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Cathay Pacific Cadet Pilot Programme

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Old 21st Dec 2010, 04:27
  #1861 (permalink)  
 
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Stage 2

by the way, wondering if anyone had encounter this before...

i did JKT in 1A (as most ppl would have)

now they have sent me the JKI again in the stage 2 invitation email, as well as having the JKT in my "menu"

it doesn't worry me but any opinion? should i be emailing them about it and probably take this off my itinerary to take some of my load off the long day?

for those looking for a dim light of the latest stage 2 tasks, here goes.

The following assessments will be conducted during the day.
- Personality Test (Time allowed: 45mins)
- Aptitude test (Computer bases/ Time allowed: 75mins)
- Numeracy Test (Time allowed: 30mins)
- Job Knowledge Test (Time allowed: 45mins)
- Group Exercise (60mins)
- Flight Planning Exercise (90mins)
- Panel Interview (General and Technical/ 60mins)

reporting time is 0830 and concluding at about 1800
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 08:54
  #1862 (permalink)  
 
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anyone got an interview in Australia, if so when and where?
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 09:12
  #1863 (permalink)  
 
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CX is going to spend a considerable amount of money training you from scratch.
Well let's do a bit of calculation :

Let say the training is worth 80.000$

With your Cadet pay, you don't get the housing allowance, 1500$/month
1500x12=18000$ per year.
In 4 year CX get its investment straight back into its pocket....
20 grands per SO per year... and you have still 20+ year to stay in CX that make a rough 400 grands per guy.... Well they are spending a lot of money for the cadet, indeed....

The thing is:
I may not indeed seemed really enjoyed by the package they offer.
(2 days before the interview, I was talking to some guys in HK telling them I would surely leave CX one day When you get valuable experience as an FO for exemple... There are a lot of juicy contracts in Asia for rated 777 FO.... My motivation was surely not strong enough!)

Anyway. As Titan you're twice older than me, I assume I can spend a little time out there "hardening"! (no offence mate)

It seems as well that CX is gettin older guys in the cadet scheme (~30) most of the time with a wife an kids (for example: the guy that passed on my day, and a french guy some days earlier), so that when all the family move to HK, Daddy won't make them move somewhere else 5 years later when he get his proper TR and FO time.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 09:57
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404Titan, you failed to actually tell us how he should have responded, and I suspect you don't know yourself. You are very good at giving vague advice such as "prepare more" and "harden up sunshine", this is hardly inspirational.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 10:12
  #1865 (permalink)  
 
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Stress in cadet interviews

Unfortunately I have to concur with 404 when he says that lack of preparation was the key. People often study their butts off because they anticipate questions that will be of high technical standard. This is true and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of technical knowledge in a CX pilot interview. However what people don't always realize is that mental/psychological preparation is equally important, simply because being a pilot requires a certain degree of ability to deal with stress and pressure. Clearly if you go in expecting a pilot interview to be relaxed and friendly, that is a good indication that your understanding of the line of work is lacking. You don't always get smooth sailing for every flight and almost every day you turn up at work, something will be different and it will be up to you to deal with it as it comes, all the while keeping the entire operation safe and efficient. You cannot be a good airline pilot without being able to deal with this type of stress, which is why the interviewers deliberately put pressure on candidates. They want to find out if someone will crack.

I don't think it is any particular thing that chaz88z said that caused him to fail. I would simply say he was not prepared well enough psychologically, which probably showed in the way he dealt with the interview.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 10:32
  #1866 (permalink)  
 
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suntorytimo

Why should I sit here and spoon feed some of you how to properly prepare for CX cadet interview. As someone who has been a cadet interviewer in the past I am more than qualified at advising you how to prepare for the interview but I am not going to. That is your job to research. What I will say is that you have 45-60 minutes to sell yourself to us. If you can’t, you won’t make it. The interview isn’t all about being able to answer the questions but how you answer those questions.

crwjerk

Don't get me started on how much the company is saving with the lack of housing for Icads but that is another topic.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 16:02
  #1867 (permalink)  
 
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Does anyone know whether smoking rules you out in the medical in stage 3? I only smoke a little bit, although I would have thought if it did the question would have come up before they flew me out to stage 2 lol. Just people (people who have never had an interview or any association with CX) keep telling me that CX don't take smokers..
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 16:36
  #1868 (permalink)  
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nmcpilot, all I can say to the people that are saying that is BULL****. I smoke about 20 a day and made it through my medical, chest X ray and all the other tests. Be aware they are extremely pernickety about any potential problems such as heart murmurs etc. and if you have anything that they are concerned about be prepared to go see a specialist at a large cost to yourself. But smoking will not count against you. The doctor will advise you to stop and tell you its bad for you but they will not bin you because of it. If i was you, I would be concentrating my hardest on making it to the medical!!! You have a very long day on Stage 2 before you even get to walk into the cathay AMEs office.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 16:39
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Oh Indeed Sw1 I probably won't make it into the room! But thought I'd ask hehe.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 16:51
  #1870 (permalink)  
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Well you wont make it if you spend your time worrying about a trivial matter like that. I would worry about about the 3 panel interview on day 2 where they will rip you to pieces if you dont know what youre talking about. Even when you get down to ADL, you will see some of the cadets smoke so seriously its a non event. In addition off topic, just so you dont end up like our friend chazz! If you dont know what model the 777 on that table is, PLEASE pick up the fu!@ing thing and look at the engines. They say GE90 on them so dont be a dick and say you dont know what it is . Being asked to "identify" the model is a leading question, the woman in question was directing you towards the answer. Regarding the fuel stuff, slightly harsh I think, but you messed up long before it got to the fuel requirements. Pray to god you dont have Will (in his role as evil First Officer) he was particularly pressing....

PS nmcpilot, if you need a fag, on the 24th floor in the visitors lounge, theres a large balcony with smoking area where you can admire the view of the high ground next to Tung Chung and the runways. If you can see anything, gets quite smoggy in HK you know!
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 18:11
  #1871 (permalink)  
 
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PLEASE pick up the fu!@ing thing and look at the engines. They say GE90 on them so dont be a dick and say you dont know what it is

Well maybe we need to remind candidates the engines used on the 777 fleet :
I agree with you, GE90 (115klbs) is used but on the 777-300ER
(no need to look at the engine to identify this one : Raked wingtip)
then we have 777-200 or 777-300
777-200 has RR Trent 800 series (exactly 875, that I didn't know)
777-300 has RR Trent 800 series (exactly 892, that I didn't know) but you have to search all the sh*it of the internet to find these numbers)

So I took the f*cking plane as you said. But found a little RR sticker... Well I knew that already...

Anyway. Thank you for you comments, (nice or bad ones) that's quite helpful!
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 18:15
  #1872 (permalink)  
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Fair enough chazz, I got asked the same thing and saw GE90 so didnt get myself into any other problems. Live and learn. You can always try again in 6-12months.

877 used on the 777-200 series. Trent 800 series, 77000 LBS of thrust. 892 and 895 used on the 300 series.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 18:19
  #1873 (permalink)  
 
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FCOM states
777-200 : Trent 877
777-300 : Trent 884B

presumably not the same thing as @chaz88z
777-200 has RR Trent 875,
777-300 has RR Trent 892,

???

i must admit i don't know the difference though, would someone please clarify?

Last edited by herrtob; 22nd Dec 2010 at 12:12.
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 18:28
  #1874 (permalink)  
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Its all academic now anyway so.....
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 18:47
  #1875 (permalink)  
 
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884B? Looking on the boeing site it says the options for the 777-300 are :

Pratt & Whitney 4098
98,000 lb
Rolls-Royce Trent 892
90,000 lb
General Electric 90-94B
93,700 lb
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 20:15
  #1876 (permalink)  
 
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So do any of the 773s in cx use RR Trent 895?
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Old 21st Dec 2010, 22:29
  #1877 (permalink)  
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It will look a lot better if you don't pick up the plane and look for the stickers...... The GE and Rollers are easy to tell apart just by looking at them! Also, as stated , the ER has raked wingtips. There are loads of differences but if you are shown to be too smart, they'll delve and ask you all about them until you dig a hole for yourself.
 
Old 22nd Dec 2010, 01:08
  #1878 (permalink)  
 
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Pray to god you dont have Will (in his role as evil First Officer) he was particularly pressing....
Can you elaborate on this please?
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Old 22nd Dec 2010, 01:18
  #1879 (permalink)  
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Certainly,

I had a panel of 3 pilots for my interview. The first asked HR type questions, the second more technical stuff. The third one mentioned earlier, perused my logbook and other documents. He stayed silent throughout the 1hour 15 minutes interview duration and at the very end picked into the answers I had given before to the technical guy. His tone was quite condescending at times, nitpicking about all my answers and generally trying to stress me out ( that was his job after all) and Im a commercial pilot so I should and did handle the pressure. It was all part of the interview process. Apparently this was done to all candidates on my day, although some peoples interviews only lasted 30 mins (they were rejected at the end of the first day) so it shows you that they will keep you in that seat until they are satisfied about what you know and your motives.
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Old 22nd Dec 2010, 01:25
  #1880 (permalink)  
 
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I see. Was this stage 2 or 3? Sorry I couldn't find your previous post about it. I had Will for my stage 2 and was asked a similar fuel loading question. I knew the burn on the 777-300ER in gallons per hour and that was about it but with reasoning and some help from him I got through it. He sure made me feel like I was clueless though!
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