. Remember, their teaching is actually preparing you for an airline career at Cathay, so it is very important to open yourself to their training.

Know your stuff
They will give you a study guide. As I mentioned earlier, know the stuff thoroughly. You might not get quizzed or may not ever use the information inside the folder, but if the instructors notice your preparation, they will give you extra marks for it. However, in particular try to get to know the T/O and climb checklist for the B200 simulator. It will come in handy and help you get things done quickly in an aircraft that can fly at speeds up to 220 KIAS.

Keep cool
Last but definitely not least - keep cool. You will be overloaded at times but provided you are as cool as a cucumber, you should be able to cope with it all, especially during the simulator sessions.