Ab-Initio test failed - should I continue?

[Boeing4ever]

Dear flying community, I need your help.

A month and a half after finishing high school this year, and with great enthusiasm for what would happen if I passed, I took Lufthansa's two-day entrance test in Hamburg for ab-initio flight training. Two weeks later, I recieved a letter telling me that I hadn't passed. Needless to say, I was very disappointed, but in addition to that reaction, which I had expected anyway, I felt as if maybe I'm not talented enough to fly airplanes after all.. The test is there to give those with the abilities required of an airline pilot a chance to fly and the agency providing the testing (not Lufthansa) says that the difficulty of the tests is not adjusted to current demand for pilots, so to put it short, what I want to know is: does failing such a test mean that I can forget a career as an airline pilot or commercial pilot in general?

If it matters, I found the mental maths part most challenging, as well as multi-tasking and abstract thinking. By the way, I fly gliders and sometimes feel overwhelmed when in difficult situations like a crosswind landing with a lot of traffic around..

If anyone can answer my admittedly difficult question I would appreciate it.

[bri1980]

Will you get to be a pilot if you give up? No. So answer is simple: if flying is really for you carry on.

Don't place too much emphasis on assessments. Get flying and find out if you like it and more importantly if you can do it.

I fair badly on aptitude tests but went solo at about 12 hours so I can obviously fly despite what the tests say!

If you struggle with the maths there are some great books. Speed Mathematics by Handley is a good starting point.

B

[Parkbremse]

Lufthansa has several thousand applicants for approx. 200 ab initio positions per year, so they use this test to cut down the numbers to a reasonable level for further assessment. While it's probably true that most people who pass the test won't fail during flight training the opposite, that all who fail are not up for it is simply not true. So if you want to fly, go for it and don't let LH tell you any different. :ok:

[fantom]

I have seen pilots that LH have rejected and they are fine.

Continue.

Good luck.

[Philpaz]

Take some lessons. You'll soon know after a few lessons if its for you and if it is just go for it with all your heart. I fell in love shortly before take off and wont look back till i'm pulling something/anything off stand.

[TheBP]

Boeing4ever,

I just want to put an analogy to you with regards to the difficult gliding situations:

When I was learning to drive, at first I found it "challenging" to be on a roundabout, one has to simultaneously/in quick succession:

Steer appropriately
Change gear as necessary
Maintain appropriate speed
Maintain observations
IndicateAt first I was thinking "damn! how do these people do it?" But after a while it became like second nature and any notion of it being difficult was totally forgotten about. These days I (and most people doing something so "simple" as driving a car) do that whilst maintaining conversations and listening to the radio. Although some :mad: never indicate!

Don't give up easily or put yourself down because of not passing the LH test, I'm sure one day you'll make a fine pilot :ok:

Personally, due to an unconventional education, I stand little chance of ever even meeting the entry requirements for any sort of sponsored ab initio training! Perhaps in a way that is a good thing.

[expedite08]

Dont worry at all,
All those tests are nonsense and prove the square root of FA about your ability to handle an aircraft. I have friends and myself included who all took said style tests and were deemed unsuitable! They now fly quite happily professionally. And Im well on my way!
Best of luck and dont worry
:ok:

[Callsign Kilo]

When I started out over two years ago, I went along to a pre-entry assessment day for one of the major flight schools here in the UK. Guess what, I didn't get in as I was told that I struggled during the sim assessment. I had no formal flying experience at the time, however I doubted my ability to become a pilot as a result. I was gutted....really gutted. But I wasn't going to let one silly assessment and one person's opinion come in the way of my desire to fly.

In May this year I gained my CPL/IR, all achieved with series one passes. I hold a 94% average in the ATPL exams and completed all my training, saving a staggering £20,000 on the cost of what the organisation whom I had been refused entry to would have charged. I have made several good contacts within a number of airlines, which I am sure will pave an opportunity for me in the not so distant future. In the meantime I am training to become a flying instructor in order to pass on my fondness for aviation to others who want to learn to fly.

Looking back, I learnt a lot from that initial set back. And I'm better off for it (in more ways than one). :ok:

[Boeing4ever]

Thank you all for your replies. :) I just have one more question:

If the tests are only there to reduce the number of applicants, does it mean that most everybody has the ability to become a commercial pilot? Like driving a car?

One more thing: I'm quite sure I can handle flying a Cessna as a PPL, but it's the more precise IFR commercial flying that I'm worried about.. How can I find out whether I can handle that without spending thousands on the way, just to find out I'm not good enough?

[bri1980]

Get your instructor to apply commercial standards to your PPL as far as possible.

I get complaints from my instructor when my altititude is 10-20 feet out for example-not the usual PPL guide/limit of 100. It really works! You soon find you can fly that accurately.

He complains if my hand wonders from the throttle in the circuit. He soon got my lookout up to scratch to the point I spot some aircraft that he doesn't.

Just get the instructor to be that precise with you from day one-then there will be few problems.

[JESSY]

Hi,

I've succeeded in French Air force tests and i was student fighter pilot, some other didn't, and they made a better carrier as civilian pilots.

I've passed all my commercial exams at first try, some didn't, and they succeeded in the same kind of assessment you failed and i failed too.

I've always been rated among firsts in all the flight test i've passed, i'm still struggling after many years on that business, some people went straight away to big airlines jut by knowing the right people.

An airline offered me a job as direct entry captain on JAR 25 aircraft, another said my English was too poor to make scheduled flights in France even as a copilot (from a French airline it's really insulting, but they tell you that in French),...

You'll see by yourself such assessment have nothing to do with real capabilities, i know people you wouldn't dare to lend them your bicycle, they are in Air France now, other are in Net Jets and so on.

If you find hard the training you follow, that's normal, and it's not finished.

For some people it comes fast, for others it takes more time, and at the end, the one who get the job is more the one who is "assessment and network specialised" than the one who's the best at flying.

Do what you feel, don't be depressed for one assessment failed, and keep in mind that all this stuff is show business, mostly organised by "human resources specialists" who don't know anything about flying, but who have to sell themselves in order to keep their own jobs.

Hang on.

JC.