study books for Cathay

[austin power]

Hi guys,

Can someone refer me to where, in the forum, I could find information about which books to read for the Cathay interview?

I got Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators, I'm planning to get Handling the Big Jets and I'm not sure between the Mechanics of Flight from Kermode or Warren F. Phillips. What do you think about getting the study guide for Cathay, any help after having read those books like a bible?

By the mean occasion, any good online book store? I'm looking at amazon.com, any better places to purchase? I'm located in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea if that makes any difference in the shipping cost.

Sorry, if that thread has been discussed before.

Thanks for your help.

Austin

[nicale]

jet-jobs.com or Air Inc., has the Captain XYZ a study guide for CX. This book is a must have.

[extreme P]

HTBJ is essential. Captain's XYZ production gets very mixed reviews...

These are also very good.

Aircraft Performance Theory - Swatton

Flight Theory and Aerodynamics - Dole/Lewis

From the Ground Up should also be on your list for a quick refresher.

[Chilli Tarts]

Dont forget books which are going to cover your atpl met theory plus a little more. Typhoones, jetstreams, windshear etc (very broad topics but know them all in fine detail).

[The Messiah]

Naval Aviators and Handling the Big Jets and Captains XYZ. Just use the first two to learn the answers to the questions in the third one and you'll have the tech stuff sorted. They really are all you will need.

[austin power]

Thanks for the tips guys,

Can someone give me the direct link to the "Captain XYZ", I could not find it on the web site given by Nicale. I think, I'll keep reading my Naval Aviators and get Handling the big Jets plus a Met book to refresh and learn some more about it.

I'll see how I go.

Austin

[t6g]

Try www.aviationworld.com. They are a Canadian company located both in Vancouver & in Toronto. Their website lists most of their items & books. I have found their customer service to be excellent, and they have been happy to ship books to me pretty much anywhere I happened to be. Good luck. The full title of the book is: Preparing for Your Cathay Pacific Interview by Captains X,Y & Z.

[TheDrop]

I am looking for the "Captain XYZ" book ... (version 11 should be the latest update?)

Anyway, is it for sale anywhere in HK, as ordering on the internet is not an option at the moment with my current schedule.

I just wanted to walk in to a store, see it and pay, the old fashion way :-)

[Night Flight]

The Drop this may not help you but anyone else whos looking for books, i've been using Airline Preparation & Employments Services for most airline prep books I own. Theyre cheap and most items came express post even tho I didn't ask for it:

www.apesonline.com.au (http://www.apesonline.com.au)


Rergards,

NF

[TheDrop]

apesonline ... I like that name! Well, they want AUD 50 for 10th edition - edition 11 has been out for a while ...

[RedLiner]

Good suggestions all. I believe there is a Maths test involved. Any suggestions on a book that would help with those questions?

[TheDrop]

Any idea what kind of math? I have a good knowledge I think but its been a while so could be certain types of math not used on a daily basis that I have forgotten. Like N-dimensional matrix transformations and the like (!)

[capt_einz111]

Very basic stuff. All of them being divide/substract/add/multiply. The thing is you have to do it fast and correct. Try some mental arithmetic books.

[barnstormingmustang]

I read somewhere where the math test is for the cadet entry programme??? Or for every applicant??? Someone correct me if I am wrong..:bored:

[canadianna]

Sorry Pal, everybody's gotta do the math test. Don't worry, it's not overly hard :)

[Night Flight]

The Drop, i never noticed that but I ordred the book and got 11th edition... must be an old picture!

nf

[TWINGLOBES]

Do a book search using a canadian search ie. Toronto or Vancouver yellow pages and you should find the book by XYZ.

I preferred " Airline Interview Questions Explained " by ABC out of OZ.

"Beyond Lion Rock" by Gavin Young is available at an aviation book store at Paine Field, Everett, WAshington, although I found it in Europe used for 3 Euros online.

[TheDrop]

XYZ 11th edition is over 2 years old already but it has lots of good info. i asked them via email for updates since print but no answer last i checked :hmm:

[kishna]

My advice to you guys re the XYZ is not to get too worried about which edition it is that you have. I've had 3 or 4 copies over the years, and each of them don't tend to differ too much. Know about Cathay - use wikipedia & their website, read handling the big jets but more importantly know yourself, your motivations and your reason to wanting to live in HK. A basic knowledge of some met & aircraft performance and also your present aircraft type is essential.

[thesaint]

I have my books. big jets and xyz think its the 10th copy but it got me hired..pm i would be happy to sell

[skywaytoheaven]

Having looked over some of the questions, many are based around the 747-400. The Boeing website offers some technical information but not as much as is covered by the example questions. So any clues on where to get 747 technical data from?

[a mystery]

I have an upcoming interview in SFO. I have Handling the Big Jets and I have ordered the Captain XYZ book.
I keep reading people mentioning that there were a bunch of meteorology questions. Any suggestions for books on that subject?

[TheDrop]

HTBJ, Captain XYZ and then Ace the technical pilot interview ... those three cover a major part of it, including some met stuff.

Apart from that - use the info you can find here using the search function. When you find a good page with interview feedback, save it on your hard drive in case it gets pulled from PPRuNe, or closed (as some threads for some reason already are?). Be sure to know what is written in the latest press releases from the company website, as well as the "about us" pages. Wikipedia also has a lot of interesting info.

[El Lobo Solo]

Before I drop $40 on Handling the BIG Jets, can someone summarize why it's a good study guide? If I don't currently fly a "piston engine transport" and have some jet experience, is it really a big help? It seems that everyone says it's invaluable for Cathay's interview, so I'm just curious why it's so good.

Thanks.
ELS

[TheDrop]

"some jet experience" is not a guarantee to get you through. If you want the job, spend that 40 USD or whatever you have to pay, and get a few more books too. Some people spend more than a month of intensive studies for this. In any case, worst that can happen is that you learn something!

[El Lobo Solo]

Thanks for the helpful and informative post. I was simply wondering what the book is all about. I don't have an interview, but I was curious why this book gets such a high rating.

ELS

[MidgetBoy]

About that book, Captain XYZ, on the back page it says some of those reviews on the book and it says if they ask you if you've read it, it would be smart to say yes since saying 'no' would imply that you either didn't research enough or you're lying. How stupid would it be to say yes?

[404 Titan]

MidgetBoy

Not very stupid at all. It is widely known that most that attend the interviews have used XYZ and to say no would indicate you are probably a liar. It stands out like dogs balls those that have used it.

[MidgetBoy]

Well personally I haven't used it extensively. I have browsed through it, though it doesn't seem any different from any other interview question book, especially since I'm going for the Cadet program. I'm probably going to say exactly what I'm doing, that I've read some interview books, studied some textbooks, looked around on the internet, this is my first interview ever (yes, ever) so I don't want to show up unprepared not knowing anything..

[metrodriver808]

Handling the Big Jets for sale $40, used in great condition. Can use paypal or money order. PM if interested.

[waterski145]

Cpt XYZ book like new for sale as well.

[747flyby]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/313Z0YktGAL._PIsitb-dp-arrow,TopRight,21,-23_SH30_OU01_AA115_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/Technical-Pilot-Interview-Gary-Bristow/dp/0071396098/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195988212&sr=8-1)By Gary Bristow.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-4309313-1170252?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ace+the+technical+pilot+interview&x=20&y=19


Complete Cathay Interview Gouge in PDF format.
http://www.jetthrust.com/forum/index.php

General Aviations Discussions.
Cathay Interview Gouge.
In this discussion forum there is some more stuff.
Download the Gouge and extract.
Copy and paste the rest.

All Manuals and publications free of charge.
http://www.smartcockpit.com/
This is the best aviation site I have seen.
Go to Flight Ops and you will find lots of useful publications from manufacturers such as honeywell, boeing, airbus flight safety etc.

Go to My Aircraft and you will find all manuals for most aircrafts.
You can download the manuals and there is a learning centre and you can even take a test in the systems. The profiles are there too.

I dont work for cathay and Im to old to try anyway.
I bought this book Captain XYZ out of curiosity and you find all this stuff here on pprune.org + more We also know that all those companies CX, EK QR etc know about those forums and publications. They change their tactics. But you can only change so much to make the selection effective.

Hope this will help you guys.

[TheDrop]

Ace the pilot interview is quite good, as it covers a broad area of subjects. But it does have a lot of errors in it, so you must really crosscheck the info.

[Sir Donald]

Forget it all.
The Big Jets is an old version of your Flight Crew Training manual so learn that.
Anyone mention to you''know your type''No.

[TheDrop]

With all this studying, keep in mind that the most you will get is two interviews of one hour each. I memorized all fleet figures, destinations (and whether cargo or pax) of which I was hardly asked about, read so much tech stuff and so on. There was so much of it that was not asked at the interview, and I think it was a lot less indepth than I expected. I expected more in-depth questions regarding my current type, but that was minimal.
From both interviews, these are some highlights I remember:
Vmcg/mca, regarding weight, configuration, power, CG and so on.
Stab trim tanks and CG position in general
Typhoons (only very basic stuff), why is it dry in the middle?
Monsoon, thunderstorm (anvil shape?),
Old/new HK airport names
ADS-B and similar


If you use "Ace the pilot tech interview", there are quite a few mistakes in it, but none that I was asked about. In general it is a very good book, as it covers many areas - just be critical if you don't understand the answer, and look it up somewhere else.
HTBJ? Nothing I read in that book that I was asked about, well, nothing that I did not know already. Some say it is THE bible for CX. It does have some interesting stuff in it, but for me it was more of a history lesson, which I enjoyed. Not that I knew all the tech stuff presented in it, but I think HTBJ goes into so much detail that I cannot imagine would be asked at an interview.


These are the books/info I used:
XYZ: Some stuff in it is good, but there are some errors and some outdated info. Not a "must have" but pretty good to browse through. Not the only book to use!
:ok: Ace the pilot tech interview: Good, but with errors. Probably better to have than XYZ and HTBJ
HTBJ: Old, still valid I guess, interesting reading especially regarding history of jet age, but not much from there I was asked at either interview.
:ok: CX webpage: Good info about fleet, press releases. Know what happened recently and so on. Pics and names of CEO, COO, DFO, and so on.
:ok: Wikipedia: Info about aircraft types, Cathay (including history), Hong Kong, Kai Tak and Chek Lap Kok.
:ok: PPRuNe: Lots of good info, although one has to be critical and have it confirmed elsewhere. Talked with one of the interviewers about PPRuNe (!). He was amused to read "The Managements" posts, and said it was not one of their own, but that did not make it less amusing to read for him!

[747flyby]

Is there anyone who has a complete list of errors?