Interview Questions from Hell
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Language barriers could also be a possible consideration. English probably won't be a controllers first language so you will need to be very careful when listening out. Also "locals" will more than likely be speaking in their native tongue, same as in Spain, France etc. That reduces your situational awareness as unless you speak the language you have no idea what instructions/requests are being made. You need a heightened amount of alertness when operating into these places.
I haven't flown to Russia but possibly airfield considerations might come into play? Are they all singing all dancing Cat 3? ILS or is it non precision? If so is the equipment reliable or does it go off line all the time? As always have a read of the NOTAMS and see what they say but a bit of local knowledge gained from experience always helps to.
In deepest darkest winter you will have to deal with snow and ice, viz issues. Stopping distances, braking action etc. What about altimeter error in very cold climates and how this will need to be corrected for? On the ground you might have to take into account deicing procedures. Is it remote? Is it on stand? What are your company SOP's, holdover times, type of fluid available at the airport etc etc. The whole operation will slow down in low viz and winter operations so be prepared for it. Might need extra contingency fuel to take account of this.
Thats all I can think of for now.
I haven't flown to Russia but possibly airfield considerations might come into play? Are they all singing all dancing Cat 3? ILS or is it non precision? If so is the equipment reliable or does it go off line all the time? As always have a read of the NOTAMS and see what they say but a bit of local knowledge gained from experience always helps to.
In deepest darkest winter you will have to deal with snow and ice, viz issues. Stopping distances, braking action etc. What about altimeter error in very cold climates and how this will need to be corrected for? On the ground you might have to take into account deicing procedures. Is it remote? Is it on stand? What are your company SOP's, holdover times, type of fluid available at the airport etc etc. The whole operation will slow down in low viz and winter operations so be prepared for it. Might need extra contingency fuel to take account of this.
Thats all I can think of for now.
The Captain says:"Oh common, lets just go, we are find with the dry tables." What do you do if the Captain insists departing with dry tables?
Has the runway been declared as Wet by the appropriate agency? If it's starting to rain the runway may still be substantially dry or just damp?
Perhaps you could ask the Captain his reasoning for using dry versus wet data in this case?
PPRuNe Handmaiden
Issues with Russian airspace.
As a few have alluded to, it's metric. Also, they use QFE for heights below either FL1800 metres or FL1500 metres. Don't expect any "altitudes" as it's either "standard" (ie QNH 1013) or "height" (QFE).
You'll fly what you filed. However, if going into Vnukovo (UUWW) expect at least a 90 deg cut onto the ILS so slow down early. Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo aren't as bad but it's better to be slow and one stage of flap out (or 2 depending) to make the intercept. Note if the approach controller is a PAR as well. A lot more chatter on the radio so be aware of it.
Runways aren't smooth at all! Esp if there's snow and ice on it.
Departures can be entertaining. Again you'll fly what you've filed. It's best to have your speed well under control and your vertical speed under control too. A lot of "stop climb now" happens in Moscow.
Winter ops need considering, cold wx corrections as well. Fortunately, it's fairly flat around Moscow. You'll probably need a gen dec or two to keep customs happy and if overnighting, you'll definitely need a visa.
Dry tables.
Is the runway grooved or other wise treated to allow dry numbers? Other wise it's wet numbers.
As a few have alluded to, it's metric. Also, they use QFE for heights below either FL1800 metres or FL1500 metres. Don't expect any "altitudes" as it's either "standard" (ie QNH 1013) or "height" (QFE).
You'll fly what you filed. However, if going into Vnukovo (UUWW) expect at least a 90 deg cut onto the ILS so slow down early. Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo aren't as bad but it's better to be slow and one stage of flap out (or 2 depending) to make the intercept. Note if the approach controller is a PAR as well. A lot more chatter on the radio so be aware of it.
Runways aren't smooth at all! Esp if there's snow and ice on it.
Departures can be entertaining. Again you'll fly what you've filed. It's best to have your speed well under control and your vertical speed under control too. A lot of "stop climb now" happens in Moscow.
Winter ops need considering, cold wx corrections as well. Fortunately, it's fairly flat around Moscow. You'll probably need a gen dec or two to keep customs happy and if overnighting, you'll definitely need a visa.
Dry tables.
Is the runway grooved or other wise treated to allow dry numbers? Other wise it's wet numbers.
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Austrian Arrows
Interview with the psychologist :
"Have you ever had any near death experience ?"
Final interview : hardly no motivation questions but the 2 following cases
"You are a new first officer and you realise you have forgotten your licence at home. No standby first officer available, 5 o'clock in the morning (meaning you can't expect any help from the company), licence in another country. What do you do ?"
"Your duty is supposed to start at 6 am. You see your captain drinking alcohol late at night at the hotel. What do you do ?"
It seems they also usually ask the following ones :
"Your captain is not flying according to SOPs and/or wants to continue below minima. What do you do ?"
And another one about another FO blackmailing you or annoying you (I don't have much information on that one)
As they told me, at the beginning of the final interview : we don't want you to tell us what a perfect pilot would do, but what YOU would do... afterwards I'm wondering if they were searching for ideal pilots nevertheless or trying to understand how annoying for the good functioning of the company I would be.
The way they tried to convince me tends to make me think about the second solution, though... 
Strange for a final interview anyway !
David /
"Have you ever had any near death experience ?"
Final interview : hardly no motivation questions but the 2 following cases
"You are a new first officer and you realise you have forgotten your licence at home. No standby first officer available, 5 o'clock in the morning (meaning you can't expect any help from the company), licence in another country. What do you do ?"
"Your duty is supposed to start at 6 am. You see your captain drinking alcohol late at night at the hotel. What do you do ?"
It seems they also usually ask the following ones :
"Your captain is not flying according to SOPs and/or wants to continue below minima. What do you do ?"
And another one about another FO blackmailing you or annoying you (I don't have much information on that one)
As they told me, at the beginning of the final interview : we don't want you to tell us what a perfect pilot would do, but what YOU would do... afterwards I'm wondering if they were searching for ideal pilots nevertheless or trying to understand how annoying for the good functioning of the company I would be.
The way they tried to convince me tends to make me think about the second solution, though... Strange for a final interview anyway !David /
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There was a story many years ago of a guy who went for an interview with a certain very big British Airline.. they kept him waiting.. and waiting so when he eventually entered the Inner Sanctum he asked if he might use the phone.. He was then heard to say: "Hello, Caledonian.. yes, I'm supposed to be attending an aircrew interview but I've been seriously messed about by <xxx airline> so would like to change the time..", etc., etc.
He then sat down and said: "Now what is it you're going to tell me that will make me want to work for your airline?"
Result: Not known!
He then sat down and said: "Now what is it you're going to tell me that will make me want to work for your airline?"
Result: Not known!
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Scroggs,
A strange reaction that you posted earlier about not asking advice on this thread. How do you know who reads and may wish to answer the posters question?
I regularly read this section as I was in that position once and was grateful for any information. Surely it is up to the questioner to validate the information asked for and received.
A further point is the thread was regarding interview questions that people had encountered which implies that replies are solicited from people who have had interviews. Whereas you imply that they would not have.
A strange reaction that you posted earlier about not asking advice on this thread. How do you know who reads and may wish to answer the posters question?
I regularly read this section as I was in that position once and was grateful for any information. Surely it is up to the questioner to validate the information asked for and received.
A further point is the thread was regarding interview questions that people had encountered which implies that replies are solicited from people who have had interviews. Whereas you imply that they would not have.
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very interesting topic here. i have an interview next week and this will help with som eextra preparation i have already done.
just one thing to clarify, can someone please tell me what 'Dual Ratings' is/ are? might be a stupid question but not quite sure. ive just thought..is it to do with flying licenses/ ratings?
many thanks
just one thing to clarify, can someone please tell me what 'Dual Ratings' is/ are? might be a stupid question but not quite sure. ive just thought..is it to do with flying licenses/ ratings?
many thanks
Last edited by AdamLT; 6th Dec 2007 at 14:32.
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When interviewing people I used a variety of questions, unrelated to the job, not necessarily looking for correct answers but to enable me to observe the interviewee's composure and personality.
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I too would like to know exactly what it is they're after with this "Give an example of a time you dealt with cultural diversity" question... stumped me a bit at the BA interview as I couldn't think of one off the top of my head. I'm a pretty open-minded individual, and as such have never had to "deal with" cultural diversity as such.
Any ideas?
FT
Any ideas?
FT
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reviving thread
Hello, just trying to revive the interesting thread?
"What do you think of 24 years old Captains?" then " You will have to do line training with him! Your feelings about that?" (question asked to a 40 years old experienced pilot)
"Duties of a first officer compared to duties of a Captain?"
"What do you think of 24 years old Captains?" then " You will have to do line training with him! Your feelings about that?" (question asked to a 40 years old experienced pilot)
"Duties of a first officer compared to duties of a Captain?"
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Similar to some questions on this thread already but;
'you taxi up and you realise your captain has opened the window and started smoking, what do you do?'
tell him to stop etc. tell him of the dangers...
'what would you do if he carried on puffing away?'
'you taxi up and you realise your captain has opened the window and started smoking, what do you do?'
tell him to stop etc. tell him of the dangers...
'what would you do if he carried on puffing away?'
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Wingo Wango,
Quote,
At DH you judge that the Captain does not have sufficient visual reference but he elects to continue with the approach. What would you do?
Either the Fo or Capt can call go around at anytime before the nose wheel has touched the runway so I would assume that you would call go around.
I had an interesting one once by a certain Irish budget carrier. This is what he asked me and these are my answers:
Capt: Its Xmas eve, you have 189 Pax on board and you need to get back, you find a nav light is not working. What do you do?
Me: Check the MEL to see if its needed.
Capt: The MEL requires you to have it working.
Me: Tell the engineers.
Capt:Theyve all gone home its late at night.
Me: See if I can fix it myself (I know its a stupid one but I got pushed into a corner)
Capt: You dont have a ladder. Your Capt has to get back to EMA hes asking you if your going to stay or go with him.
Me: Id go but i would strongly object to it.
With hindsight I should have said to him that I would not go but I was confused because the airline in question is known to bend rules, so I didnt know if they wanted to see if I would do it.
What do you think I should have said?
Recently I also had,
What do we need a Capt for nowadays when roles are being shared between flight deck crew?
What do you think guys???
Cheers
Dihaz
Quote,
At DH you judge that the Captain does not have sufficient visual reference but he elects to continue with the approach. What would you do?
Either the Fo or Capt can call go around at anytime before the nose wheel has touched the runway so I would assume that you would call go around.
I had an interesting one once by a certain Irish budget carrier. This is what he asked me and these are my answers:
Capt: Its Xmas eve, you have 189 Pax on board and you need to get back, you find a nav light is not working. What do you do?
Me: Check the MEL to see if its needed.
Capt: The MEL requires you to have it working.
Me: Tell the engineers.
Capt:Theyve all gone home its late at night.
Me: See if I can fix it myself (I know its a stupid one but I got pushed into a corner)
Capt: You dont have a ladder. Your Capt has to get back to EMA hes asking you if your going to stay or go with him.
Me: Id go but i would strongly object to it.
With hindsight I should have said to him that I would not go but I was confused because the airline in question is known to bend rules, so I didnt know if they wanted to see if I would do it.
What do you think I should have said?
Recently I also had,
What do we need a Capt for nowadays when roles are being shared between flight deck crew?
What do you think guys???
Cheers
Dihaz
Last edited by Dihaz; 31st Aug 2008 at 14:24. Reason: typo
I had an interesting one once by a certain Irish budget carrier. This is what he asked me and these are my answers:
Capt: Its Xmas eve, you have 189 Pax on board and you need to get back, you find a nav light is not working. What do you do?
Me: Check the MEL to see if its needed.
Capt: The MEL requires you to have it working.
Me: Tell the engineers.
Capt:Theyve all gone home its late at night.
Me: See if I can fix it myself (I know its a stupid one but I got pushed into a corner)
Capt: You dont have a ladder. Your Capt has to get back to EMA hes asking you if your going to stay or go with him.
Me: Id go but i would strongly object to it.
With hindsight I should have said to him that I would not go but I was confused because the airline in question is known to bend rules, so I didnt know if they wanted to see if I would do it.
What do you think I should have said?
Capt: Its Xmas eve, you have 189 Pax on board and you need to get back, you find a nav light is not working. What do you do?
Me: Check the MEL to see if its needed.
Capt: The MEL requires you to have it working.
Me: Tell the engineers.
Capt:Theyve all gone home its late at night.
Me: See if I can fix it myself (I know its a stupid one but I got pushed into a corner)
Capt: You dont have a ladder. Your Capt has to get back to EMA hes asking you if your going to stay or go with him.
Me: Id go but i would strongly object to it.
With hindsight I should have said to him that I would not go but I was confused because the airline in question is known to bend rules, so I didnt know if they wanted to see if I would do it.
What do you think I should have said?
Or call the company and ask whether a dispensation can be issued for this particular flight.
However I must take issue with your comment "..because the airline in question is known to bend the rules...". I am not sure which company you are talking about but if it's who I think then I can assure you that they do NOT expect their crews to bend the rules! Any potential employer expects their employees to obey the rules and I think you are making a very wrong assumption here and indeed if you want to be successful at future interviews (with any company) then I suggest you change your tack.
But of course it's not just a question of rigidly following a set of rules. As I have suggested above, ask yourself the question "Is there any way I can despatch WITHIN the rules?"
A/c operation and crew coordination isn't just a question of doing "things right" but doing the "right thing" - they are not the same.
Good luck in any future interviews.
What is a good response when asked to describe the role of a first officer?
Hope this helps.
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I could be very wrong, but my MCC course went to great lengths to hammer into me that there is no such thing as 'captain' and 'first officer'. It is pilot flying and pilot not flying.
If you read an airlines SOPs or ops manuals, you will find that roles are defined as PF or PNF / PM the vast majority of the time.
Of course the captain is in charge of the ship, and there are certain responsibilites which belong to a captian only. But, if the skipper has to say 'I'm in charge and I'm over ruling you' then there has been a massive break down of CRM. In short, both FO and Captain have failed in their duties.
Just my tuppence!
EK
If you read an airlines SOPs or ops manuals, you will find that roles are defined as PF or PNF / PM the vast majority of the time.
Of course the captain is in charge of the ship, and there are certain responsibilites which belong to a captian only. But, if the skipper has to say 'I'm in charge and I'm over ruling you' then there has been a massive break down of CRM. In short, both FO and Captain have failed in their duties.
Just my tuppence!
EK
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Joniss,
"Because you have just had a call from your Cheif Pilot stating that you no longer require pilots."
Basiclly anything to sugguest that the airline does not require anymore pilots at SHORT NOTICE.
i.e industry related: just after 9/11 or airline plans to ground X number of aircraft this winter, airline just found out they are being taken over or merger talks taking place.
Good Luck!
"Because you have just had a call from your Cheif Pilot stating that you no longer require pilots."
Basiclly anything to sugguest that the airline does not require anymore pilots at SHORT NOTICE.
i.e industry related: just after 9/11 or airline plans to ground X number of aircraft this winter, airline just found out they are being taken over or merger talks taking place.
Good Luck!