Cathay Pacific Direct Entry Second Officer
Join Date: Oct 2019
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Join Date: Sep 2013
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Hello folks,
I just received an invitation email from CX for an interview on Dec 3-4. Anyone joining on the same group too? Feel free to WhatsApp me +1 9419600476 so we would be able to discuss more, should we be in the same group. Cheers
Dylan.
I just received an invitation email from CX for an interview on Dec 3-4. Anyone joining on the same group too? Feel free to WhatsApp me +1 9419600476 so we would be able to discuss more, should we be in the same group. Cheers
Dylan.
Guys (and gals no doubt) let me give you some advice about applying to airlines in general.........Chill out.
One thing can be certain is that the quicker an airline responds to your application determines how desperate they are for pilots.
When I applied to CX I had 2500 hrs (mostly turboprop time save a little bit of GA time) and it took CX 10 months to get back to me, and I held an ATPL.
This was before the current terms and conditions were put into effect. I ended up not submitting the paperwork because I was offered an FO jet job. Better to be an FO than a SO but you take what ever you can get.
My comments are not meant to be a deterrent nor demeaning but if you're applying with less than 1000TT and hearing from in less the a year keep that in mind as to what the conditions will be like and their level of desperation.
If you haven't heard from CX don't panic, keep flying as much as possible, be patient and apply to every organisation who will take your resume.
One thing can be certain is that the quicker an airline responds to your application determines how desperate they are for pilots.
When I applied to CX I had 2500 hrs (mostly turboprop time save a little bit of GA time) and it took CX 10 months to get back to me, and I held an ATPL.
This was before the current terms and conditions were put into effect. I ended up not submitting the paperwork because I was offered an FO jet job. Better to be an FO than a SO but you take what ever you can get.
My comments are not meant to be a deterrent nor demeaning but if you're applying with less than 1000TT and hearing from in less the a year keep that in mind as to what the conditions will be like and their level of desperation.
If you haven't heard from CX don't panic, keep flying as much as possible, be patient and apply to every organisation who will take your resume.
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: bigland
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They were desperate last year. Now they have lots of applications flowing. They prefer pilots with few hrs and some experience.
if you are unemployed or/and few hrs and experience then go for it. After 3-4 years you will be flying a huge widebody around the world. If you are employed in a good job then stay where you are.
if you are unemployed or/and few hrs and experience then go for it. After 3-4 years you will be flying a huge widebody around the world. If you are employed in a good job then stay where you are.
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Philippines
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Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Japan
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Hi everyone , Im KEN from Japan .
I submitted my document 2 weeks ago to entry for second officer position .
Did anyone complete online application in October ?
Im still waiting e-mail from Cathay Pacific and want to share some information with other applicants .
I submitted my document 2 weeks ago to entry for second officer position .
Did anyone complete online application in October ?
Im still waiting e-mail from Cathay Pacific and want to share some information with other applicants .
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: malaysia
Age: 28
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Hello folks,
i just got got a reply from CX with all itinerary details including the sim profile (A330/A350). Anyone up for a sim discussion here for the upcoming interview in December? Feel free to hit me up anytime ��
p/s hating to put my head down to study after 2 years of instructing. Tough life⚓️
i just got got a reply from CX with all itinerary details including the sim profile (A330/A350). Anyone up for a sim discussion here for the upcoming interview in December? Feel free to hit me up anytime ��
p/s hating to put my head down to study after 2 years of instructing. Tough life⚓️
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Kanaduhhh!!!!
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Hey Dylann, Firstly congratulations on the invite and best of luck for the interview. Secondly would you be kind enough to provide a synopsis regarding the interview/sim procedure for the future candidates after the process? Thank you in Advance, Best Regards.
Join Date: Jun 2014
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Forget to mention, you need to do all the EASA subjects + 3 more subjects. if I remember correctly the extra 3 are the HK air law, HK operation procedure, and DA42 technical (I'm not too sure about the last one.) That is not the hard part. The hard part is you have 11 weeks for CPL holder and 9 weeks for fATPL holder to do it all. The lady in the benefits meeting told us there are 17 subjects in total but I counted and on the document that they give you and there are only 16 subjects. So be prepared for a surprise 17th phantom subject I guess.
The direct first officer only has to do like 8 subjects I think. Much less but only 6 weeks to do.
So prepare for the ATPL exams even if you are accepted in CX, as EASA has been adding more original questions. Also in the benefit briefing, the lady mentions a lot of people are failing the exams. Even if you have an EASA license, you have to do ALL the exams.
The direct first officer only has to do like 8 subjects I think. Much less but only 6 weeks to do.
So prepare for the ATPL exams even if you are accepted in CX, as EASA has been adding more original questions. Also in the benefit briefing, the lady mentions a lot of people are failing the exams. Even if you have an EASA license, you have to do ALL the exams.
where is the EASA exam will taking place? Is it in hongkong or aus?
And when we should retake the exam?
Is it after the employment by cathay?
Will we get paid when we taking our EASA Exam?
what type of sim did they put you on the assesment? Is it boeing or airbus?
does the DEFO guys only going to B747 or is there any chance they being assigned to other type or aircraft?
Join Date: Jun 2014
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Where? FTA in Adelaide and there are some documents to prep before going to the training. I do not remember what.
When? in the 11 or 9 weeks depending on your license. After the license "conversion" you will need to go to CX city to do line training or something. Exams are before employment of CX. So don't fail or you are out.
I had AIrbus but honestly, it depends on what is available. If CX needs the A330 or A350 or 777 for their pilot then you are not going to use it. It just depends on what is free for the day.
I do not know about the DEFO as I went to the direct second officer but I would have guess, it depends on what CX needs. You can ask for the type but they will not make a guarantee that you will get it. They will try at least to given what they want. If 10 guys ask for 747 and there are 1 spot then 1 of them are getting it. simple as that.
When? in the 11 or 9 weeks depending on your license. After the license "conversion" you will need to go to CX city to do line training or something. Exams are before employment of CX. So don't fail or you are out.
I had AIrbus but honestly, it depends on what is available. If CX needs the A330 or A350 or 777 for their pilot then you are not going to use it. It just depends on what is free for the day.
I do not know about the DEFO as I went to the direct second officer but I would have guess, it depends on what CX needs. You can ask for the type but they will not make a guarantee that you will get it. They will try at least to given what they want. If 10 guys ask for 747 and there are 1 spot then 1 of them are getting it. simple as that.
so basically they want us to take Exam in FTA with our own pocket before employment.
If we pass the exam we get the job if not then we dont get the job. is that what you mean?
Join Date: Sep 2013
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I went to the interview but fail the HR interview.
Everything is not hard. The theory I had was basic, like what is the emergency transponder code and whatnot. There is a personality question and a group exercise. Just speak and participate. Not hard. The sim assessment is not hard it is the same as what they give you in the briefing documents. Don't break the minimum. Have the GS and LOC capture and remember the call outs.
The second day is the ICAO English exams, which you have to pay (for me it was bull**** as I did it already in a different country). I should not need to do it but I paid and got the level 6 again. There is the most invasive medical you would do in your life, well compared to Europe standards. In the medical, they have the basic things like piss, blood tests, and all the normal initial medical tests. The odd part is the hair cut but the insane part is they check your balls every renewal of your medical. EVERY TIME. But, who knows you might get the young female doctor if you are lucky. Feel a bit violated to have a guy to squeeze my balls after the medical. There is a chest x-ray for some reason...
Anyways the interview. OMG, the worst interview ever. they will ask anything. ANYTHING. even if you have zero jet hours or no type rating. The technical part, they have asked me what engine on X plane and how much max thrust on this X plane. Stuff that you could find on the internet but the answer is impossible AS THE ENGINE THRUST INCREASE OVER TIME DUE TO IMPROVEMENT like different blades. For example the GE90-94B vs GE90-110B1. I found that out afterward. The guy asked for an exact number. He even asked for a company route. I had HK to LA. He asked me how would you fly that and how long or something like that. Going is the easy part but the return part uses the polar navigation, which I would not know unless study all the company routes, which there are a lot for all the company destinations. He even asked me the range of the 777 and here is a trick question as CX has 300 and 300ER which have a different max range for both. Soon, they will have the 777x. There are more very specific type rated questions. Zero question on my training or pass flight experience. Absolutely zero.
On the other hand the, HR part of the interview is much nicer. It's normal. Nothing insane.
Not related to anything but just want to point out that CX has more foreign pilots than hong kong Chinese pilots in my experience and more than what I expected. In my flight to and return to the UK, in the HQ CX city, I did not see any Hong Kong Chinese pilot. There is a lot of Asian cabin crew though. You would have guess a Hong Kong based company would have a bit more Hong Kong pilot with a cadet program for Hong Kong citizenship only. They are even interviewing the people in the cadet program on the shipload. In both days I was at CX city, there were about 2 to 3 different groups of people in the cadet program that I bump into the recruitment lounge. I spent limited time there. In the medical area, I get to talk to some really nice an Australia pilot (which there are a lot) renewing his every 6 months medical. He told me the medical is not covered by CX and need to be paid by the employee every time you go to CX HQ to renew the medical. What I am trying to say is, it's a bit disproportion ratio of local and foreigner and really odd. Maybe Hong Konger doesn't want to be a pilot or something. Maybe the cadet program is very new.
The experience leaves me a really odd feeling about CX.
For those that is wonder how long is the SO to FO, it's about 3 to 4 but maximum 5. Well, that is what the lady told us in the "benefit briefing". In the briefing, they even give you an estimate on rental in HK and as a SO, you are looking at spending around 1/3 to 1/2 of your annual earning on it (depend on where and size). Not easy to live there. Not including food or any other necessity. They gave us a document on how promotion works and for SO2 to SO1 you need 3000 hours of on type flight time. It is different for 747. SO1 to FO2 can be ANY amount of time. It will depend on CX. If you do the Maths, you will be in the SO for a really long time before they will even consider you to be FO (like more than 5 years unless you work 900 hours every year then maybe). Also no type rating for SO, just some P2X rating.
Still for a first job is not bad, still better than being FI in my opinion. If you could, join as direct FO. You will get a full type rating and the pay is much more reasonable and liveable in HK.
On the bright side, your initial medical is on CX house. Free of charge. They will even send it back to you for free.
Good luck to you guys
Everything is not hard. The theory I had was basic, like what is the emergency transponder code and whatnot. There is a personality question and a group exercise. Just speak and participate. Not hard. The sim assessment is not hard it is the same as what they give you in the briefing documents. Don't break the minimum. Have the GS and LOC capture and remember the call outs.
The second day is the ICAO English exams, which you have to pay (for me it was bull**** as I did it already in a different country). I should not need to do it but I paid and got the level 6 again. There is the most invasive medical you would do in your life, well compared to Europe standards. In the medical, they have the basic things like piss, blood tests, and all the normal initial medical tests. The odd part is the hair cut but the insane part is they check your balls every renewal of your medical. EVERY TIME. But, who knows you might get the young female doctor if you are lucky. Feel a bit violated to have a guy to squeeze my balls after the medical. There is a chest x-ray for some reason...
Anyways the interview. OMG, the worst interview ever. they will ask anything. ANYTHING. even if you have zero jet hours or no type rating. The technical part, they have asked me what engine on X plane and how much max thrust on this X plane. Stuff that you could find on the internet but the answer is impossible AS THE ENGINE THRUST INCREASE OVER TIME DUE TO IMPROVEMENT like different blades. For example the GE90-94B vs GE90-110B1. I found that out afterward. The guy asked for an exact number. He even asked for a company route. I had HK to LA. He asked me how would you fly that and how long or something like that. Going is the easy part but the return part uses the polar navigation, which I would not know unless study all the company routes, which there are a lot for all the company destinations. He even asked me the range of the 777 and here is a trick question as CX has 300 and 300ER which have a different max range for both. Soon, they will have the 777x. There are more very specific type rated questions. Zero question on my training or pass flight experience. Absolutely zero.
On the other hand the, HR part of the interview is much nicer. It's normal. Nothing insane.
Not related to anything but just want to point out that CX has more foreign pilots than hong kong Chinese pilots in my experience and more than what I expected. In my flight to and return to the UK, in the HQ CX city, I did not see any Hong Kong Chinese pilot. There is a lot of Asian cabin crew though. You would have guess a Hong Kong based company would have a bit more Hong Kong pilot with a cadet program for Hong Kong citizenship only. They are even interviewing the people in the cadet program on the shipload. In both days I was at CX city, there were about 2 to 3 different groups of people in the cadet program that I bump into the recruitment lounge. I spent limited time there. In the medical area, I get to talk to some really nice an Australia pilot (which there are a lot) renewing his every 6 months medical. He told me the medical is not covered by CX and need to be paid by the employee every time you go to CX HQ to renew the medical. What I am trying to say is, it's a bit disproportion ratio of local and foreigner and really odd. Maybe Hong Konger doesn't want to be a pilot or something. Maybe the cadet program is very new.
The experience leaves me a really odd feeling about CX.
For those that is wonder how long is the SO to FO, it's about 3 to 4 but maximum 5. Well, that is what the lady told us in the "benefit briefing". In the briefing, they even give you an estimate on rental in HK and as a SO, you are looking at spending around 1/3 to 1/2 of your annual earning on it (depend on where and size). Not easy to live there. Not including food or any other necessity. They gave us a document on how promotion works and for SO2 to SO1 you need 3000 hours of on type flight time. It is different for 747. SO1 to FO2 can be ANY amount of time. It will depend on CX. If you do the Maths, you will be in the SO for a really long time before they will even consider you to be FO (like more than 5 years unless you work 900 hours every year then maybe). Also no type rating for SO, just some P2X rating.
Still for a first job is not bad, still better than being FI in my opinion. If you could, join as direct FO. You will get a full type rating and the pay is much more reasonable and liveable in HK.
On the bright side, your initial medical is on CX house. Free of charge. They will even send it back to you for free.
Good luck to you guys
Hey bud, thank you for the useful infos provided at this time. I’m sorry that that you couldn’t make it to the final employment stage.
Could you provide more questions for both the technical and HR they asked? This will definitely helps me out as mine is coming up in 2 weeks. Also how many questions were asked in average for each of them.
Cheers 🍻
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: usa
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Hey guys, new here.
I'm based in USA, and we have requirement of 1500 hours and then you can get ATP rating and apply for regionals. Say I have 300 hours I join CX as SO stay with them for couple years, would the hours I fly with them count towards the 1500 hours for ATP rating for when I want to come back and work for a US based airline?
I'm based in USA, and we have requirement of 1500 hours and then you can get ATP rating and apply for regionals. Say I have 300 hours I join CX as SO stay with them for couple years, would the hours I fly with them count towards the 1500 hours for ATP rating for when I want to come back and work for a US based airline?
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Hong Kong
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Hey guys, new here.
I'm based in USA, and we have requirement of 1500 hours and then you can get ATP rating and apply for regionals. Say I have 300 hours I join CX as SO stay with them for couple years, would the hours I fly with them count towards the 1500 hours for ATP rating for when I want to come back and work for a US based airline?
I'm based in USA, and we have requirement of 1500 hours and then you can get ATP rating and apply for regionals. Say I have 300 hours I join CX as SO stay with them for couple years, would the hours I fly with them count towards the 1500 hours for ATP rating for when I want to come back and work for a US based airline?
SO hours is not counted