British Airways DEP Selection - THE lowdown Part 1

[Bob Fleming]

shorthaul/longhaul

hello
can anyone tell me what the latest round of recruitment is for the DEP holding pool? is it shorthaul or longhaul or both? i have an assessment day in december.
thank you for your help
Bob

i have heard that one guy is going for FO on the 777. can this be right?

[120class]

At the moment DEP recruitment is over-whelmingly for short-haul, both Airbus(LHR) and 737(LGW). In time there will probably be Airbus slots at LGW as the A319 moves in. There has been the odd person getting a DEP 757 course during 2007. AFAIK all LH FO requirements are being met internally.

[Blighty Pilot]

I realise this is a thread for DEP selection at BA, but does anyone know if the SSP sim ride is the same, or slightly different?? Are the Expectations the same??

Cheers

BP

[randomair]

Question on the Sim (DEP).....

When you get your wx/notams etc at the briefing stage, do they provide you with a OCH for the approaches in use?? if they do presumably you just compare that with the system minima that your using for planning?

Also can your T/O alternate be the same as one of your destination alternates or indeed destination? I think it can but I cant find anything written down.

Thanks
randomair

[bermudatriangle]

KT pretty accurate description of the whole experience.....scant info on power settings,5 minutes for plogs,manual flying of unfamiliar aircraft and you soon fall behind.the gist of the exercise is to ascertain your ability to recover the situation.nobody expects you to fly a perfect approach and a roller coaster ride is the usual scenario.make the calls,watch the speeds and do your utmost to land on the runway.above all remain calm and try to enjoy the ride.must say,easier said than done,you will be sweating after the ordeal.

[DownloadDog]

Randomair,

When you get your wx/notams etc at the briefing stage, do they provide you with a OCH for the approaches in use?? if they do presumably you just compare that with the system minima that your using for planning?

You are given a double-sided A4 sheet of all the airfields you are likely to use and the DA/MDA for each available approach.

It becomes fairly obvious that you can't use some of the flight planned diversions because they are below the weather minima.

Good luck!

[EXEZY]

Just wondered if somebody could put my mind at ease. I was unable to get the days off required for my interview in a few weeks, I rang recruitment and one of the girls said she would email me a set of new interview dates. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has been in the same predicament. I'm slightly concerned they won't get back to me.

[sickBocks]

ExEZY - BA is a professional company with a human recruitment department. They will get back to you.

Any firm who says "sorry it's that day or nothing" is only indicating how crap life will be like further downstream.

[little-paddy]

2 days via email. Thanks but no thanks.

[Knee Trembler]

Re initial application, I heard back within two days with an invitation for the next week.

BTW, anyone still waiting for Sim results? It's been two weeks now and despite a phone call and email reminder I've heard nothing. Does anyone on the inside know what actually happens after the sim? I thought it would be a fairly clear yes/no decision .

KT

[ted baker]

KT,

My bad news took a week before the dreaded email arrived.

Silly question, but you have checked your application online haven't you? I only ask because a few of my emails throughtout the process never arrived, but they were all accessable through the online application.

Fingers crossed for you anyway.

TB

[Knee Trembler]

TB

Very sorry to hear it was bad news .

Yes, I have had a look on the website, but thanks for the tip.

KT

[randomair]

knee trembler,

I think after you do the sim, the report is written fairly quickly and then your whole application goes to a review board. So could take a bit more time than expected....my sim is before Christmas so the chance of me finding out the result this year is doubtfull!..cheers.

randomair

[The Flying Dutchman]

I've just been told I can go to the sim in January

I went to the assessment on the 15th of this month, got the call about 3 days later and was told today that I can go to the sim halfway through January.

I'd appreciate all the tips I can get on the sim part.

The amount of preparation I put into the assessment paid off (this time, it was my second go at it...) and I'd like to go to the sim just as prepared.

Would it be worthwhile to try and get some time in a 744 sim?

Anybody?

P.S For anybody who's interested, the first day of the assessment is still exactly like Localizer described it at the beginning of this thread.

[Boomerang]

FD, My personal input would be that if you can get some time beforehand, go for it. It wil let you get a feel for the aircraft and hence reduce stress before the assessment, and perhaps reduce workload during the sim. If you become too good at flying it no doubt they'll notice, but what are they gonna do if you fly well? I believe a large part of the assesment is also how you work with the person next to you, brief, solve problems etc. I did a bit (2 sessions?) of fixed base basic jet handling in a generic 737 sim made to look like a classic (EFIS panels displaying analogue clocks). This was to prepare me for flying a jet (BAC1-11 sim back then) which I had never done before. No doubt it helps to go in prepared! If you put this much effort in now, then hopefully you will do the same when it comes to doing the real Type Rating. Good luck to all!

[ChocksAwayUK]

Just started looking at BA as I'm approaching the minimum requirements. The website states October 28th as a closing date. Is that it for a while then? Or does the application process open and close regularly?

Also any point in applying if I have about 400 A320 hours in the knowledge that I'll have the 500 very soon?

(I'm sure these questions are answered somewhere in this thread... but I'm flat out busy at the mo' )

[DownloadDog]

FD,

Having done the sim earlier this year and finding it really difficult, any preparation you can do beforehand helps:

I bought a cockpit layout from www.flightstore.com it costs quite a bit but definitely useful.

I did my MCC on a Boeing 737-400 which also helped as the cockpit is fairly similar.

I also used the FS2004 software, this has a 747-400 cockpit in it, the speeds and power settings don't work, but it will help you get familiar with the layout of the busy MFDs.

Get familiar with AERAD/AIDU plates, you can get a copy on the Internet from their website.

If you are really keen, you can pay £450 an hour to go in a 747-400 sim with Jetlinx. There is a minimum hire of 2 hours (ie £900), so you may want to find someone else to share.

All that aside, on the day be yourself, the sim staff are very professional and take into account your previous experience. I flew the 747-400 like a biff, yet managed to get through!

Good luck.

[Knee Trembler]

Hi all,

Sadly got the PFO email today. Am disappointed of course, but those who have seen my thread in this forum will know I had some reservations about the move anyway. Can't pretend I wouldn't have liked it to be my decision though.

KT

[F.O. 737-800]

BA sim check?

Hi all,
I am not really familiar with the BA sim check, but is it really so hard for people to need to pay for some extra sim time? I thought that to apply to BA you had to have some good jet time and if this is the case then I would of thought that buying extra sim time wouldn't be
necessary.

[CarbHeatIn]

I thought that to apply to BA you had to have some good jet time

You thought wrong.
Requirements : An ATPL(F) with at least 1000 hours recent experience on a turbojet/turboprop transport category aeroplane with a MTOM greater than 10 tonnes or an approved passenger seating configuration of not less than 20 passengers.
OR
A current type rating on either the Airbus A320 series or Boeing 737, with an ATPL(F) and a minimum of 500 hours recent experience on type.