Hi there all!

Glad to see this thread is still going strong this year! I am going to the assessments at Cranebank on the 16th Jan 08. Anyone else going to be there with me ;)? Would be good to find out who I will be sharing the day with! Good luck to all those in the application process at the moment and well done to all those successful canditates! Hopefully we'll be joining you soon ;)!

Happy New Year to all!

So Randomair....how did you get on?


I have mine coming up in february? Anyone got information on the kind of route we might fly, oh and are we using the FMC at all?

Cold Soak,

Lots of info about the Sim assessment on here, the stuff that's been posted in 2007 is probably the 'best' bits to look at. Suffice to say, you're probably not going to be venturing far outside the UK.

The FMC - all you will be able to use the FMC for is remote tuning of VORs, ADFs, and ILS. (NAV RAD if you're a Boeing man)

LNAV, VNAV, FIX page etc not allowed.

Best of luck.

How quickly do BA respond to your initial application? How do they invite you to interview, by phone or do they just email you?

Hi all.

anyone else there on the 17th Jan?

Just to let you know, despite me doubting my sim, I managed to get through! For the record it was my 3rd attempt at the at the whole process and my 2nd attempt at the sim; so to all those that don't get through 1st or indeed 2nd time, don't be too disheartened.

Now just waiting for a start date!

Good luck everybody and thanks to everyone that contributed to the thread.

randomair

I know it's an obvious question but what do you think you did differently the 3rd time to get in. This is now my second attempt.

My second go at the sim too. Well done randomair, you must be relieved. Can you provide any info on the routing you took? I'm beavering away on fs2004 and a bit of familiarity with SIDS and STARS would be nice.....

Thanks,

Well as far as the routing goes it changes daily, just as the assessor sees fit.
So it would be pointless to tell you the exact route. When I spent my weeks in front of flight sim I focused all my attention on the south/central England, going into or out of the BA bases. (there's only so many places a 747 can go). Maybe in the sim you wont fly out of gatwick or heathrow at all, but its always good practice.

The raw date practice on flight sim was a help but the main thing I focused on was how I was going to run the operation. ie. when was I going to hand over control, call ops, get wx, NITS briefs, PA's etc. And what would be prudent to include in the briefs, bearing in mind that your going to be flying with someone that is used to different SOPs.

What did I do differently?....well i've got more experience than the first time I did it so thats got to help. My sim was a long way off being perfect but I took things as they came, didn't get too pis*ed off if I made a mistake, stayed safe and didn't stop communicating(well tried not to).

There is no new info in my post really, as it's already on this thread, but hopefully It will keep the faith alive!

Good Luck!

randomair

Anyone got a sim 21st Feb?? If so PM me.

Edited before posting to add.... basically what randomair said.

Folks.....for what it's worth, do not get bogged down in the intricacies of the 744. As others have said, spend your time focusing on how you might deal with a particular scenario; they change daily, as do the routings, but the basic premise of aviate, navigate, communicate holds true (apparently). I had never seen the inside of a 747 - 400, classic or otherwise - and did not spend every hour God sends on MS Flight Sim. They are not looking for 747 pilots...my performance proves that, believe me!

Get there in plenty of time; square away the key points with your oppo such that you look like a competent team when the instructor comes in rather than a couple of f*ckwits. Above all, don't sweat it and don't compete with one another. As randomair said, if you pork a particular element, move on. You don't know what they are or aren't looking for, so don't try to second-guess, just get back on the bike and keep pedalling. Though, be warned, at times you'll have to pedal f*cking hard!!

Good luck all....see you at T5.

Sim at Cranebank
 

Does anyone know how many 744 sims BA have? and how many Sim checks they can do per day? Also how long do you actually spend in the sim?

We have 4 of them - helpfully called Sim 1,2, 3 & 4. :)

I've got to agree wholheartedly with Brit Bus Driver about this thread, people seem to be looking at the sim in far too much detail. I had my sim assesment 3 weeks ago and have just found out that I've passed however, my performance was not ideal by any standard flying wise. BA aren't looking for pilots who are profficient on the 747-400, they're looking for pilots who are trainable and can communicate so go into the assesment with an open mind ready to soak up the scenario (many avail) and adapt to it and try to communivate throughout the day in a cheerful manner and how you would like to be communicated to in an ideal flying environment. You can make mistakes and fly slightly ham fistedly as long as you're safe and recognise the mistakes you make. I felt that quite a lot of ephasis was placed on how you assess your own performance afterwards as well and your comments on how you would change your performance next time. Above all, try to enjoy the experience!

Thanks for all the advice guys, they've brought mine forward so im going in a few days. I scored 17 out of 25 on the maths on day one so they said i might get a grilling on the technical numeracy. I know I can figure out my eta and fuel endurance etc but are there any curve balls I need to watch out for?

Hey has anyone recently been given a start date with BA? just trying to gauge how long the wait is going to be...did my day one mid Oct and still waiting on a date.

cheers randomair

Anyone got sim this week, PM me...

Anyone got a sim March 18th? if so PM me

So on the day that the great british press are calling the most depressing of the year (post christmas blues, bad weather, credit card bills arriving........monday!!), nigel says it isn't for me this time around.

"Made a note in my diary on the way over, simply says..........bugger"

Fly Ginger

Can anyone tell me what the starting salary is for DEP FO please? I've looked on PPJN and it only states the salary for Cadet FOs.

Cheers