How did you prepare for your interview and sim assessment?

[Baseturn]

I will be in a position shortly to start sending Cv's. I want to prepare myself as best i can for interview. Can anyone recomend any reading material. Thank you:ok:

[Fuel Crossfeed]

"Handling the big jets" dont know the author and have not read it myself but believe it gives an insight into moving onto the jets from turbo-props and pistons. Transair and other pilot shops will stock it.
If you are invited for aptitude tests then there are some books,"How to pass Maths test", "How to pass english tests" and "How to pass aptitude tests" they cover number sequencing, word association and technical problems most big book shops will stock those. Maths one is good tells you how the number sequencing is made up.
Also dust off your ATPL notes read up on P of F, Aircraft systems and engines.
You dont want to get a lucky break of selection then blow it due to not being prepared. Been there and got that t-shirt!!

[Autofly]

I´m a PPL with just over 100 hours and have a copy of D.P. Davies :ok: "Handling the Big Jets". I must admit, I thought it was aimed at the PPL pilot than someone with an ATPL. I would have thought most of the info covered in the book is covered in the ATPL theory? I haven´t read the whole book but that`s what i´m expecting ...... that`s why i´m reading it!!

Does anyone know if Penny Austin does her interview training anymore?

Cheers
Auto

[Baseturn]

Thanks guys

I suppose i was more thinking of reading material aimed at interview questions, and technique, i see there are quite a few books out there with some cheesy titles, anyone read, can recomend any. thanks.
PS have read Handling the big jets great book it was a library copy tough to read in 3 weeks!! so might have to buy it, anyone finished with their copy!!
:D

[Hufty]

Get "Ace the Pilot Technical Interview" by Gary Bristow. It is very good and contains a great summary of your ATPL notes, in an interview question style format. It is aimed at an international audience, so you will need to refer back to your notes for JAA specific stuff on performance and law etc., but it is worth EVERY penny.

It won't help you on the "what are your strengths and weaknesses" questions, but will be useful for any technical part.

Hufty

[EGCC4284]

You may be interested in reading the following post


http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97111

[snoopy122]

Okay peeps,
Here's my story:

I finished high school this summer and was accepted into ERAU (Embry Riddle Aeronautical University) in Florida.

Now two weeks before it was supposed to start I bailed out because of 3 reasons.

1.) Too long (4 years) too expenciv.
2.)FAA licences instead of JAA, pretty useless without a right to work in the US
3.) Too risky without a career to fall back on.

So now i'm 20 years old, studying Business at the European Business School, London. I'm originally from germany though. Now when I finish in two and half years time, I'll deffinatly persue my flying career and was thinking about applying for sponsored programs such as CTC.

I'd like to know the best way to prepare for interviews and the selection process or if there is something else I should maybe consider.

Thank you for your times guys.

[hotelmodemetar]

Hi guys, how are you ?!

I would like people already flying in an airline operating ATR, to tell me what kind of questions they were asked during their interview?

I mean all kinds of questions are very welcome here in this forum !
(personal questions, ATPL questions, ATR questions, everything....)

Thanks a lot for your help, and i wish you all many, many happy landings in 2006 :ok:

[Radar Identified]

You need to clear your pms. Unable to send you a PM due to your inbox being full.
PM me when you are done
Regards

R.I

[hotelmodemetar]

WILCO !

Thanx :D

[DIRRIK]

hi

I think it all depends on which company it is

Dirk

[hotelmodemetar]

hi,
yes indeed! but when i opened that topic i was just interested in gathering some questions that people had for their pilot's interview, and especially for ATR pilots, just to get an idea of the technical questions as well as the personality ones. Obviously, i agree that each company has its own profile point of view, which may be different from one to another. :)

[Radar Identified]

Hi guys, how are you ?!

I would like people already flying in an airline operating ATR, to tell me what kind of questions they were asked during their interview?
I mean all kinds of questions are very welcome here in this forum !
(personal questions, ATPL questions, ATR questions, everything....)

Thanks a lot for your help, and i wish you all many, many happy landings in 2006 :ok:


hi

I think it all depends on which company it is

Dirk

I know where you are coming from but I think he just wants ATR operator questions from anywhere as it may help him prepare. I think if you could remember some from your interview be it the same airline or not it may help to prepare.

Just my thoughts and I hope you dont think I am trying to get at you.

Regards
R.I

[Has]

Hey

I was in Basel, Switzerland back in September for an interview with FarnAir.

First was a sim ride with their cheif pilot, Michel. Just basic IFR stuff : climb, holding, ILS, you might want to brush up on the ATR call outs, and departure/approach briefings. Afterwards comes a little performance session. Read up on climb segments, and general ATR performance, oh, and most definately read FCOM 3.03.01 Page 2 !

Then comes a meeting with someone from either management og human ressources. Human ressources is just a little talk about employment with FarnAir, but the Management guy will want to know your strengths and weaknesses, what you can add to the company etc. Prepare that.

Finally you will talk to all three of the people you met there. They will ask you all kinds of q's.

Would you dispatch with mice in the aircraft ?
What is a leader to you ?
If the ground crew is not going to be able to load the A/C on time, what do you do ?

Best of luck

If any of you have anymore input, please share it :D

[EGCC4284]

How did you prepare for your interview and sim assessment?

Because of an interesting post on a separate thread, I thought I would start this topic here to get the stories of how you guys and girls prepared for your interviews and simulator assessments for up and coming jobs.

I attended one of these pilot interview courses. I found that this was the main reason I passed all three of the interviews that I managed to have in the last 14 months. Knowing what they are looking for in a person helped me fine tune my answers to possible questions and gave me the opportunity of selling the qualities that I felt I had and which were important to an airline.

In total I have had three simulator assessments.

The first one was on a BAC 1-11 at Cranebank in November 2005. For practice I hired a 727 in the southern part of the UK for an hour with instructor. After the practice, the instructor said that I should be ok for my assessment and saw no reason why I would fail. The following day I had the assessment, and boy was that an eye opener. I failed it miserably and learned an awful lot from the experience. Rule 1, fly the aircraft, rule 2, don't let the assessor distract you and remember to fly the aircraft. I took on boards the experience and brought what I had learnt from it to my two following future assessments.

My second sim assessment was on an Embraer 145 at Manchester in December 2006. As there are no Embraer sims available anywhere nearby in the UK, I thought long and hard about how to prepare for this. My decision was to simply buy the Embraer 145 add on for Flightsim 2004 and to set it up in the same weather, weight, and aircraft configuration as expected on my sim assessment. I then practised taking off and doing circuits from the airport that was mentioned in my briefing notes and I learnt the power settings, speeds, calls and responses and all the important things that I believed would be an issue on my sim assessment. To my surprise, I found the real Embraer simulator easier to fly than Flightsim 2004. Once trimmed it was finger tip flying. The fact that I memorised off by heart all the calls, pitch attitudes, power settings and speeds for certain stages of the flight, made my sim assessment a lot more easier than I imagined. I subsequently passed that sim assessment and four days later was offered a job starting on an Embraer type rating course five weeks later.

My third sim assessment was on a 737-300 in January 2007. As I was only given 4 days notice for this, I had to think quickly about this one. Did I go and borrow £1200 and hire a 737-300 sim for a couple of hours practice, even though I had a good jet job to go to in two weeks time? or, on the basis that I had in the previous two weeks been in a simulator assessment atmosphere and passed, should I just practice as much as possible on Flightsim 2004 and give it my best shot. I chose the latter, even though I appreciated it was a very big risk as the 737 job was one that I had longed for for many years. I did the same sort of preparation for the 737 sim assessment as I did for the Embraer assessment. I set the Flightsim 737 aircraft up with the same weight, weather conditions and on the runway from the airport that was mentioned in the brief and just learnt all the power figures, pitch attitudes, calls and responses. I learned the flight inside out and found that this took a lot of the workload off me on the day. The real 737-300 sim was a handful. You can only imagine the power pitch effect on Flightsim 2004 as compared to the real thing. I subsequently passed that sim assessment and was offered a job with the airline two days later.

If I had not already had a good jet job to go to two weeks later, I would most definitely have hired a 737-300 sim to brush up on. I was asked a couple of times during my assessment if I had hired a 737 sim for preparation. If I had, I would have told them. I am interested to know what their views on this would of been. Does it show determination and initiative, or does it raise the stakes and mean you will be expected to perform better? I would be interested to know the sim assessors views on this.

I have heard of many stories where guys tell them that they have practised on a real 737 sim, tell the assessors and subsequently pass and others that also tell them this and also fail. So telling them you have practiced does not mean you are going to necessarily pass or fail. I suppose its how you perform in the sim that counts. Just wondered what the assessors think about guys hiring sims before hand and does this make their assessment harder. One thing for sure, I know if you do hire a sim and are asked if you had, tell them the truth. If they don't believe you, I am certain you will fail.

I am interested to hear from guys and girls about what preparation they have done for interviews and sim assessments and if hiring a sim beforehand made the difference for them. Did you pass or fail and what did you learn from the experience. I would also be interested to hear what sim they hired in relation to the type of sim that was to be used in their sim assessment.

I put my success down to the pilot interview courses I attended for my interview successes, plus the lessons learned from my first sim assessment for my success in my next two assessments with lots of preparation.

I do however feel that if you walk into a sim assessment with a positive mental attitude and a smile, then your body language will win half the battle.

Good luck to everyone for 2007.

[PlaneHomerS]

Cheers EGC for that, i have learn't something new and have bookmarked this thread for the future.

:ok: ;)

[T-Mass]

Prepared similar to EGC for a regional airline interview. Sim used for the eval was a C-level ATR-42. I familiarized myself with the cockpit by checking out some of the cockpit photos on airliners.net, and played around with MS FS2004 with an ATR add-on, to get the feel for speeds, call-outs etc.
Nice thing was the sim evaluation wasn't there to decide whether I could fly an ATR but rather to determine basic instrument skills and "trainability". Worked out ok, got the job. Happy.

-T-

[south coast]

I think you are wasting your money to hire out a 737 or any kind of jet sim.

If you have flight sim, use it if it makes you feel more comfortable, but lets be honest here, in a sim evaluation, they are not looking for how well you fly the jet, because you may never have flown a jet before, or that type, they are looking for how quickly you pick things up, how quickly you learn from a mistake, how quickly you get the hang of the ils, how well you work as a team with the other guy, how well you make use of information available to you.....the list goes on and on.

But to think they are just interested in how well you fly the plane is naive.

Remember, if successful, they are going to send you to a very expensive simulator and teach you how to fly the plane.

Be prepared, but there is more to passing a sim evalution than just knowing speeds, power settings, pitch attitudes and call outs.

[Callsign Kilo]

I have always found this a funny subject fraught with 'what' and 'what not' to do's. From a 'Newbee' perspective I think it can become deeply anguishing! If you find out that you have a Sim assessment on a jet and have absolutely no experience of jet handling, it has often been said to me that you cannot really afford not to purchase some pre-sim ride experience. I think having a general feel for things before hand may prove invaluable. You hopefully will be shown what to look for, where and when to make the calls and what you should generally be doing when you are both PF and PNF. Surely having a head start on this can only be of an advantage? The only downside is the cost; especially if unsuccessful. However I'd rather be unsuccesful knowing that I had explored all areas before hand, instead of wondering 'what if' afterwards.

[Northern Highflyer]

Having been lucky enough to get a 737 sim ride last summer I took the advice to get some practice in, having never flown a jet before. I spent £1100 for a couple of hours to give me the best chance of passing, but with hindsight, believe that this backfired.

Of the three of us to be assessed on the day, there was a 3000 hour TP captain, a 1000 hour 737 FO, and me on 300 hours with 2 hours sim practice. When the assessors knew I had been in the sim the night before I was told I would go straight into the assessment with no demonstration on the first departure, as was the norm. So the 1000 hour 737 guy got a demonstration, but I didn't. :sad:

Having compared notes with a friend who sat the same assessment several weeks later, it is obvious the way our assessments were conducted were totally different. I got the impression that because I had had some practice, I was expected to "nail" it all straight away with very little guidance, but with only 2 hours in the sim this wasn't going to happen.

The other point is that the practice session, although good in many ways, had it's downsides. For example, the climb speed should have been 210 kts, and in the practice session I was told to raise the nose slightly to maintain it. On the actual assessment I was pulled up by the assessor for this and told to maintain pitch and allow the speed to creep up towards 230 kts (cruise speed). I was only told this after my first attempt. My friend was told before he started to ignore the 210 kts and go for 230.

This is just one example of the different styles I encountered, many of them only small differences, but nevertheless important. Things like at what point to begin a turn on the DME, etc. So for me, having practice helped me to get the feel for the handling with the pitch / power couple, but had the negative effects of me flying slightly different techniques to what was expected, and having had a "practice", being viewed as someone who was ready to go without any demonstration beforehand.

If I am lucky enough to get another assessment I will not be paying for any practice sessions beforehand.

[Callsign Kilo]

Well, there you go then; Northern Flyer has blown my theory with his own personal experiences. Sorry to hear about your bad luck fella and I hope something comes up again soon. What I should have added is that I know a few low houred guys who managed to get some pre-sim check jet practice and found it invaluable in gaining the job. They also admitted to having had some practice beforehand. Just fortunate I suppose?
What works for some obviously doesn't work for others! Nothings ever 'black and white' in this game.

[scroggs]

There are several problems with practise sim sessions, not least being which SOPs are you going to be working to? If you are anticipating a sim assessment with Easyjet, it would be crazy to do a practise session with a Ryanair instructor, because their SOPs will be significantly different - even down to what speeds are recommended for different phases of flight.

As has been said, if you are not qualified on type (and even if you are) you will be assessed on how quickly you learn when you do your sim assessment. While I think it may be worthwhile to have a go in an airliner simulator if you've never seen one before, just to ease the nerves and negate the unfamiliarity factor, you are unlikely to gain as much as you'd like to think you will - as Northern Highflyer has illustrated. And, for goodness' sake, don't tell the assessor you were in the sim practising the night before!

If you've recently done your MCC and thus have a fair idea of what goes on on the flightdeck, a practise sim is probably a waste of money. If it's been a while, or you really think your nerves will be shot if you don't do it, then go ahead.

Scroggs

[Northern Highflyer]

I agree that in many ways, having a practice session can be very good if you have never operated one of these machines before, but I think that there are many pitfalls to be aware of that can possibly negate the benefits. The different SOP's, as alluded to by Scroggs, is one of the key factors. I declared my practice session as I was asked directly if I had ever flown a jet sim before and didn't want to lie, but I believe this created a certain impression of me with the assessor, and not a favourable one at that.

Interestingly, in my 2 hour practice session, there was a very marked learning curve from my first attempt at a departure and landing, compared to my last one. I was all over the place to start with and was so far behind the aircraft it was unbelievable. My last attempt was pretty much there or thereabouts, with no major cock ups. In the actual sim check there was hardly any learning curve at all as each attempt contained minor errors, and correcting one error usually resulted in another minor error elsewhere. So although there were no major areas of concern per se (and in my humble opinion), I didn't demonstrate such a marked learning curve as I had done in my practice session. Something you might want to consider.
NH

[Zouzi]

Hi all!

Am looking for companies, perferably within the UK, that offer mock interview/recruitement days (interview, group exercices, psychometric tests, etc.) for pilots. Can anyone help me out?

[boogie-nicey]

My friend, there are a number of interview preparation and assessment courses run by current or ex-airline people that maybe of some help. Just do search here on pprune or even the internet to come up with a couple of choices.

Good luck..... :ok:

[cessna310]

Hi,
Best place to prepare for interview? Who does interview preparation course?any help would be appreciated.

regards,
cessna310.

[VHF1]

While i agree totally with some of the answers and suggestions posted in reply to your origional question, the fact remains it is totally airline specific. Its very much like drinking....wine or beer....totally different glass required..its that different. Yes....flying the big jets and ace the pilots tech interview are actually basic course material....aer arran, ryanair and globespan have questions in thier interviews taken from both. Add to this, the first few pages of the jeppies....the pages that explian how you interpret the manual, the ATPl stuff that u should know and a handsome dash of luck and bobs your uncle.....now the sim is a different animal entirely.....if its....foe example....ryan air....737 200, aer arran 737 200.....etc, get ur hands on a good sim, eg, leeds, oxf, etc and ace the sim.....u have to seriously show them the money on the day, a mate did a sim check prep with a sim instructor, he was told that the average sucessful sim candidate does about 5 to 10 hours sim practice before going for the assessement.

Food for thought.....and not food found in the local tavern I might add!

pm me 4 more, will help if i can

regds

v

[Just another student]

Its amazing how much FS2004 and the like can help with a sim session. F2004 will not teach you how a plane handles etc but it will get you up to speed for procedures and call outs etc Treat it as a procedure trainer and IMHO you can not go far wrong.

I have only had one sim check so far, however I passed and have proceeded onto the final recruitment stage. I would suggest not only focussing on your flying, but also what you can do on top of the flying, answering ATPL type questions, eta's and things like this. The flying has to be second nature and you should be left (even accounting for nerves) spare capacity to deal with other issues.

I don't think they look for perfection, just the ability to improve and they (in most cases) want you to pass and will not try to catch you out.

I was lucky in the fact that my sim check was quite gentle, SID, VOR tracking, general handling, VOR/DME app, radar ILS-go around, radar ILS. I had to answer questions whilst I was flying, but he was only asking relevant questions, eta's etc .It was a brand new FNPT2 which could be kitted out as any one of a number of aircraft. They had chosen a Kingair for my session, I had been told to prepare for a completely different sim and aircraft so it was quite a surprise for me :)

My advice is to relax and enjoy the experience, treat it as a learning curve if things do go wrong.

[Parraffin Budgie]

Anyone know someone to go to for some aviation related interview skills.Don't say google it,want somebody that comes recommended in the aviation industry not some plonker that has'nt a clue....bad experience having to explain all about aviation etc:D

[Luke SkyToddler]

Cheryl Cage 'Checklist for Success' is the business.
Her website is www.cageconsulting.com - obviously she's a Yank and isn't going to be much use for a European if you must have some face-to-face tuition, but honestly mate if you read her book and work through the exercises, then it should give you a big confidence boost for even the most harsh interviews.

[VirginSkid]

Check out- www.aviac.com offering aptitude test practice and courses with Sim assessment...

Mind you I am using their aptitude test prep and its excellent.

They also offer ATPL prep

No idea about their courses, but from what I see - I like it.

Ta

VS

[Parraffin Budgie]

Hi Guys/gals,

Thanks for the feedback....really appreciate it:ok:

[Arthur's Wizard]

I did my ATPL exams about 7 years ago and although I have been in continual flying practice (military) since then, it has been a while since I had my head bursting with all that exam theory.
Most of the airlines' recruitment processes seem include at least some tech and performance questions and I would therefore need to 'brush up' prior to any interview. How do people generally prepare for this? Do they simply use their old ATPL notes (I did the Nationals rather than JAR, does it make a difference?) or do they use publications like 'How to Ace the Tech Interview' (I think that's the correct title!)?

I would appreciate helpful hints that don't include 'You passed the exams, you should know it'!

[potkettleblack]

I was fortunate in that I had some friends going through the process ahead of me so was able to glean off them the types of questions asked. I didn't use any specific interview books but know of others that did and found them useful. Beware though I have heard that some of the answers are actually wrong so rote learning might get you in hot water.

Your best bet would be to search pprune for a specific airline that you have an interview with and see what others are listing. Again beware that there might be nasty people trying to waste your time and put you off in the hope of beating you past the post. Then again as soon as a list gets published you can just about guarantee that any interviewers reading these pages will choose to ask something else!!

Some general things to consider though:-

- principles of flight eg: components of lift and drag
- difference between rate and angle of climb, VMCA, VMCG
- MET - what sort of weather you might expect in different fronts, different types of fog, jet streams, low viz operations and the requirements for things like a take off alternate, RVRs for each category
- airlaw - really a minefield here. Could get asked about RVSM, different classes of airspace
- jet engine theory, bypass engines, turbo prop theory if you head down that path
- specific stuff on the airline, employee numbers, key financials, route structure, aircraft, numbers, crewing, engines, range. Make sure you read all of their press releases and are up to date with share prices, fleet announcements etc.
- CRM (all the good stuff covered during your MCC). I got asked about communication and how come it is important in the cockpit. This lead to a discussion on how we communicate eg: body language, cultural differences etc etc
- have also heard of friends getting asked to give the principle of a VOR and NDB

Also be aware of topical matters that can come up at the time of interview or things specific to the aircraft type you are going to fly. Eg: Helios and the 737. This gives the interviewer an idea that you are well read.

[dougy24]

Also Try to get copy of Gary Bristows ACING THE TECHNICAL PILOT INTERVIEW, Amazon have it, Transair, loads of good stuff in it.

Dougy

[scroggs]

Which is exactly the book potkettleblack was referring to which contains several glaring inaccuracies. Do a search for that title within Pprune; you'll find it is not held in universally high regard.

Scroggs

[dougy24]

Cheers,

had been recommended to me by several airline guys i know, but you live and learn.

Dougy