No one doubts that there is a good reason for stopping recruitment at the minute. The problem is that they are still calling people forward for assessment AFTER they have told their workforce that they are not accepting any more cadets. At £260 a time.

I know of at least 6 people who have been 'assessed' in the last 3 weeks. NONE got through. They are all good pilots and good people. 2 had previous jet experience.

I'm sure nothing can be proved. They will be very careful like that. I'll just say that it seems very suspicious to me. Buyer beware......

EK

EK4457 - I think you will find thay they are not calling people forward for assesment and are only seeing the people that were already scheduled in for assesment. The workforce was only told on Monday that they were not accepting any more cadets. Do you know someone who has been called in in the last 2 days? Ryanair cadet pass rate is notoriously low anyway. Like said above ryanair would not make a profit on £260 assesments considerign all the resources that go into the assesments.

I agree with Philip, £260 (or £520 since its X 2) would not cover the costs to operate the simulator alone during your interview. My assessment lasted 3hrs in the sim (only 2 of us being assessed that day so they made the most of it), do this through a provider who are in the business to make money and it will set you back at least a grand!

Phillip Jones - the work force were told about 3 or 4 weeks ago via crewdock. Sim assessments continued up untill yesterday.

As for the costs, we could argue all day as I'm sure we don't know the financial breakdown of the day itself. The HR guys are probably salaried so it doesn't matter if they are assessing or not. These costs are pretty much fixed whether there are 20 or 0 people assessed.

If you want to buy 1 hour on a 737 simulator with a compay like virtualaviation (ie they are making money out of it) it will cost you about £500. The same as Ryanair charge per hour.

I'm not suggesting they are making a fortune out of assessments. I agree, they are probably not doing an awful lot more than breaking even. My point is that I'm sure they would have stopped assessments a tad sooner if they were free.

But, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Oh and I completely agree. The standards for the FR assessment are very high, despite the rumours. They just seem to have got impossibly tough all of a sudden!

I was told last week by 'the horses mouth' that there were still a few places left on the last remaining TR courses, and that assessments would be honoured to fill those last remaining places.

This of course means that should the standard of applicants be very high, it'll be a very high level required to be accepted hence why 'good pilots' may have been turned down.

If further assessments have been cancelled then that simply suggests that those places have now been filled.

Recruitment will start next year, that is almost certain. But its fair to say that some of those places will no longer go to 'newbies' and may well go to experienced pilots that have been made redundant by other airlines.

Also, I think a bit of basic number crunching and common sense will tell you that while £260pp covers much of the costs, Ryanair certainly dont make money from running assessments. And the staff involved would be more profitable conducting staff training/renewals etc.

Well here is my story. I had my assessment in July. I was offered a training course. Yea for me! Well now I had a list of things to do...on my nickel. about 3000 quid worth. Finally got all the clerical prerequisites done. Then just found out training courses were cancelled indefinately. I hope Boeing ends this strike soon!

727,

Sorry to hear your news. However, if you were offered a TR course from your asses in July then it would have been for this month? no? or at least you would have had a fixed date for the TR course. The memo states that all cadets booked on the course will continue, but no more will be added to courses as from 15th Sept. I am sure you will have had a course date by the 15th sept if your asses was in July. (my asses was on 19th Aug and I had the TR date by 27th).:hmm:

I am/was coming from the states. I had to get a background check, IAA Medical, UK Work Visa etc. Tried to get everything done ASAP. The work visa really slowed things down. Oh well maybe next year.

Hi,

I've just passed my assessment with FR and am waiting for a course start date. I was wondering if anyone who has been through FRs TR could give me any tips on what I should read up on to prepare. Also, how much did you budget for TR, accomm, uniform etc.

Cheers!

is RYanair recruting again?

No, but they are planning for next year. Most of the people who are successful now will be given TR start dates of March 2009 onwards.

TR expense, my total for everything was 27k.

Look at smartcockpit.com. Run by an FR LTC. It's all there. The TR course as far as the CBT is woefully inadequate at CAE although I understand that SAS is much better. The manuals they give you are good enough and the sim in general is first class. In my experience. Don't get bogged down at this stage. Also the Bill Bulfer RYANAIR 737NG manual is a must buy.

Can anyone advise me if Ryanair have a maximum age restriction on cadets who wish to pursue the TR course?

Thanks in advance. :ok:

i don'tthink so but you do have to pass the assessment like any other candidate. Do be aware that the older you get the harder it becomes to learn things and airlines do take that in to consideration (adversely but never officially).

When I did my TR last year it was the 4th one I did (aged 43) and it was not easy, even with solid previous experience. A chap on my course was slightly older than me and was a cadet with low hours. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the course but it was the sim that got him rather than the theoretical stuff. You have to be able to think quickly and learn quickly. The sim is there to practice what you already learned. I think it was the basics that let him down. This is the exception by the way.

good luck, but don't spend a cent on a TR until you have an absolutely guaranteed job offer. In writing and witnessed by the Pope.

I think most failures at TR or training in general comes down to capacity more than anything. And this is exactly what the airlines look for in their sim assessments.

IrishJetDriver, thanks for the reply. I am along way off 43 so hope for me yet! Was the chap you were referring to chopped half way through the course, or nearer the beginning? What happens if you are slipping as the training progresses? Do they give remedial training or is that the end?

Losing an arm to Virtual Aviation will be nothing compared to the both arms, both legs you will lose to o'leary!:}

I have an assesment booked with ryanair in christmas week.

any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Captain Asad

Hi,

I am estimating to complete my training by summer and planning to apply to Ryanair.

What are the outlooks for the recruitment a that time?
Will there be many low hour pilot positions available due to the arriving aircraft and the new routes opening?( If I'm correct, right know a number of pilots with 500 hrs+type are waiting to start the type rating).

Any thoughs or advice about the assessment?

Thank you,

Daniel

Ryanair are not actively training right now. There are no courses until March. Anyone who gets throught the assessment is in a holding pool until a course is scheduled for them. How long this wait can be is uncertain. I know places are being offered for July next year.

The airline is still expanding, however the amount of people leaving is almost zero so there is less demand for crew than perhaps a year ago.

There are far more applicants for jobs than there are jobs available so the competition will be tough. I suspect that most applicants will not be offered a place.

To have a chance you must have your theoretical knowledge at top level, know all you can about Ryanair, its history and the future, and most of all make sure your skills are at a good standard.