PPRuNe Forums - EVA Air Written Test and Interview

It was like that 8 year ago. Not sure if still the same but at least it gives an idea. Best of luck! (copy/paste from pprune thread)
The screening:

First day starts with the SIM assessment. Done in the B747-400 and lasts around 45 minutes only. If you´re rated on it they´ll expect you to know the acft, if you´re not don´t worry as they´ll go through a short 30 minutes briefing before the assessment covering basic stuff such as pitchXpower, engine out procedures, how to read the B744 PFD and basic acft handling. Use your current company´s callouts and SOP´s if you´re rated. If not, I strongly recommend taking a look at the B747-400 FCTM at least. You´ll have an experienced EVA FO seating on the left seat and he will probably be always ahead of you so a big help...use him as your friend and be sure to communicate clearly.

SIM profile will be a normal take off and climb straight ahead to 3000´ AT and FD on, no AP. Clean up, accelerate to 250kt. You´ll then disconnect the AT and turn the FD off and will do 1000´/min climbs and descents, accelerate to 280kt, normal and steep turns (read the FCTM)...all in manual (AP, FD and AT off). After they´re satisfied with your basic handling skills you´ll be placed in the downwind leg for a visual landing...no tricks and no 30kt crosswinds as the Chinese airlines like to do. No take off or approach briefings are required, but remember to ask for the normal check lists and do your callouts.

A second normal take off with vectors for an ILS low visibility. Again no tricks, straight forward manual ILS approach with FD on. Full stop landing.

A third take off with a V1 cut of an outboard engine. At 400´ and when stable they´ll freeze the SIM and put you in an intercept heading for a final landing, again no AP / AT but with FD on. That´s it, very straight forward standard SIM assessment. BUT, I think it is the most important part of the screening. Overall a very relaxed, professional and pleasant atmosphere during the whole SIM and you´ll get notified if you pass or not right after...no waiting and biting your fingernails in your room!

In the afternoon you´ll do a tech exam with 50 questions covering general ATPL knowledge. A lot of WX related stuff, so study your METAR and TAF codes well. Apparently this test hasn´t been updated or checked very thoroughly so you´ll notice a few wrong answers at the end when you return your papers and it gets checked. I´m pretty sure I got way over 90% correctly, but ended up with a mere 82% success...due to these wrong answers, so if you feel wronged and injusticed it´s up to you either to argue or not with the HR people monitoring the test (remember they´re not pilots and probably will not understand half of what you´re talking about anyway). The minimum for a pass is 70%, so in my case, as I didn´t see any point in arguing, I just disregarded the obvious typos and errors in the test and pretended I was happy with the result.

On the second day you´re in for the interview. A 3-man panel with 2 pilots from management and someone from HR. First a 5 min personnal introduction, then the questions start coming. Again, if you´re rated you´ll be asked question about the B744, if not they may ask something about the acft you´re currently operating so be prepared. I´m rated and was even asked quite detailed questions about my previous types (A320)! Be prepared to answer questions about limitations, SOP´s (widshear, GPWS, TCAS and emergency descent maneuvers), as well as acft general system knowledge.

Additionally to these subjects above, my tech interview was heavily based on other issues like RNAV, RNP, CAT 2, Oceanic Ops, RVSM contingencies (WX deviations and emergencies), GO / NO-GO decisions (RTO), pilot incapacitation, weather radar operation. All these were asked from me and as far as I know from the other candidates as well. I strongly recommend studying well your current FCTM, FCOM, FOM and SOP´s as well as general ATPL subjects (and for those already asking...NO I don´t think ACE will be enough unless you already master all above mentioned knowledge). At the end they may ask you what you know about the company, so here´s your chance to make an impression! They even asked me what type I would like to be placed in (in order of priority) and when could I start.

You´ll be notified early in the afternoon if you passed the interview and if positive, you´ll have an ICAO english test, regardless of already having the endorsement on your license. Very straight foward and standard test / interview lasting around 45 minutes.

On the last 2 days you´ll go for the Taiwanese Aviation Medical, which is quite thorough. It will start early each the morning. The first day will be long and you´ll be off after 5pm, and on the second day around noon. The schedule will naturally depend a bit on how many candidates will be doing the exams, but this is pretty close to what you should expect. The medical will be held at the Taiwan International Airport, which is in downtown Taipei, so a good chance to visit the city after you´re done on the second day! EVA will drive you there each morning, but the return to the company´s quarters will be at your own expense either by bus (cheap) or taxi (around USD 30). I chose the latter is it was much faster, but public transportation seemed quite decent and organized (good subway system by the way in my opinion). For those wondering...the Taiwanese Authorities accept LASIK without restrictions...I asked at the Hospital during my eye exams as there´s a thread on PPRuNe regarding this issue with Asian carriers, and I thought it would be nice to know anyway.

I did my screening back in the beginning of october, and so far not a word from EVA regarding course dates or medical results. HR did indeed mention to us during the screening that recruitment would be slowing down towards the end of the year and that at the time EVA didn´t have an exact course date set yet...maybe november or december the earliest.

Regarding the contract´s terms and conditions, what we received was a very basic draft contract which has already been discussed here at PPRuNe, but one thing I think is worth mentioning...training bond is 4 years and USD 60.000. Now, we all know you can get a full B744 TR at Lufthansa in Frankfurt for a third of that price, and training is done in-company at EVA (no high training costs, so not sure why such a high bond), so it´s up to each man to decide whether it´s worth signing the contract or not. But remember, you´ll get a SIC restricted Taiwanese license which AFAIK is not very well accepted by foreign Civil Aviation Authorities around the world. Just something to think about.

As soon as I receive the full details of the contract I will be sure to post them here (if I get an employment offer naturally).

Hope this helps and feel free to PM me for any other details I may have overlooked. Remember this was how my screening was done and it may have been different for other groups.

The best of luck to all! https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

Upspeed.