Back in another era at age 52 I got retrenched from flying 737's. Prior to that I was in the RAAF and DCA for many years. During the two year retrenchment period I drove taxis and got insulted and attacked by drunken bogans. Decided it was safer to be a motor bike postman where the only danger was bloody dogs. Fronted up at Moonee Ponds for the postman interview and aptitude tests (I already had a motor bike licence). Failed the aptitude test and never got as far as an interview. I could be a 737 captain and a former squadron leader in the RAAF but not qualify to be a postman on a motor bike. Go figure, because I certainly couldn't.
A few days back I talked to a 2500 hour pilot who was attending an interview for a regional job flying a turbo prop. He had applied to Tiger a year ago before it was closed down. He passed all the HR stuff and so called Aptitude tests and was told he was now on the hold file and to report back when he had completed the self funded A320 type rating in Melbourne.
Completed the course and maxed his credit card in doing so, and reported to Tiger who had just lost its AOC. No job now. That was 28K down the drain.
He found a couple of GA jobs but didn't get in and then re-applied to the new TigerAir hoping to be re-hired.
He did aptitude tests for new Tiger all over again but this time he failed even though he passed all the other earlier Tiger aptitude tests AND got the A320 type rating. Guess what. No job with new Tiger because he failed its aptitude tests. Talk about rough end of the pineapple. Another highly experienced airline captain who had flown 737 and 777's and had over 15,000 hours also applied for the new Tiger Air. Guess what again. He never got past the aptitude tests either...What a crazy game is Australian aviation and how many pilots are all the poorer for getting into it. Thousands I bet
