Log book at airline interviews.

[DanT1982]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone who has ever interviewed with an airline could possibly provide me with a bit of insight on this.

Not exactly sure how it works but I would assume that if you are lucky enough to get invited to an interview with an airline, they will want to check thorough your log book.
I’m interested to know exactly how they go about doing this and what they look for? Do they scrutinize over every entry since you first set foot in a plane or is it more a case of flicking through to see if anything stands out as looking odd?
Also would you be expected to provide all log book entries from your first hour or would they only be interested in seeing entries that relate to your commercial training?

Reason I ask is that I failed my PPL skills test first time round(Failed on the nav exercise), however I did pass everything fine when I retook it 2 days later.
So I was wondering if this is the sort of thing that may get flagged up or what other things might they look for?

I haven't started my commercial training yet but just curious to know.

Thanks very much.

Dan

[Adios]

Dan,

Which do you think would be worse in the view of an airline recruiter?

Failing a PPL test and passing two days later
Partialing a CPL and passing a retake
Failing an IR test twice and finally getting a third series pass

If you did PPL training in a 4-6 week period, the failure will seem worse than if your training was spread over 6-12 months. I don't think an airline will care at all about this, so long as you avoid the other two scenarios above. It's very early days in your training, so buck up and put it behind you.

[Arfur Feck-Sake]

In my experience, they concentrated on the following:

IR test(s) - recency and number of attempts
Multi time logged
Recent flying - how much has this candidate done in the last year/6 months/month, what type of flying has he done and what aircraft types has he flown. One interviewer scrutinised my logbook and said "I see you've flown a Piper Arrow, tell me how the retractable gear mechanism operates".

I doubt if any airline recruiter has the time (or the will) to scrutinise and analyse all the entries.

I'm now happily employed in an airline job having failed the nav section of my PPL.

[portsharbourflyer]

I have only ever known an interviewer ask for a copy of the last two pages of my logbook this is from a total of four interviews attended. I assume this was to check total hours.

Although I had always stated first time passes on my CV very rarely has this ever been mentioned at interview.

I wouldn't worry about your PPL result, not many employers will be interested.

Airlines that are worried about first time passes will normally ask the question on the application form, Thompsonfly is the only application where I have seen them ask about PPL training.

If an airline has a requirement for hours/currency/ passing within a cetain number of attempts then these questions will already be covered from the CV sift / application forms; therefore the interview will concentrate on your personality and technical knowledge.

[richatom]

If you are going to do CPL, get yourself a decent FCL1.080 logbook (like the Jeppesen logbook) to log all your professional training separately. It looks a lot more professional than the little flying club logbooks if inspected at interview. You can always produce your PPL logbook if they specifically ask for it.

[mightymouse111]

My experience is that they are looking for you to be honest.

They know that we are human & make mistakes, the key part is that we learn from them.

Dont try and hide anything, as you will get caught out. Be honest and show your strengths, that you learn, improved, gained experience and moved on a better person.

[MIKECR]

Had 2 interviews - both looked at logbook, licence,medical and mcc certificate. Photocopies taken off everything, including various pages of the logbook.

One of my interviewers went through my entire logbook with me, every page, basically to get a complete story of my fying to date, from where id done my ppl, right through to IR pass etc.

Keep your logbook neat and up to date. Dont be scared to write some 'interesting' notes in the remarks section of each flight. Even something amusing that happened on the flight. It will give you something to speak about and something to look back on in years to come.

Some other handy things to take to interview - ATPL pass certificates, CP and IR pass certificates, and ID(passport). Oh and always take a PEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

[newcomer]

Something else they look at is if you know how to fill in your log book. Everything in the correct column. I just went on an interview and someone was logging time as PUT everytime is was PF on a 737. They really didnt like this. So if anyone out there can confirm this. I really dont think a FO should be logging PUT as he really is not under training, but since i have an aussie log book it just says Co pilot.

[mini-jumbo]

No, as P2 / Co-pilot, you can't log it as PUT. There is a thread in the Tech Log section on how to log the hours. The general concensus seems to be either to log it all as P2 / Co-pilot or log PF sectors as P1-S and PM (PNF) as co-pilot.

[tom775257]

Of the airline interviews I have attended, 2x UK major, 1x Foreign flag carrier and have got jobs with 2/3.

The logbook every time was flicked through casually with the occasional 'oooh so you went there.' My handwriting is also shocking, like a ten year old scrawled it. I have never been to an airline interview with a logbook that included my PPL days, when I changed to my CPL training I purchased a new logbook with the required columns etc.

Also I partial passed my PPL first time, I think I failed on PFLs or something. Nearly gave up after that. I have achieved first time passes on CPL/ME/IR/FIC and A320 TR and had a successful career thus far. Don't sweat a PPL mess up, honestly and as an ex PPL instructor, many instructors are utter ****e.

Regards,
Tom.

[Megaton]

Been to 3 interviews and had 3 offers so must have done something right.

I took my logbook, licences, medical, r/t etc to the interview but I also made decent copies and took them with me as well. When they asked for docs so they could photocopy them I presented them with tidy copies of the lot. You may think this sort of thing trivial but you don't have long to impress in an interview and showing some forethought (Notice-Understand-Think Ahead in Nigel-speak) isn't going to do any harm.