I received an email last week inviting me to Day 1. Not my first time applying - the old Day 1 is now spread over 2 days. Tests on Day 1. If you're successful go back on another day for an interview and the group exercise. If you're again successful you'll be called back for a sim check. Quite a frugal process and with forced draft, the potential for change in the bidline system AND SH working their socks off it really is an interesting proposition. Having said that, it's a long term career which I think will pay off as I wish to go long haul. However, it's not for everybody......

I was invited for the 1st Day as well.
It's my 2nd attempt, last one on 2011.
Does anybody know what the 2 computer tests consist of?
Good luck to everyone...

Out of curiosity, the 2 guys who have been re-invited for interviews, whats your experience like, TT? 320hrs? RHS/LHS?

MaxShr
 

Given the firestorm that is raging elsewhere (i.e. BALPA forum and the in house BA forum) over the definite but supposedly only temporary changes made to Bidline to cover August's work I'd say that's an something of an understatement....

Good luck with the assessment but given the state of flux with Bidline at the moment I'd recommend that any successful applicants have a very critical and careful look at what BA's rostering system looks like at the end of this summer before signing on the line - especially if you value having more than a weeks notice of your days off early in a month and/or have ongoing family commitments such as childcare (be aware, if you are not, that generally under current Bidline there isn't an underlying pattern of days on/days off). Under the temporary (?) arrangements announced last week we won't know our confirmed August rosters until 25th July at the earliest, so this patch up of Bidline is a bit of a horror story for anyone who has made plans or is trying to make plans for activities outside work.

Fair enough, but remember if you are successful in getting into BA you will almost certainly be "serving time" :E in short haul for quite a while because it takes a long time to dig that tunnel that allows you to escape to long haul, if that's what you want (i.e. years at least, decade plus probably). Regardless on where you plan on ending up you really do need to seriously consider the life style issues and problems associated with BA short haul before making any decisions. BTW to give you some idea here's a video of a BA short haul pilot finally making the transition to a long haul fleet -

I know regardless of what I say successful applicant will sign on the line regardless, I'd probably do the same....but please don't pop up on the forums in a year or two under another name complaining that rostering was better at Easyair or Ryanjet.....you've been given a heads up....

Supposed to be hats on in public, though many hats do seem to go mssing and uniform stores ( another long story) are very slow at getting replacements:sad:...

Maybe, some customer surveys seem to say otherwise and I believe following recent changes hats are back "in" at at least one other major UK airline.

Must admit being ex-Mil the hats are fine by me, especially as it hides my grey hair... and it's very a useful place for storing ID, keys, rank slides, pens et al when down route......

Yes. As wiggy says, customers like it. Symbol of authority.. we fly to nations where hat wearing for officials is de rigeur! We also wear uniform in the simulator.
No sick notes for that either.

Use that line in the interview, then you won't have to worry about wearing a BA hat...

Do you really wear uniform in the simulator? How very quaint.

In my last company (before I retired) we had a chief pilot who was a bit of a stickler about the wearing of hats. Imagine his chagrin when the management introduced a new uniform and decided that hats would not be worn nor would they be issued. I don't think he ever totally recovered from the shock. Mind you, as someone has already said, the hat was a useful receptacle for holding your car keys, ID Card etc etc on a layover.

Incidentally, I haven't seen or worn a uniform in the simulator since I left Mrs Windsor's employ in 1978 (and I have spent thousands of hours in the box - usually in the back examining). Nor have I seen any other airlines wearing uniform in the simulator except that I have a very vague memory of seeing a Gulfair crew coming out of the box in Crawley in uniform about 30 years ago. It would be interesting to hear of which other airlines wear uniform in the sim.

Out of interest when did you guys click the submit button? I did mine on the first Sunday (on the 3rd day), no news yet.

Superpilot, I submitted mine in the morning on the same Sunday as you. I wouldn't read anything into this necessarily as there's nothing to say they're working on these applications sequentially.

As you tick boxes on the application, type rating, disabled, M/F etc etc you earn points. If you're registered disabled you earn 10000 points and are eligible for an interview - some European ruling thing!! So the higher the points the closer to the top of the pile you are. The recruiter then goes into the application and reads through your essay answer and grades them is several piles: Suitable for BA, Review, Reject.
Only after all these filters have been applied you'll get your email to invite or PFO. No news is either good news or a PFO will follow in due course. The date you applied will have NO relevance!

If you look back through the old DEP thread some of the questions were answered on there.

As I understand it applications are put into 3 piles. 1) definitely yes, 2) definitely no, and 3) maybe. The 1's will get a quick invite to interview, the 2's a quick PFO and the 3's will be reassessed after all the 1's have been invited and the numbers still required looked at. i.e BA may want to interview 10 applicants for every post available. If they get the numbers with all 1's then the 3's will be PFO'd. If they don't have enough 1's then the best 3's will get an invite.

As far as interview slots go, more are constantly added. There will be enough slots for those invited. Keep checking the web site.

When your application is reviewed, do they go through your previous applications/essay answers also, or base it on your current application only?

Gutter Airways

I would like to think it would be based on your current application as your skills and experience might have changed :ugh:

All done on current application. The only time they MIGHT consider a previous application is if you were in the hold pool.
Its all part of BA's clean sheet, treat everyone the same policy.

I logged on within 30 mins of getting the invite yesterday morning and there weren't any slots. I'm guessing it is just a case of constantly checking?

billybuds

Yes, I presume; binsleepen has some fine words on this in #318.

Does the status of the application change prior to receiving an email from BA? Mine still says "submitted". I sent my CV on June 6th.

Received the invitation this evening! :)

@ a-ricky-town

Good luck, hope you enjoy the experience.

Good luck to all who applied! Just out of curiosity what were some of the "essay" questions that were asked? Thanks

I'm still waiting to hear my fate. Anyone else?

Likewise. Put my heart and soul into the essay questions!

1) What do you believe constitutes effective leadership on the flight deck? In the past, how have you demonstrated these skills and qualities? (Max 300 Words)

2) Describe a situation in which you exceeded your customers', expectations. (Max 300 Words)

They also requested a cover letter explaining why we wanted to leave our current jobs and fly for BA.

Student88, aye still waiting here too.. I didn't expect to hear straight away, due volume of applications. However the checking of emails is driving me bonkers now.

Sleazy pilots wear uniform for day 1 of the summer sim as it's effectively treated as a line check (with stuff going wrong) under ATQP. It's really no big deal. Easy were also flirting with the idea of hats recently but thankfully that initiative has been buried.

Just shooting the breeze until we hear everyone's good news.

And we do not wear hats to the sim...:}

And I've been invited for an assessment... so there!

(My first with a British airline since graduating 6 years ago! :) )

Superpilot

Good luck with this but I hope you won't use that "STFU" := Remember what goes around, comes around.

@kirungi1

Thank you very much! :)

In my previous airline we didn't wear uniforms in the sim, it was slightly odd to look across flt deck and see matey in his chinos and polo shirt. The uniform seems to make it seem more like a normal day at work. Nothing quaint about it...:hmm:

Sorry if I gave that impression. I don't have a command yet. Only been operating commercially for 3 years. Flying privately for much longer than that though.

So then, can we assume the assessment questions will be the same style and variety as previous years? Is anybody aware of any changes?

Must say the thread is very quiet compared to the previous BA DEP Lowdown thread. Are we all protecting our own in this crazy dog eat dog world? :):ooh::{

Because far fewer folk can apply this time.

Maybe this thread should be renamed "BA A320 Direct Entry Pilot"

Exactly. Huge amount who applied last time still aren't eligible and I think have given up constantly talking about BA and hoping.

So any updates on the First day? Are the tests like before or many changes?

Similar to other recruitment campaigns but there's a whole new section added on to end of the capacity testing this year.

Please tell me the 'radar' test has gone?!?

Billybuds I don't think you need a radar to see the plans arriving from Madrid it has been evident for quite a while.

DEP assessment Day 1
 

I got many information from pprune so far, somI have to write something....

-2 computer tests, 1h 30 min
The first part was the typical BA exercise with the joystick (keep the cross on the center ) then the same with the "counting down" numbers, then only the colored shapes with a number written on them, and finally all together...

Second part was a new exercise which I didn't know about, which apparently is similar to a CTC fly school entry exercise...(that is what some ex-CTC guys said)...
It was 25min long (after the intro) where you were hearing ATC instructions from your headset, like Altitude , next waypoint and next atc frequencies...
Then you had to "set" them on generic Fmgs ...
Parallely to that you had to insert the top of descend (Difference of altitude divided by the rate of descend times two, that was a rule of thumb we HAD to follow...)
Then you had to go through a checklist of an electrical system (read an do actions), similar to ECAM actions of Airbus, whenever an Electric Master Warning or caution was being triggered...
Then we had to monitor a fuel system with 2 main pumps and 2 standbys , where every now and then you had to switch the main OFF and the StBy on, and after a while wise-versa...

After a short brake:
-verbal reasoning test of 36 questions in 18min
-numerical reasoning test of 24 questions in 12min...


I still wait for the Yes to go for the 2nd day (interview and group exercise) or the No to go home...
Apparently some other mates as well...

All the best to everyone...