Thank you sir,

Do they use RIX or some other airport?

I was expecting RIX, but they put me in HEL.

Forget it, it will not work, 2 days off will give you less than 24 hours at home if you are not living in one of the cities they fly to, know someone who tried it and failed with the attempt to have a family life. New job offers say you have to relocate in any case.

I did back in may and passed. Shoot me a PM if you want more info

Hello everyone!
Does anyone have some information about salaries for junior FO ? How many flight hours do they usually fly a month ? How many years on average does it take for a junior FO to become a captain in the company ?

Thank you very much for answering.

Pay wise really depends on the fleet and what sort of contract you have. If you refer yourself as a junior, I assume you have no previous commercial experience, therefore likely you will go to the Q400. On a q400 expect around 60 hours a month, you are paid from day one, but the full salary kicks in after 300h after line check (should happen some 8-9 months after you join). I don't know what it is before, they have increased the numbers since I joined, you should get in the area of around 1000 after tax a month. After 300h - it depends whether you paid for the TR yourself or did they give you a loan. If you paid for it yourself, you should get around 3000 eur a month after tax. If they gave you a loan, you should get around 2200 after tax. If you fly night flights, red dates etc, it goes up quite noticeably. Also every block hour after 60h is paid extra 33eur. Every year you move up by a level and your salary goes up

For A220 it is different as those guys are considered experienced FOs and they get a full salary from day one, they don't pay for their TR and they often fly more than 60 hours, on a busy summer month with a lot of night flying they can easily bring home around 5k a month or even more on the level 1 salary.

As for becoming a captain, minimum upgrade requirement is 2400h if you've been in the company on a q400 since day 1, for everybody else it is 3000h. You are looking at around 4-5 years minimum. A lot of it depends on you however, they don't just hand out the 4th bar on your stripes whenever time is up, they are making you work for it, you have to go through selection, interview process, pass quite a few tests, and quite frankly, chief pilot office have to like you.

Hi Guys, for anyone considering joining BT I will just give my input here, as it might be useful in your decision making process. I worked for the company for 2,5 years. It is pay to fly, so the airline does not see you as an assest they can work with to generate income, they see you as the income. the financially aspects of the job is, in my opinion terrible, they not only ask for 34000 euro for a q400 rating but aswell for you to work for "free" for 300h, was 500h when I joined. after that you will have a net pay of around 3000-3500 euro but please take into account the roster is terrible, the amount of hours you will spend at work is very high due to their hope and spoke model of operation. You are paid very little for the time spend on the ground in between flights, whichh can easily be a few hours, so again your time for free. Flight time to duty time is in the low 40% and this is not taking into consideration the amount of hours you spend in hotels off duty and out of base, and due to the companies expading policy this will only likely increase in the future, and on the topic of layovers, the per. diems is less than the price of a propper meal, plus no compensation for your time spend on a layover when not flying. the salary is also on average 30% lower than an equal lvl a220 pilot if you look at net pay pr. duty hour. On top of all this loveliness you are also doing split duty flights, go to work late evening, fly 40min up to Finland, go to a hotel and sleep 2,5h get up and fly back and put your less than 2h block in your logbook, you dont have to be a doctor to realize that this ofc has severe health consequences and in general the company fly at night so you would have to be prepared for that and the health impairment that it brings. days off are minimum in summer month and good luck with getting vacation in the summer aswell, this however is general for the business. Now for the good things, this won't be long don't worry, facilities are to a high standard and there is a pleasant working environment and good colleagues, for expats there is a good camaraderie outside work and Riga is a nice city to live in, it is quit a lively city.


I have tried to be objective here, but I must say it is hard to defend a company using the P2F model and the amounts of people leaving the company is evidence of this, hence them opening their own pilot academy, they are fully aware of the horendous condition, I flow with the no.2 in the company, the person responsible for the finances and asked him critically about the terms, he defended it by sayint that in latvia you have easy acces to beautiful poor women, yes this is the level of professionalism.


for info, it took me 20 month to earn back the 34000 I paid them to operate their equipment however with the 500h "unpaid" flying. this is without taking living cost into consideration for this period. so be prepared for around 2 years of free labour.

My advice would be to only take this job if you have exhausted all other opportunities on the marked.

Hello,
I've got the first confirmation letter and a link for the online IQ Test.
Does anybody know what kind of test it is and is there any possibility to get an example of this test?
Maybe someone already passed it and have saved the layout of this test and questions?
Thank you

@ Pilot 123, you nailed it, working conditions are worst and its only a matter of time when a tired pilot will cause an accident, I left for the same reasons as you did but as long as they find people to accept the conditions they will not change anything.

My favorite answer of this finance guy was " do not complain and be happy to have a job at all"

forget it. Company announced today, that due to critically low booking figures, they are reducing the capacity for the summer season and are looking to let go close to 250 staff. Bad times ahead.

They were having interviews and simulators yesterday in Riga. That was quick.

Not the best times, RYR, WZZ, EZY stop all recruitment and all contractors are gone. So I wouldn't care nothing less than Job Security.

Another 100 crew will need to leave, adding up to a total of 350. This was announced today.

Thanks Pilot123
Glad I did not pass the interview...
and according to the situation now, I am even more glad that I did not make it LOL I would probably be out of job (laster hired) or would lose it during type rating...
I still have my job. Thanks air baltic, good luck to you though...

Some information about the interview :

1Day

A written personality test that you will receive at the airBaltic Head Office (Tehnikas street 3) reception, it takes about 2 hours, it should be done on ??? and left at the reception. You can come in for the test any time between 9:00-16:00 local time.

Free Wifi there 😊 Question see at next Replay (Fragebogen Teil 1 + 2)



2Day

Assessment at airBaltic Training Center (Pilotu street 6)

SIM Briefing – 08:00 - 09.00 AM

SIM assessments – 09.00-11.00 AM

Technical/HR Interviews –11:00 AM - 14:00 PM

Psychological assessments – 11:00 AM - 15:00 PM



During the assessment process the applicant is supported with essential feedback regarding his/her performance and applicant is always welcome to ask questions immediately to assessors.

Please find attached the SIM guide, read it through carefully and study it for the assessment. It is strongly recommended to book a sim session on a B737 simulator before the screening in Riga.

2 Day 08:30 until 15:00 or earlier

25min each candidate as PF and PM (everybody the same program, expect left/right EO and ILS/VOR)

TO RWY18 dep. Askor5E

After flaps up HDG 270

HDG 090L with 45°

Q: Where is the Airport (Riga VOR still tuned, Needle still pointing to the airport)

Climb FL040 ..(1013!)

ATC: “HDG 270L, descent 2500ft” (1005!) crossing Traffic”.. Turbulence in the turn, up to 90°Bank and -30° Pitch> recovery

Intercept RWY ILS18 (first candidate, second candidate VOR 18)

Min. RWY not in sight >Go Around

HDG 180; 1500ft

At 500ft EO (left, other right)

Maintain 1500ft.

Flaps up

> Finish



No checklist; just mention it ..

----



Technical/HR Interviews (~45min)

Questions

Technic: (only 2 ); bold : everybody got the same

What stands for TCAS

Crosswind 7m/s (Limit 10kts) can you land ?

Critical Engine by turboprop

DH, MDA

Nosic

CAT 1/2 min

Riga -10C; cold weather Operation (+10% add to FAF, MIN, miss.apch.ALT

De/anti ice... diff.Type 2 and 4

HR : a lot.. (she is the bad guy)

Where are you in 5 years?

Are you a good leader ?

What you know about airbaltic?

How many different airplane we have ?

Who is the owner ?

Did you Google about airbaltic?

Which salary you aspect?

You are happy with 3500€?

***----

Psychological assessments (~1h)

Background check: Family, previous Company ...

3min: find equal numbers in the row(paperwork)

10min: find the right parts to build the given shape (only rotation); tell

10min: find the missing numbers (some of them has 2 solution),tell

Remember spoken numbers and repeat them backwards 1-2-7-2-8-4-5 > 5-4-8-2-7-2-1 (7max),tell



Remark :

Tickets for free (Airport tax to pay, ~50€)

Taxi 15€ each way, 20-25min downtown, local bus ~3€

Hotel from 35 to 50€ incl. breakfast.

They have in both companybuildings a Restaurant (good ~5€ for the meal)

Shopping for souvenirs (for checkin language) go local supermarket.

>half price compare to the airport)

Fragebogen -Teil 1
 

This are the original copy of the papers :
_______________

In this competitive world, no recruitment process is complete without the job interview. Therefore we kindly ask you to fill this form to get you know better.

Thank you in advance !

Name, surname:

Date:

Birth date:


Why do You want to leave Your present job ?

What do you consider your most significant strengths ? (1. 2. 3. )

What do you consider your most significant weaknesses? (1. 2. 3. )

Name3 your most significant life values. (1. 2. 3. )

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement so far and why?

What has been your biggest failure to date?

What makes you angry/nervous ? (Angry- Nervous- )

Everybody has things that bother them/what bothers you-at work? (1. 2. )

Tell about a situation where you had to solve a difficult problem. What did you do ? What was your thought process? What was the outcome? What do you wish you had done differently?

Are you satisfied with all areas of your life? Which areas are you dissatisfied with?

Have you ever had a boss that you did not like or got along with?

Tell about a problem that you’ve solved in a unique or unusual way. What was the outcome? Where you happy or satisfies with it?

What was the result of Your last medical certificate examination?

Tell about a difficult decision you have made in the last year.

Describe a situation where you have had to work as a part of a team to achieve a result. What was your role in this?

Give an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.

What exercises You do? Which of them – regularly? How often?

Have You ever been hospitalized? When? What for? How long?

Have you ever attended psychologist, psychiatrist, and speech therapist (excluding medical sertificate examination)? Why? When? Outcome of it?

Any bad habits?

How do you spend leisure time? How do you relax ?

What books do You read? About was the last one?

Finally, please draw spontaneously something what in symbolic way-characterize you as a person!

Fragebogen -Teil 2
 

370 questions from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Notice : Inadmissible questions in the interview :
12. My sex life is satisfactory
34. I have never been in trouble because of my sexual behavior.
88. I believe that women ought to have as much sexual freedom as men.
121. I have never indulged in unusual sex practices.
166. I am worried about sex.
209. I like to talk about sex
222. Children should be taught all the main facts of sex.
268. I wish I were not bothered by thoughts about sex.
287. Many of my dreams are about sex.
or strange ones
72. My soul sometimes leaves my body.

just google for this 370 questions.. they are exact the same

Online Test -before
 

Copy of my test :

Mental Ability Scale Below,you will find 49 exercises and you will have up- to 40 minutes to complete them.You can use a white sheet of paper for your notes and calculations. However,during the test,you may not use external help or tools, such as consulting, calculators,mobile phones,search engines or other.
1. Please find from among the following five options the word that is closest by, its meaning to theward laconic:
2. What is the next number in the sequence?
3. Which of the following figures corresponds to the layout on the right?
4. Two of the following sayings have a similar meaning. Which ones?
5. Which of the following numbers is the smallest?
...
11. Two companies employ a total of 90 people. There are 16 more employees in one company thanthe other. How many people work in the smaller company?
..
44. A bookkeeper entered a total of 150 documents in the database in three days,3/5 of them in the first day and 1/3 on the second day.How many documents did she enter in the database on the thirdday?
...
just read Hesse/Schrader.. all question,shapes and so one from there.
Attachment : some mistakes .. sorry

Anyone got some latest info on assessment? I have assessment next month and would love to hear some feedback

Did you have the assessment?
Or anyone else?

Took a month for me to get an answer but finally got answer I passed the online test and new dates to choose from for assessment in Riga as the one I choose initially had already passed

Bumped up

Hi guys !

I'm doing the online tests in december, any hint on what to expect ?
I've been watching the open doors on YouTube lately, it seems that those online tests are about physics and maths, and a general knowledge stuff like an IQ test.
How was it ? Any advise ?

Thanks, and best of luck !

Ladies and Gentlemen Good Afternoon,
I've a couple of questions: someone has been called for the sim ride? Someone has finished all the selection process? Is it normal I'm still waiting the result of the online test? I did it at the end of August.

Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

Bye

Hello guys,
I have been invited by AirBaltic for an assessment, after having passed the online tests.
I have a question, because something sounds strange to me:
Although I'm not an experienced pilot, I'm rated on the 320, current, with 600h on type and almost 1000TT.
Even though I'm not rated on the A220, (therefore I suppose to be considered as NTR), I will do the Sim assessment on a Diamond DA42 (FNTPII), single pilot operation.
Usually the FNTPII is used for candidates with no TR at all, or with no commercial flight experience, does it look alright to you ?
Then we come to the second question: coming from the A320, will there be another TR to be on my expenses, in case of a successful interview ?
Very last question: What is the Managment Interview ?

Thank you guys, I appreciate a lot your help.

I had the DA42 simulator, type rated on Jet. Straight and easy, ILS landing.
You don't pay but you are bonded for 3 years with 40.000 euros, no commuting roster, Riga is quite expensive

Thanks for the infos, I appreciate it.
May I ask you how is the winter roster, how many flight, average salary, life cost in Riga ?
How is Riga as a place to live, in particular during winter time, is it tough ? are people nice, social life, etc ?
Thank you

During winter time is tough as most of the November temperature was below 0, now is minus 6. Windy and humid as Riga is by the sea
Life cost is Riga is quite high, for an furnitured apartment in center the cost is 1000+, while salary is 3000+
You can find cheaper apartments in suburbs but it's mainly soviet era buildings. Supermarkets have same prices as in Germany, gas is more expensive than Germany.
Regarding people, I am just saying that Latvia is No2 in suicide rates in EU after neighbouring Lithuania

Thanks for the infos !
I was asking because my real concern is not actually the money, but the change in lifestyle, climate, people.
I heard lots of good things, like very nice and clean city, good vibes, but I've never been there, so I can't say.

Finally some good news.
But when did you guys do the online test?

So you must get there ASAP! Long story short, if your concern is the change of lifestyle, climate (everything is covered with snow already and temperature steadily below 0 since November) then you should go to Riga to spend some time before you sign a 3 years 40000 euros bond for non commuting roster. You have 600 hrs on A320, you can also pay a visit to Smartlynx,( just 1km from airbaltic offices) they are looking for A320 rated pilots with commuting roster and no bond. I wish I had hours on a A320 like you

can anyone enlighten me on what to expect in these online tests? im actually was avarage at best in school, and my cv looks awful, and i dont even have a plan on where to get the funds from if they accept me into the academy(i realized this right after sending it to them, and when i tried to complete wizzairs apptitude test), but they sent me the letter congratulating, and telling me to wait for another email with a link to an online test.

If it’s a test to enable you to spend €100K then they want to you to pass and will make a big song and dance about it to make you feel special. It’s a business, don’t read too much into each test.

To really prep, just literally Google ‘Pilot Aptitude Test Training’ and pay for some software, unlikely to spend over €50.

not from what i see in this forum. ofcourse cv and online test might not mean much, but when we meet live, i bet they are going to be picky about from who to take this €100k.

600h on the 320 and current? What's the catch there? Did a pay 2 fly and don't want to get involve with good airlines? Because there's NO WAY anyone would think of applying to air báltic having those hours on type while EASY, WIZZ, AVION, HESTON, GETJET ( to name a few) and so on so on are hiring for x2 the salary at the very least.

So you're either trolling, you got really bad training on the 320 or don't know...

Air Baltic pay much better net salaries comparing the last three names you mentioned and close to 2nd one. Legal contract with taxes and social contributions paid by company. 2x salaries on those airlines then Air Baltic is only in pilot dreams.

Hahaha this is one of the most insane things I've heard...comparing a legal full time contract, with proper taxes being paid, along with pension and other benefits, to the likes of Avion, Heston and others. The money on your bank account may look better until the day the tax office catches up to you, or you retire without anything. Oh and enjoy getting money 6 months of the year and nothing for winter.

The three mentioned companies offer a commuting roster which means you don't have to pay rent, bills even a parking lot in the case of Riga as is more expensive to leave the car even at zone C. This case is relocation, if you deduct all these expenses from the salary, you stay with a Mc Donald's income

Who stays long enough to take a pension from latvian state?
Even Latvian pilots are leaving the company, recently two A220 local FO's left for another also latvian business jet operator.
Most of the foreign pilots are leaving after the bond expires, the ones who stay are usually unemployable for most of EU companies as they lack EU passport. I think some prestigious airlines in Middle East have higher percentage of EU pilots than the airBaltic. Not much money on the bank account as the salary covers all the expenses you need to live here. Right now in Riga is minus 15, to keep the house in plus 20 you need to pay a fortune on heating. In general is not bad if you are fine to spend 3 years in a post soviet country with the regular annual leave and log some more hours, but don't expect to make money