My Ryanair story
Hi, first of all I would like to thank all of you on this forum for your contributions, it’s been to great help so far. Therefore I would like to share my experience with you.
I am an integrated student with 244 hrs total-time, with MCC in a B737 fixed base simulator.
03/12-15 - First application with Ryanair
19/09-16 - First e-mail regarding the phone-call/interview
20/09-16 - Phone-call (wouldn’t go that far and call it an “interview”, really)
04/10-16 – E-mail with the results from the interview
I see a lot of people (including myself) asking about what time they will hear from CAE or Ryanair, and as most of you know by now it is a total lottery when (I say when because they WILL get back to you eventually) they will pick you for the magic “phone-call”. The last thing I heard is that they actually filter applicants by their passport number.
I booked my flights and hotel the same day I had the phone-call, and since they most likely will call you just a week before the interview, it is crucial that you have done your homework beforehand. By that I mean read up on the ATPL's (POF, MET, PERF, and other subjects of operational importance), Ryanair’s history and figures, the 737, but also on the systems of the aircraft YOU’ve flown, be it a DA-42, Cessna, Cirrus etc..
The phone-call was exactly as posted in here numerous times before; Your license and medical expire-dates, did you do your MCC, JOC?, where did you do your training. Basically getting to know you. If you are not sure about something, say so, don’t guess or lie. At the end of the call he/she will read a small text and ask you 4 questions regarding that text, fairy straight forward, I misunderstood one of the things she read and when I found out I had answered something completely different we both had a laugh. So as you might see, not too scary.
I stayed at the Glenmore House, not far from Ryanair’s HQ, it was old and worn but it was basically the only thing I found that had rooms left. I wasn't there for a luxurious holiday anyways...
Be there in time, and come prepared. I got there at 0730 when we were supposed to meet at 0800. When everyone was there we got picked up by one of the assessors. As stated before, very relaxed and friendly, tries to calm us by telling us jokes.
Briefing for the first hour in a room next to the simulator, we went through the plate for the day (EMA WAL2N) and got paired up with our sim-partner.
Me and my sim-partner were the first one’s in the sim and we had a malfunctioning stab-trim so we had to sit there for 30 minutes before a technician finally fixed it.
Fairly straight forward, Wx was 300/10, OVC 008, 8 km vis, QNH 1013. Clearance was the WAL2N, I was PM first and my sim-partner set up everything, briefed both the SID, and a basic emergency brief. After passing 1 nm we intercepted the first radial as stated on the plate before we were re-cleared on a HDG of 300 to stop climb at 5000’. Climbs/descent and turns (airwork) and then basically vectored downwind while asked to reduce speed. (Remember to ask for flaps not to go under clean-speed, 210 kts).
The assessor froze the simulator and asked us to point on the plate where we were at. Then we briefed the ILS for RWY 27 and continued with vectors to intercept ILS and land. We then swapped seats and I did the same thing, except after the air-work I was cleared to the EME NDB and we had a woman with a heart attack in the cabin. No doctor on board. DODAR, NITS, Mayday Mayday, and request priority for landing. We were number one, but radar unserviceable. I briefed the alternative procedure (full procedure base turn), and did as published. Intercepted the ILS and landed.
The same assessor was one of the two guys in the interview, the other one was a HR guy. Many of the same questions as earlier seen on this forum, but most importantly; be yourself and if you don’t know something – simply say so! Also remember that it doesn't matter what you have done before this point, it all comes down to these few hours to convince Ryan that you are the right guy for the job. Therefore, breathe, sit upright, try to be as calm as possible and think your answers through before throwing them out here.
HR:
- Tell us about yourself, your summarized story
- Where did you do your training?
- Did you do the MCC there?
- What did you think of the integrated program?
- What was the quality like?
- Did you ever have to request a different instructor due to his lack of teaching skills?
- What was the most important thing you learned from the MCC?
- What did you think about your simulator assessment today?
- Why Ryanair?
- Why should we hire YOU?
- What are your weak sides?
TECH:
- What was the crosswind factor today? (300/10kts) = 5 kts
- What is the max x-wind on your MEP aircraft?
- Do you know what V2 is?
- What’s screen height? Where is it located?
Since we were 7 candidates that day, one of us didn’t have a simulator partner. I therefore volunteered to be PM/PF together with him.
Happy with the positive result, I’m starting my intro week at EMA December 5th. If anyone else is up for that week, please hit me up with a PM.
Good luck everyone!