Air Astana
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This playing with experienced pilots will come to haunt them in the future when they actually need people because the guys you treated like they weren’t worthy would have found better jobs and won’t consider your random KZ bases, local currency payments anyway!! Good luck to them rather …..
If by experience you mean hours, it doesn’t equate to a good pilot demonstrating his ability in a sim session. I’ve seen plenty of high hours pilots and it doesn’t make you a good pilot. And there are plenty of pilots with inflated hours in their log books out there.
The recruitment pool is full of pilots, so they can cherry pick. Times have changed
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Like any airline, Air Astana need to see a certain standard. Having thousands of hours does not automatically entitle you to a job. You could have development areas in your CRM or your general handling skill. As part of the presentation, you are told about the areas that are assessed and these combined can paint a picture on an individual’s ability. I agree that being away from an aircraft for 18 months to 2 years is going to fade skills. But as a business, an airline is looking for candidates who can complete an OPC at their standards in minimal time. Unfortunately, Pilots have not invested in their time during the pandemic. There have clearly been a diminished set of technical and non technical skills.
High failure rates are being reported in various airline assessments. I don’t believe any airline invest in assessment days to purposely fail people. Anyone inclined to believe this is clearly bringing emotions rather than logic.
High failure rates are being reported in various airline assessments. I don’t believe any airline invest in assessment days to purposely fail people. Anyone inclined to believe this is clearly bringing emotions rather than logic.
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Its supply and demand, and it has to be expected when you have a surplus of pilots on the market currently. The whole point that we are trying to make is Air astana do constant screenings, your not telling me that no one is good enough or sometimes no one passes that week? How many pilots do they actually need versus the quality of people they are failing is something we do not know, all I can say is what i saw on the day is very similar to The Flying Possum
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to fail them based on said experience/employment in combination with a fairly straightforward screening? My guess is just to make up the numbers for the hr departments world tour.
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Making rough numbers of their fleet to what they actually have in house of manpower doesn't make any sense. Now, once again the sim session is peanuts,
One HYD sys overheat? for a session?
Next session
Engine stall, no need to even shut it down....
Now a year ago, a person that they grabbed and joined was done via Skype interview, no COMPASS test...low hours, so ia1166 is this the selection we are talking about? Yes I agree that someone with 25k hours doesn't mean you are a great pilot, we all know that, but for that you have a career behind you, and no not everyone let their skills fade away, some they kept current, some they kept going to their sim every 6 month and doing their homework.
I say everything has been covered in the post and we should leave it at this. The fact is, if someone had posted how it is, I wouldn't have spent a freaking penny flying to them to do an interview where I was certain and confident enough to know I could go through this "selection" non made it, and non has made for the past weeks, That is the fact. This aint a hard assessment, besides the math part of the compass, and even someone that said that was easy for him (if its true) didn't even make it either.
BAE and I put the warnings here of investing on going for an interview, in this time, not everyone can just throw away 2k USD in airfare thinking they wont be able to make it. If I have read all of this before, trust me I wouldn't have bothered at all. But yeah ia1166, sending a 29 year old kid with 4k hours to make a selection of pilots says a lot.
One HYD sys overheat? for a session?
Next session
Engine stall, no need to even shut it down....
Now a year ago, a person that they grabbed and joined was done via Skype interview, no COMPASS test...low hours, so ia1166 is this the selection we are talking about? Yes I agree that someone with 25k hours doesn't mean you are a great pilot, we all know that, but for that you have a career behind you, and no not everyone let their skills fade away, some they kept current, some they kept going to their sim every 6 month and doing their homework.
I say everything has been covered in the post and we should leave it at this. The fact is, if someone had posted how it is, I wouldn't have spent a freaking penny flying to them to do an interview where I was certain and confident enough to know I could go through this "selection" non made it, and non has made for the past weeks, That is the fact. This aint a hard assessment, besides the math part of the compass, and even someone that said that was easy for him (if its true) didn't even make it either.
BAE and I put the warnings here of investing on going for an interview, in this time, not everyone can just throw away 2k USD in airfare thinking they wont be able to make it. If I have read all of this before, trust me I wouldn't have bothered at all. But yeah ia1166, sending a 29 year old kid with 4k hours to make a selection of pilots says a lot.
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Making rough numbers of their fleet to what they actually have in house of manpower doesn't make any sense. Now, once again the sim session is peanuts,
One HYD sys overheat? for a session?
Next session
Engine stall, no need to even shut it down....
Now a year ago, a person that they grabbed and joined was done via Skype interview, no COMPASS test...low hours, so ia1166 is this the selection we are talking about? Yes I agree that someone with 25k hours doesn't mean you are a great pilot, we all know that, but for that you have a career behind you, and no not everyone let their skills fade away, some they kept current, some they kept going to their sim every 6 month and doing their homework.
I say everything has been covered in the post and we should leave it at this. The fact is, if someone had posted how it is, I wouldn't have spent a freaking penny flying to them to do an interview where I was certain and confident enough to know I could go through this "selection" non made it, and non has made for the past weeks, That is the fact. This aint a hard assessment, besides the math part of the compass, and even someone that said that was easy for him (if its true) didn't even make it either.
BAE and I put the warnings here of investing on going for an interview, in this time, not everyone can just throw away 2k USD in airfare thinking they wont be able to make it. If I have read all of this before, trust me I wouldn't have bothered at all. But yeah ia1166, sending a 29 year old kid with 4k hours to make a selection of pilots says a lot.
One HYD sys overheat? for a session?
Next session
Engine stall, no need to even shut it down....
Now a year ago, a person that they grabbed and joined was done via Skype interview, no COMPASS test...low hours, so ia1166 is this the selection we are talking about? Yes I agree that someone with 25k hours doesn't mean you are a great pilot, we all know that, but for that you have a career behind you, and no not everyone let their skills fade away, some they kept current, some they kept going to their sim every 6 month and doing their homework.
I say everything has been covered in the post and we should leave it at this. The fact is, if someone had posted how it is, I wouldn't have spent a freaking penny flying to them to do an interview where I was certain and confident enough to know I could go through this "selection" non made it, and non has made for the past weeks, That is the fact. This aint a hard assessment, besides the math part of the compass, and even someone that said that was easy for him (if its true) didn't even make it either.
BAE and I put the warnings here of investing on going for an interview, in this time, not everyone can just throw away 2k USD in airfare thinking they wont be able to make it. If I have read all of this before, trust me I wouldn't have bothered at all. But yeah ia1166, sending a 29 year old kid with 4k hours to make a selection of pilots says a lot.
How do you know how other peoples sim went? You weren’t there. Mostly I have never seen a pilot accurately describe his own sim check. The assessment is made from the back, not the front. A 29 yr old with 4000 hours? Who knows. I would have to see him in the sim. I wouldn’t be surprised that a pilot could be more than capable at this level, if he was trained properly from the start.
I could tell you some things I have seen from guys with 10K hours that would shock you. As I have seen some 1000 FOs who were extremely good.
I would also tell you that everyone thinks he is Chuck Yaeger. Unfortunately the reality is somewhat different.
I am sure this airline is cherry picking the best. They can now. Its a buyers market.
How about stating that the selection is of a high standard, and only attempt it if you are confident. Blaming the airline for failing their sim check seems a bit sad
Last edited by ia1166; 4th May 2022 at 12:19.
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Last edited by BAe 146-100; 4th May 2022 at 12:40.
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The hours versus skill debate has been done to death. No one failed the sim check, it was a doddle with not even a single complex failure or single engine, where you had flown before was a major dealbreaker, the people who they invited with a average cv never were gonna get further and it was just to make up the numbers for the recruitment tour, any pilot can make up their minds whether they want to attend or not after that. Of course they can do as they please and im sure they have good reason to keep doing screenings all over the world trying to find the new Sully who would just love to be based in Shymkent !!
Anybody who walks out of a sim check and declares it a doddle is either lying or naive. Every sim I have done i have always felt I could have done better. But anyway, the end result is you failed the sim check. Move on, nothing to see here.
Joining an airline involves joining a team. Sounds to me like the airline dodged a few bullets here, due to the 29 year old TRI who you degrade here, but i would have to say maybe he saw through you, so good job.
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This thread is for people to get real info from guys who went to the screening, your sure quick enough to throw stones yourself…..
Last edited by BAe 146-100; 7th May 2022 at 17:20.
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I did the assessment recently. I’m not going to go into much detail as it’s unfair to the whole process and I feel everyone should have an equal playing ground but I’m happy to guide you in the right direction.
There were 7 candidates from all over the world on the day including myself.
Day one consisted of a technical interview and a simulator assessment. The technical interview is around the aircraft you are typed on. I would suggest that you learn all your systems and limitations.
The simulator exercise is a 4 hour loft. On one part of the loft you will be PF and the other PM. The assessment will start with general handling followed by a radar vectored raw data ILS with a considerable crosswind component. Out of 7 people, 4 people went around as they were unstable. It wasn’t an easy raw data but they are looking for a sensible approach and leadership.
The next part of the loft exercise will be a short route where you will deal with an abnormal situation in an already busy exercise. It will be a busy exercise because as part of your planning, you will more than likely have an MEL item that will increase your workload in the flight. The MEL item will cause it’s own considerations and problems. On top of that, you’ll now have more to deal with and it is up to you how you go about managing the situation. Do you continue or do you turn back? That is your choice. Treat it as a real flight.
You will then swap and repeat the exercise but with a different situation. It’s a long simulator assessment and we were allocated 4 hours and used the whole time.
The second day consists of a compass test and an interview. I won’t go into much detail about the compass test as there is lots of information on this website. It hasn’t changed and is pretty straightforward. The interview is mostly about your simulator assessment and questions regarding the actions and decision making. Be honest about the assessment and you’ll be fine. The HR questions are more about you and how you will adjust to life in Kazakhstan.
The assessment is not a walk in the park as previous individuals have mentioned on this thread. It is challenging and one of the longest simulator assessments I have done. It included a complicated scenario with an already limited aircraft.
Use your CRM and decision making framework to handle the situation. You may be paired up with a candidate who will not have flown for a while. Think about what you would do if your simulator partner makes a mistake.
Feedback is provided within 2 weeks and I heard back a few days later. Out of 7 people, 4 passed and 3 failed. Each stage of the assessment must be passed at the required standard. I’m afraid you must pass the compass stages as well and although some may disagree whether knowing 4x + y = 12 is necessary, it is Air Astana’s playground and their toys. They set the rules and you either accept them or move on.
Good luck and be prepared.
There were 7 candidates from all over the world on the day including myself.
Day one consisted of a technical interview and a simulator assessment. The technical interview is around the aircraft you are typed on. I would suggest that you learn all your systems and limitations.
The simulator exercise is a 4 hour loft. On one part of the loft you will be PF and the other PM. The assessment will start with general handling followed by a radar vectored raw data ILS with a considerable crosswind component. Out of 7 people, 4 people went around as they were unstable. It wasn’t an easy raw data but they are looking for a sensible approach and leadership.
The next part of the loft exercise will be a short route where you will deal with an abnormal situation in an already busy exercise. It will be a busy exercise because as part of your planning, you will more than likely have an MEL item that will increase your workload in the flight. The MEL item will cause it’s own considerations and problems. On top of that, you’ll now have more to deal with and it is up to you how you go about managing the situation. Do you continue or do you turn back? That is your choice. Treat it as a real flight.
You will then swap and repeat the exercise but with a different situation. It’s a long simulator assessment and we were allocated 4 hours and used the whole time.
The second day consists of a compass test and an interview. I won’t go into much detail about the compass test as there is lots of information on this website. It hasn’t changed and is pretty straightforward. The interview is mostly about your simulator assessment and questions regarding the actions and decision making. Be honest about the assessment and you’ll be fine. The HR questions are more about you and how you will adjust to life in Kazakhstan.
The assessment is not a walk in the park as previous individuals have mentioned on this thread. It is challenging and one of the longest simulator assessments I have done. It included a complicated scenario with an already limited aircraft.
Use your CRM and decision making framework to handle the situation. You may be paired up with a candidate who will not have flown for a while. Think about what you would do if your simulator partner makes a mistake.
Feedback is provided within 2 weeks and I heard back a few days later. Out of 7 people, 4 passed and 3 failed. Each stage of the assessment must be passed at the required standard. I’m afraid you must pass the compass stages as well and although some may disagree whether knowing 4x + y = 12 is necessary, it is Air Astana’s playground and their toys. They set the rules and you either accept them or move on.
Good luck and be prepared.
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That’s really odd,
I had a completely different assessment this winter in EPST, with absolutely zero technical questions, a simulator session in a FNPT extremely easy with no failures and if I remember correctly the assessors were Boeing rated so not familiar with Airbus.
But with group exercises being the main part of the day.
I had also the feeling that they were not really looking for pilots.
I had a completely different assessment this winter in EPST, with absolutely zero technical questions, a simulator session in a FNPT extremely easy with no failures and if I remember correctly the assessors were Boeing rated so not familiar with Airbus.
But with group exercises being the main part of the day.
I had also the feeling that they were not really looking for pilots.
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That’s really odd,
I had a completely different assessment this winter in EPST, with absolutely zero technical questions, a simulator session in a FNPT extremely easy with no failures and if I remember correctly the assessors were Boeing rated so not familiar with Airbus.
But with group exercises being the main part of the day.
I had also the feeling that they were not really looking for pilots.
I had a completely different assessment this winter in EPST, with absolutely zero technical questions, a simulator session in a FNPT extremely easy with no failures and if I remember correctly the assessors were Boeing rated so not familiar with Airbus.
But with group exercises being the main part of the day.
I had also the feeling that they were not really looking for pilots.
I passed the assessment more than two years ago and it was EXACTLY what Bloated Stomach described
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Hello! I'm about to take on the Air Astana assessment and would like to know, if you have done it, prepared the compass test. I read on this thread that the math portion is tough. What other parts were there? Anyone can go into a little bit more detail?
Any help would be appreciated! Many thanks
Any help would be appreciated! Many thanks