Flybe Recruitment
 

Just spoke to HR at Flybe and they're looking to recruit in the new year. Has anyone been to an interview in the past? What sort of questions are asked?

This info is a few years ago now but:

Essentially an interview with HR, Mgt and Fleet Mage/Chief Pilot on Q400 at HQ Exeter. Then to Woodford for BAE 146 SIM ride - std stuff - basic instrument pattern work.

They were offering around £24k FO with £18k bond (3 yr) at the time. Fast Track commands were offered to those with over 1500h Turbine but still had to start on FO terms.

The gist of the above post is correct, but i believe recent sim checks (albeit a year or so ago) were all completed on the Beech 1900D at Farnborough.

It's very possible that as all the sims are brought in-house at Exeter shortly future sim checks will be done at the new facility.

Flybe has a history of recruiting from all backgrounds, but does prefer the Integrated route. There is a stream of guys n gals on various Flybe schemes graduating in the near future and they will take first available spaces.

At present there some new entrants biding their time as CC whilst they wait for their turn, so all in all could be a while for someone not already on the books.

It is a great airline to get started with, and some very interesting flying, but the first few years on the FO scale can be tricky as you can expect to be based away from home.

The company will probably empty their myriad of hold pools first before taking on Mr Layman but that won't stop them interviewing etc. Everything obviously depends on numbers required.
The sim check is on the B1900 or the Saab340 (I heard the Saab had left Flightsafety). The bond is 3 years reducing and £13,500.
The sim check is fairly straight forward. Check ppjn.com, that profile on there is what I did.
As for interview questions, well I wrote all mine down but I'm away till Friday. I'll post them when I get back.

D777

oh, and forget fast track command, that won't happen with 2/3 the F/O population almost ready for command. Also to be considered you need 1500hrs on Flybe aircraft.

airpasty,

from your previous posts I gather that you are a Dash-8 F/O and so probably have some sort of inside information (I'm sure you'll correct me if not!).

I was just wondering how 'official' this news is. I personally know of several F/O's (and Captains) working for UK airlines who say that there are rough plans to recruit in some form next year. Is this more of the same, or is this a bit more concrete?

Also, as mentioned above, how will this recruitment fit in with the many fATPL and MPL hold pools they have hoarded over the last 3 years?

Flybe are, or at least used to be quite insistent on sending you for a Jet Orientation Course prior to joining, this pushes the bond up to approx. 18k, reducing linearly from final check over three years.

Will depend on your background however

I joined in 07 and didn't have to do a JOC. I was one stop modular.

May be a silly question, but why would you need to do a JOC in order to fly a turbo prop?

EK

Not really a silly question; the logic is that it helps bridge the gap between flying a Duchess / Seneca and a high performance turboprop. The Q400 will climb at 3,000fpm without breaking sweat - at low levels it's pretty much like a jet, only more of a handful. The JOC is also a tailored to Flybe calls and SOPs, which provides a good head start for the type rating course.

From memory it was introduced in late 2007 or very early 2008, which is why Deano was spared it.

Yeah...briefly, if you're just airborne, not full, and or trading energy. For instance, I've seen a Q400 at over 7,000fpm, briefly, but I won't claim it'll do it without breaking a sweat! Unlike a jet it won't maintain such a climb rate for very long. Like a Duchess won't maintain 700fpm for very long.

More of a handful? No.

Like a jet? Not really. Jet being a generic term. 146 or A380?! It's unlike any of the three jet types that I've flown. What are you comparing it to?

The reason for the JOC, as has always been the case, is an introduction to airline operations in a fairly benign sim using airline SOP's.

Has he ever flown a jet?

And, as sure as night follows day, cometh the inevitable Pprune willy measuring contest. :ugh::ugh::ugh:

You're more than welcome to your opinion – mine is based on my own observations, as well as those of colleagues who have flown everything from fast jets to 747s. I have yet to meet anyone who regards the Q400 as an easy aircraft to fly, irrespective of background or experience level.

Someone asked, quite reasonably, why undertake a Jet Orientation Course to fly a turboprop. My point was that the Dash is a bit of a step up from light aircraft, and in performance terms is closer to a jet airliner than a Duchess. I am aware that it can't climb as high or as fast as a 737, or indeed carry as many passengers, but then again, I wasn't giving an aeronautics lecture or playing Top Trumps of civil airliners.

Meanwhile, back at the question, there are several threads on the wannabes forums which are worth digging out. The information will be a couple of years old now, but I'd be surprised if the format has changed much since then.

Not willy waving at all because at no point have I said that anything I've flown is better than the dear Dash. Indeed, the dash does hold it's own in the domestic market, just. To compare the Dash to a jet is simply misinformation.

The Q400 isn't hard to fly, it's just different. The same way a 737 is different to a Concorde. Nothing more, nothing less.

Chaps - enough posturing on the intricacies of flying and the stellar-like skills required to fly this and that...thread creep coming in here..

Back to the original subject - IF Flybe are looking to recruit in January, we need to establish whether this is for already graduated fATPL's from one stop modular / integrated, OR in fact for their cadet programs....if its for their cadet programs only (with a lead time of 1-2yrs?) then really this is no significant news.

If however its for fresh fATPL's, then thats excellent news. Hopefully it will mean they are going to empty their hold pools first, one of which I have patiently been swimming in for quite some time now...

:ok:

The dash has two jet engines on it, just the props are on the outside!

I wondered how long it would take for someone to say that!

Back to the crux of the matter; is this rumoured recruitment just the emptying of current hold pools or a serious attempt to take on low hour guys and instructors?

EK

EK, the simple answer is that you don't. You don't even need to do a JOC to fly a 'jet'. Think of it as yet another revenue stream.

Flybe have, in the past, employed many many freshly qual'd CPL/IR bods straight out of flying school. I know some who only had a total time of about 150 hours - and they went straight on to the 146 before the Dash with no problems.

The name JOC is also a bit of a misnomer as there was a training academy that used to do a 'JOC' on a Kingair sim. The course is only an introduction to the way you operate an airliner with two crew, checklists and SOPs etc..

If you can fly a Duchess or a 172 then you can fly a Q400, it's very benign albeit with more complicated systems.

As far as recruitment goes Flybe will only take on the bare minimum of newbies, from any background. Whether that is to cover any potential expansion or because Frenchy may have had a whiff of many unhappy pilots who are planning to go elsewhere who knows!

a captain who sadly recently retired from the company, and who was an ex Test Pilot would disgaree strongly with you...but I guess his opinion is not relevant to you...:ugh:

It's only an aeroplane chaps, does it REALLY matter? :rolleyes:

5 Rings, if it was really that difficult to fly then how do you explain all the 200 hour new guys that can fly it, and fly it well? Never mind opinions the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.

If you or G SXTY find it hard to fly then so be it, we all have our own limits and we won't hold it against you.

But maybe it's the ego-stroking 'greasers' that you yearn for, and that's more a factor of geometry and not skill or ease of flying isn't it.