Feb SO interviews

[GearDoor]

Well, I just called Kelly last night, and didn't get any good news. I feel pretty dejected, but oh well, that's life. I didn't really feel like I got the job when I left Hong Kong, unlike when I did the first interview. Good luck to everyone else who was there. I met a great bunch of guys while there and I wish them the best.

Colin Musschoot (aka GearDoor)

[bumboclot]

sorry to hear that GD. still no answer for me yet, as the medical dept. needs some more info from me before they can give me an answer. guess i've have to wait until next week for my answer....

[Hachiouji-shi]

hi, sorry to hear about that GD.
how many hours do you and the rest of the guys have?
thanks.

[flyingkiwi]

GD

Sorry to hear, If you liked what you saw up here send recruitment a pleasant thanks for your time and im still really keen letter and then keep updating.

Guys have got in after their third attempt.

All the best
FK

[bumboclot]

finally got my answer back from CX, it's a no go for me too. seems like almost no one from our group got in. the annoying thing is that they won't even tell you where you went wrong! how are you supposed to know what to improve on if you do get another chance???

[GearDoor]

The only thing I can think of is that all of our flys were undone at the cocktail party.

[Felix Lighter]

How'd your Sim Ride go?

There are only 2 parts of the CX recruiting process that are not objective ie: they are pass/fail.

The 1st is the written tech quiz in the 1st interview. You must get 24/30.
The 2nd is the Sim Ride, you must get 56/70.

These are pass/fail numbers that are not flexible no matter how well the interviews go.

As FK says, if youre keen..... keep updating. Its not uncommon to get a 2nd chance.

CX will not tell you what you failed but they will let you know if its worth you retrying - if they ijntend to keep you on their file.

BRgds
FL

[bumboclot]

thought the sim ride went good, until the landing... soon as i became visual on the 2nd approach things all went pear shaped. couldn't keep the centreline and ended up landing with the right wheels in the grass. should have stayed on my instruments. i guess maybe that's what messed it up for me.
what's the process for reapplying, do they tell you in the letter they send out if you can reapply, so should i give them a call and ask if they will keep my file open? still really want to fly for CX someday...
seems weird that 7 out of our group of 8 didn't get the job, and one still waiting for an answer. all in my view a great bunch of guys. and they must needs some pilots if they are advertising on climbto350.com!

thanks for the info and encouragement FK, and FL.

[Cpt. Underpants]

Bumbo

Just curious...I followed your postings about buying Sim time prior to the 2nd interview in HKG. I have always been dead-set against it (for a number of reasons) and in my experience, candidates who admitted (afterwards) that they had bought sim time fared worse than those that didn't.

1. Did you practice on a classic sim before coming to HKG?
2. If yes, do you think it helped or not?
3. With the benefit of hindsight, what would you do differently if you were given a second chance?
4. I think that the sellers of airline sim time to wannabe's are preying on an intangible "fear factor" and should be told to desist. Would you agree?

CU

[MinimaNoContact]

Sorry to hear things didn't work out fella's.

Bumboclot, you said: thought the sim ride went good, until the landing... soon as i became visual on the 2nd approach things all went pear shaped. couldn't keep the centreline and ended up landing with the right wheels in the grass. should have stayed on my instruments. i guess maybe that's what messed it up for me.
I'm not having a dig at you, but was there any particular reason you didn't go around?

[bumboclot]

C. U.,
1. yes i did get some sim practice before i went to HKG. it was in a non-motion, no visual, B742 sim.
2. i definately think it was worth it for me. i have never flown anything bigger than a Cessna Caravan, so i really think it helped me with handling the sim ride. i think my sim ride went well, i was able to keep my altitudes within 100', and my approaches were spot on. forgot to call for flaps 20 right away on the missed, so my speed was hovering right at Vref for a bit. and then like i said when i became visual i started overcontrolling and pouched the landing.
3. in hindsight, when it started to get messy i should have gone around. and i'm kicking myself in the ass now wishing i did.
if i do get another chance i will get more sim practice, but this time in a motion sim with visual. yes it costs a pretty penny for sim time, but i look at it as an investment in the career of my dreams.
4. no one really tried to sell me on the sim time, it was something that i felt was important. comming from bush flying on the C208, i felt it would be a good investment for me to get a little practice before jumping into a jumbo jet sim ride.

minima - in hinsight, yes i do wish i had gone around. but what's done is done, and now i just have to pray that they give me a second chance. that was my first time ever in a motion sim, so besides the landing i think i did well.

anyone have any stories of how they got a second chance and how long it took to get it?

[PUDDY]

Hey bumboclot, just wondering what the medical department wanted from you??

Did they tell you that was the reason you wern't selected, If not you should get right back on them and see about getting another second interview.

[Cpt. Underpants]

Bumbo

Thanks for your candor. I have always advocated against buying sim time prior to arriving for the second interview process, and I think your experience on your ride may have been avoided through better study of the profile, not more practice in an expensive simulator.

The point of a full motion/visual sim is that it gives you the sensations of flying the real thing. It is an accurate, but not perfect, copy of what you would normally experience. EVERYONE who arrives for a try at an S/O position is low time with no heavy experience. If you weren't, then you would be interviewing for the F/O position, and the "bar" would be set higher.

EVERYONE is expected to have a "learning curve". The simulator instructor is looking for an improvement gradient...the gradient that you had when you bought your sim time in Vancouver! What they really want to see is how trainable you are, and how you respond to instruction.

Look at it like riding a bicycle. In the beginning, just staying on is the objective, and a huge achievement when you get there. After that, it's just a slow grind and really hard to measure how well you're doing.

Cathay is not looking for B742 qualified pilots - just good hands and feet men who can make good decisions and respond to instruction.

I don't mean to be lecturing anyone, but I have been in the jet instruction business since before many of our new joiners were born, and conducted many of the screening sim rides we're talking about. I truly think that buying time is a waste of money and terrible squandering of your learning potential.

[bumboclot]

Cpt. Underpants,

point well taken. it just seemed from the previous posts about the subject on this forum that most of the guys who have got on did get sim practice. nice to hear a different point of view from someone who knows. don't even know if it was the sim that did it for me anyways though because they'll never say!

PUDDY
they asked for a copy of an old ECG and a letter from my family doctor about the asthma i had as a kid (gew out of it my age 12).
check your PMs.

[PUDDY]

Hey B....Check your pm..

[GearDoor]

I'm sorry to hear that Bumboclot. That sucks.

I felt everything went well for me, up until the sim ride. The first interview was no problem. On the tech quiz, I'd be suprised if I got less that 29/30.

At the second interview, I don't think the interview went as good as the first, although it went well.

I wasn't anticipating any problem with the sim ride. I knew the profiles verbatim, but I struggled to keep the thing within 500 feet. I always took prompt corrective action, but it was a battle. I was pretty nervous about it, and I was the first guy to go. When the instructor asked if I wanted him to make any calls, I didn't even know what calls I wanted! Consequently, I don't remember him making a minimums call, or a call at 1000' on take-off and go-around. Also, I was bringing the flaps down a little sooner (faster) than the profile because I was getting tight, and I didn't want to go around, but I wasn't overspeeding them.

However, my second ILS was better than the first one (which isn't saying much) and I made what I thought was a pretty nice landing on the centreline despite being about 1/2 dot off the loc when breaking out.

Anyway, I wish I could have that sim ride back. I personally don't think a practice sim would have helped me that much. If anything to get a feel for how the sim "flies", but I am aware of the difference between hand-flying a sim and hand-flying a real airplane from my saab training.

Anyway, I'll likely try again. Like I said, I want to do that ride over. Cathay Pacific was nothing but a first class operation, and that is still where I want to end up.

Gear Door.

[Mikey21]

hello boys,

Look like it was hard work.
I am a cathay wannabe myself, and been applying for a little while.

I know i could do with a little more hours.

How did you do about getting to the 1st interview?
Were you updating and calling regularly?...

If you have any advice, it would be great.
Same as to what kind of experience you guys have it would give my kind of a reference to go By.

Don't give up, you 've made it that far. Show them how bad you want the job.
Hope it eventually works out.
Thank you.
I am not looking for the easy way, but any tips on what books you used to prepare would be nice, even though i know most of the references to read, let me know what you think of them???

Thank you very Much, safe flying.

[bumboclot]

mikey21

i applied to Cathay for 3 years before i got called for my first interview. i just kept sending in updates every few months. when i got the call for the first interview i had about 3500 hours TT. i only have 22 multi hours, the rest is in singles, C172, C207 and C208B. don't really know how i got picked for an interview (they have about 20,000 applications on file), i don't know any one special at CX, all i did was keep on sending updates.
i found the best study book to be Airline Interview Questions explained by Captains ABC, you can get it by doing a search on www.bookworm.com.au
also handling the big jets is a must read (about 4 times), although kinda dry.
good luck in getting your interview one day. hope i get another one too!