Hey tim im pleased to say that i have been offered a place on the course, im so glad and cant wait to start. Im back in belfast now and taking the weekend to celebrate its been a long process. I hope to meet you at some stage and buy u a pint or 4 as ur a legend for the advice you gave me, it really helped.

Hi there,

I am new to all this, I am currently at about the 40hr stage through my ppl and considering applying to the CTC wings scheme. I was wondering what the weight restrictions. I am overweight, but not to bad, but what is the extremes of acceptance for someone of height 5ft 11" and how does weight affect the class 1 medical?

Also, when is it best to apply to CTC, is there ongoing stage's or is there certain dates that are advised for you to apply?

Could you give an example of why you think you were "ignorant"? I'd just like to know what sort of level of knowledge they expect you to have. Thanks

Well I may have read the interviewer incorrectly but when he asked about current "hot potatoes" in the aviation industry the best I could come up with was terrorism! Had I known about the pprune before my interview then obviously I would have been a bit more contemporary with my answers. They also asked leading questions about their clients and the more you know the better really.
Godspeed wannabe!
FLAC

To be honest i wouldn't have a clue what to say to that either, i don't even know what he means by "hot potatoes" really.

Any recommendations on what to research for these sort of questions, or where to look?

I would recommend you browse the other pprune forums and see what things are topical. I looked the other day and there was talk of strikes over pensions and sympathy for the pilot who landed at the wrong airfield in Ireland. It just shows you have a bit more knowledge than your typical Daily Mail reader would.

Can anyone tell me how the gound school is structured and also if you get a type rating??
If so is the tpye rating paid for by the sponsoring airline?

Ash

OK, this concerns me. Firstly when is long division ever simple?! Secondly, is there really long division - this goes against other reports I've receieved? Anyone know what's up?

I did the tests 2 months ago and while there is some "long division" it's nothing more taxing than you would give to a 15 year old to distract him from his Linkin Park cd. Plus it's multiple guess so there's usually only two answers that are vaguely plausible. It's really not worth worrying about!The aptitude tests on the other hand...

FLAC

I agree

focus your attentions on the PILAPT stuff, the maths questions shouldnt really break you out in a sweat, but half an hour on them computers chasing dots and counting coloured objects etc etc, you will be a quivering dribbling wreck, slowly growing a heightened respect for everyone in the past who ran the phase 2 gauntlet!

Have fun boys and girls

Not sure I agree entirely...

The ability to perform mental arithmetic and quick calculations easily is a pre-requisite - otherwise how would you work out top-of-descent points, distances to fly along arcs, fuel burn calcs... the list is endless. Aeroplanes - especially modern jet airliners - fly on numbers.

Whether you're tested on fundamentals like this or not is irrelevant, take the career seriously and if you feel you have a weakness in an area like mental arithmetic then improve it. You are going to need it at 35,000ft blasting towards Geneva at Mach 0.85 more than sitting behind a desk at CTC being tested. That's why they test you.

If they were looking for people with a real brain for maths, sure the test would be more difficult. Or the same test would have to be completed in 5 minutes, not 15.
It's just a basic screening to make sure you're not a complete dafty !
So you can get to stage 3 and FAIL, like I promptly did ! LOL

I'm quite surprised with the types of responses regarding the Maths tests. I'm guessing those who reckon they're a doddle only left school/college/uni in the last 1-2 years. Long Division and Multiplication can be difficult to re-master if you're in your mid to late 20's, or even early 30's and have never bothered to do a long winded calculation on paper since school/college/uni. It took me some time to get back into it and although I have an A' Level (which is part of the problem, you forget the basics) I scraped it through the CTC test! Without knowing what to expect I wouldn't have passed.

Come on guys, if you need to revise long division and multiplication then google long division and long multiplication and you will find a plethora of useful pages devised for pre GCSE level that helped me to revise it. I have been to uni (not needed long division), i have worked at high level in engineering (not needed long division), so i needed to revise. The sites i found will have you dividing 3 digit numbers into 4 digit numbers in 20 mins guaranteed. It's not rocket science, just a simple process to follow.

And yes, you do need the ability to think with numbers when flying. Give yourselves the best shot guys, but don't worry too much about the maths paper.. the PILAPT, now thats another matter!

There will be some good people at these selection centres, give yoursleves the best chance by being as prepared as you can for every stage. When you get to stage 3, do more research than the next guy, work out your answers to the obvious questions, practice delivering them, but don't learn them. Work out where you can shine above the others and go and do well.

high-flyer

How much does it cost from 0 - fATPL with CTC?

The 'cash value' of the entire course is around £75k (inc Type Rating)

I ended up borrowing ~£64000 from good ol' HSBC - 60 for the bond and the rest to top up on living expenses for the year (note that I got a few grand from my sponsoring airline for the same and that this was before you had to pay more for the PPL stage).

2 years on and I now owe £48000.

So with your repayments, what do you take home a month? Apologies for being nosey.

Depends who you end up working for mate. Reckon on an average of £1,800 a month but it varies. It is certainly do-able, unless you have a drugs habit.(!)

As for the maths stuff, you only need it if you break the FMC. Moral of the story: bring a calculator to work.

Good luck to all going to selection and those about to depart for NZ, it's a good scheme, most of us look back on it with good memories.

Ah the wonderful calculator.....very useful at the end of an 11 hr day when your brain just doesn't work anymore!

Too true mate

WBV