Depone - I really don't mean to come across as a know it all, simply because I don't!! I was only trying to make the point that it almost doesn't matter how well you have done (within reason obviously) yourself. It's how you have fared against the others on the day.
I do however reluctantly agree with you. The tests were not MENSA level hard. They were challenging (to me) and I dare say that a human calculator would eat through them with some ease. Marrying that ability together with strong natural leadership and the personality that would not have your oppo in the flight deck reaching for the proverbial eject handle however is NOT common place. It is in this that I trust is where the BA spectrum of tests is focused.
It has been shown on more than one occasion that the individual who stands tall in the face of a challenge is not always the captain of the football team or the loud and brash - but instead Mr Average who has the ability to excel.
BA have to select those they feel will become the extraordinary without them having experience in the profession. Why make it so hard or elite that you limit your resource pool? It makes sense to allow the masses to apply and then cream off the best.
I might be misinterpreting but I get the feeling that some people think BA are dumbing down the selection or lowering standards. If the majority of the candidates on my days are anything to go by I can assure that's not the case.
You raise an interesting point about the BA tests being a watered down version of the RAF tests. The OASC process is remarkably similar to parts of the FPP. Aptitude tests (conducted by the school) tested the same abilities of aptitude. Yet there is a unique difference to selection in a commercial pilot to RAF pilot - often dubbed the 'right stuff'. RAF selection gets you in the front door, officer training, basic flying then streaming you and pushing for (cutting on the way) single seat fast jet. One in ten of pilots making it that far? Commercial selection over the last 20 years has moved away from the Top Gun gods to the team playing managers. A fundamental difference, ultimately showing the right stuff tends not be suited to the commercial seats. If you sat in your interview blowing off that you could fly a banana through the eye of a needle and didn't mention customers, then maybe commercial isn't for you.
I don't mean to come across preachy but I think it's something that is fundamemental now. It's not just pilot skills. You HAVE to be the commercial guy too!
- End rant
Last edited by Macho Grande; 6th Apr 2013 at 10:25.