MajorYaw

Chris,

Phase 2 is conducted in a large room where all candidates are seated. The presentation is delivered, then you come out while the room is reconfigured. You then go back in and take a seat at a terminal with your back to everyone else.

The maths test is done on a piece of paper. The PILAPT Test is done on the computer terminal at your station. There are no distractions as you can't see anyone when you're looking at the screen.

The invigilator is present in the room during the test, but again is not a distraction. Certainly, there was no breath felt on my neck although others may have been disturbed by my heavy breathing as I squeezed an M1 grunt during a barrel roll and loop on the "Boxes" test.

The atmosphere is as relaxed as it can get, in my experience. Settle yourself with the thought that you are not competing with anyone else in the room. It's all about you and the line CTC have drawn in the sand.

PS - Requesting a flyby then singing "Great Balls of Fire" on the deviation test is a no no.

mallinderjb

I was wondering what questions it is best to ask in the interview?

greywind

CTC have recently update phase 2 so that the maths test is now on the computer. It is pretty much the same test and you get given a pen and paper to do working out, the only difference is you click the answer on the screen rather than circling it on your paper.

You can also skip over questions review your answers etc.

RS999

Thanks MajorYaw. My Wife is getting a bit uptight that I (potentially) would be away from her and my 2 week old daughter for a long time.

This will definately reassure her and as she's a Psychiatric Nurse would be able to get a temporary job in NZ no probs.

MajorYaw

RS999 - good luck for July 4th. I'll be flying out that day! I would get on the blower to NZ Immigration about the possible Visa types your wife could apply for sooner rather than later. You may have bureaucratic hoops to jump through so the earlier the better. CTC's visa situation is quite specialised and designed for one person so it's processed quickly, whereas your wife might have to be processed in a separate channel depending upon work and your kid etc.

Anyway, if it's any consolation, I've just hit 30 and there's a married guy of similar age heading out too, so the old dandies with responsiblities are making it in as well as the carefree young guns. Best of luck to you.

RS999

Thanks matey. Yup got Stage 3 on 4th July and provisionally booked for Stage 4 at Nursling the following day so here's hoping. Its been a nightmare revising and having a 2 week old and moving house to my monster in laws and now moving into my new house next week!!!!!!

Still, if I can handle staying with the Monster in Law for a week or two I'm sure I'll make it in the RHS .

If we don't communicate beforehand, good luck in NZ and hopefully we'll meet there one of these days!!

EZYramper

I began my application to CTC wings many moons ago, I think it was some time in October of last year. I can't even remember if I sent it away of if I didn't.

Recently when I logged in to re-apply it said that I had voluntarily withdrawn my application so I emailed CTC to get a new app' number.

They emailed me this morning saying congratulations I have passed stage one and have given me a list of dates for stage 2 testing.

Obviously I'm very pleased about getting to stage 2 but is this email an error or something? I'm pretty confused!

If anyone could help It'd be much appreciated, I can't seem to find a phone number to ring 'em.

equinox_code

my phase 3 is in less than 3 weeks. i recal a lady a phase 2 telling us how we should revise the partner airlines and first officer responsibilities. i'm having trouble finding detailed accounts of latter. i need to know the pros and cons of the profession, and how the job may vary between airlines

this may be a stupid question. what is meant when people say airlines fall into different 'categories'?

oates76

Hi all, just a quick question for those that have been down already to do your medicals, where exactly is the JAA medical building? I remember reading that is just minutes away by bus from Gatwick airport. Anyone have any better directions for me to get there from Gatwick?

Thanks very much. I'm in for the week from Canada, so am a little out of my element.

99jolegg

First post here...about time I contributed.

equinox_code...

Yes, it is likely they'll ask about the role of a FO. First Officer responsibilities can include the below:

- Pre flight duties - weather? Is the airfield in perfect condition?
- External walkaround
- Checklists
- Either Pilot Flying (PF) or Pilot Not Flying (PNF) duties as arranged by CPT and FO.
- Post flight duties

PF will control the aircraft i.e. control surfaces and speed. PNF will handle communications and checklists providing the PF with information along the way (In a nutshell).

Pros and cons of the profession...

Pros:
Why do you want to be an airline pilot? - anything good about it is something that is a pro.

Cons:
How is being an airline pilot different from other jobs, why can this pose a problem? A bit of thought here will provide you some valid cons.

oates76...
-Go to the South Terminal
-By Arrivals, there will be an information desk followed by a Costa Coffee shop; to the right of this are grey double doors. Follow these downstairs, out towards the bus stop in front.
-Go under the subway by foot to get to the other side of the busy road or you'll go in the wrong direction. Bus stop is on that other side.
- CAA will give you a list of buses to get - catch one.
- It's only one stop - get off, turn right, there'll be a building to your right that they call the Beehive building but looks similar to a VOR.
- Follow the road and before the junction is a huge grey CAA building on the right.

Hope it helps.

PAJ

Airline categories .... All I can assume they mean there is whether the airline is legend, low cost, charter, scheduled etc. and in terms of industry awareness, they might ask you something about what corporate strategies a certain airline from one (or more) of those categories might do to maintain or grow from their position in the market.

Also, the last post mentions a lot of the key responsibilities a FO has - also note the heirachy on the flight deck - I got a few questions on that. Know what sort of hours you might work, what flexibility will be expected, perhaps citing someone you know as a source of information for this who flies.

99jolegg

Check here for any relevant information:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=251490

Also, type what you want to know into Google - I found a few useful websites that way. It need not be any more complex than that.

equinox_code

id be interested to know if anyone's been turned away at stage 3 despite feeling quite well prepared. or, if anyone's ever been accepted even though at the time, they thought perhaps they should have done more revision

confusedflyer

Hi guys, I'm new to pprune and was wondering if anyone could help with a couple of questions regarding CTC.

1. I'm looking at applying to the wings cadet scheme, but i'm concerned by the delays reported by the ATP'ers. Do the cadet course graduates enter the same holding pool as the ATP'ers after the AQC stage? If not, what sort of time lag are people experiencing between finishing the AQC via the cadet route and getting that first job?

2. As far as I can see there is little financial benefit in doing the cadet route as apposed to self sponsored modular, as you still end up paying for your training in the form of reduced earnings. The supposed benefit is the enhanced prospects of getting that first job. From my current position I reckon I could complete my fATPL and a type rating for about 60% of the cost of cadet bond. Is a CTC cadet really in a significantly better position to get a job than someone who has done their own type rating a bought a few sector hours?

Thanks

akindofmagic

Cadets do not really enter the holding pool. Generally, training will be uninterruped (save a couple of weeks here or there) up until the type rating stage. I have heard of people waiting two or three months to start a type rating course, but my understanding is that this was people who were holding out for a particular airline.
As yet, no cadet who has passed all stages of training has failed to be placed with an airline. I'm pretty sure that the same goes for every ATP pilot who has passed the AQC and entered the holding pool.
I cannot comment on how employable one would be with a self sponsored type rating and some hours paid for on type, but I would venture that the chance of getting a job through the CTC cadet scheme is much higher.

Diabhal

Hey guys, I just did my stage 3 and 4 on the 6th and 7th June, and I'm going to be off to New Zealand with CP53 in September!

In terms of the stage three, the posts on page 26 by PAJ and the summary by "Borat" linked at the start are excellent in terms of helping you prepare for both the group exercises and the interview. Remember that Google and Wikipedia are your friends here, especially with Wikipedia linking all sorts of interesting information in relation to the partner airlines and current industry events. If you're interested enough to read around the subjects a bit then this will come across well. Always remember that CTC want you to pass and do well, so try and relax and don't worry about being asked trick questions.

The only advice for stage four is just to listen to your instructor and try to relax. The instructors there are excellent and explain everything really well, so even if you've never sat at the controls of an aircraft before they'll be able to look after you. If you do make a mistake, such as loosing height in a turn, this is okay as long as you identify it and say that you've identified it - it shows that you've been listening and know what's going on, and if you can take corrective action even better. It is difficult to handle it if you've little experience (I only have 8.5 hours in a Cessna 152), and I completely messed the landing up, but I was able to discuss what went wrong with the instructor afterwards and show that even though I messed up I knew what I did wrong and what to do next time. All in all great fun and an amazing experience.

Good luck to all of you who have stages coming up, and I hope to see you out in NZ, especially the guys who I met over the last few days who helped make the stage three and four fun!

Andy

PS. If there's anyone else out there on CP53, say hi!

Flying_South

Hi there,

After spending the last four years trying to save money to enable me to get my fATPL, I’m feeling that I’m almost in the position (finally!!) to go for it. However, I still want to explore the possibilities of getting on a course like CTC offer and thus get a low risk loan.

Does anyone know roughly how many people apply, and then how many of these applicants actually get on the course? I was under the impression it was a kind of elite course. I know I can definitely fly but I’m no rocket scientist!

Thanks for your help.

pcoltas

When I was down at nursling doing stage 4 a guy was telling someone they had 3000 applicants last year, 144 made it through to stage 4 and 100 through to new zealand, going by that its like 3% but they did say they are starting to take more, plus theyve got the icp course as well now...

Ive no idea how reliable that information is, just what I overheard whilst I was there, im just happy to have made it through to be honest lol

pcoltas

Also I meant to ask, has everyone on here just used PJIS for the insurance? Thats all I've got left to sort now but was thinking about shopping around first, at the moment the policy from PJIS comes out at just under £1200!

Cheers

bjkeates

I think most people just bite the bullet and use them because the policies are quite specialised... however, you're free to shop around if you want, that premium is double what I paid this time last year.