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Pilot Assessment Preparation

Pilot assessments for airlines seem to always include multiple parts: HR, technical, group exercises, etc. as well as simulator sessions. I am thinking, what is the best way to prepare for these?

Especially for the technical/theoretical part, what would be a good way to prepare for any questions that might be asked? Also in connection with this thread, how would you avoid reading through thousand of useless pages and concentrate on what airlines really ask?

Does the book Ace The Technical Pilot Interview contain relevant questions?

Last Edited by Vladimir at 29 Nov 16:44
LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

Vladimir wrote:

Especially for the technical/theoretical part, what would be a good way to prepare for any questions that might be asked?

That might sound a bit precociuos, but if you really studied your subjects while learning your theory then there is no need for any additional preparation. If you only memorised which answer “a”, “b”, “c” or “d” is the correct one for question number 137 (as 3/4 of all ATPL students seem to do now) then the only preparation which will get you through a proper assessment is to re-read all your study material… (I can tell the difference by asking three simple questions to my students – and if I can do it, an airline professional tasked with the screening candidates can do it by asking a single question).

From feedback I get from my students, subjects most often asked by airlines are: performance (what does “second segment climb mean and which are the figures associated with it”), air law, especially with regard to duty and rest times and factors affecting legal take-off and landing distances.

The best preparation is a course specific to the airline you want to apply to. This will include some theory, simulator practice and especially training for the group exercises some airlines want you to perform and training for their “difficult situation” assessment and face-to-face interview. I am told that you stand next to zero chance for joining a company like Lufthansa without this kind of preparation.

EDDS - Stuttgart

what_next wrote:

if you really studied your subjects while learning your theory then there is no need for any additional preparation

If a couple of years have passed and one has never used this information, it is pretty sure that it is lost. You give good examples: the definition of climb segmentsand their figures are not used in twin piston flying; duty times are irrelevant when you fly privately only. So there are long forgotten, no matter how well one knew them at the time of the exam.

I tried to understand everything for the exam and had probably under 10 questions I didn’t understand and had to remember the answers of, but I would not be able to pass the exam today.

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

Vladimir wrote:

If a couple of years have passed and one has never used this information,…

But then, really, you should dig out your course material and do some re-reading! Your competition at the interviews will be pilots freshly out of flying school and fife years younger than you. How do you want to “beat” them other than by more profound knowledge and previous flying experience, preferably commercial.

EDDS - Stuttgart

My question was raised by the ATPL theory thread. The general opinion there is that the EASA theory contains a lot of useless information for pilots. Having in mind that airlines are looking for practical pilots and not engineers or law-makers, I thought they might use more specific questions that actually make more sense. E.g. I’ve heard they ask about the systems of the plane you currently fly, i.e. if you know what you are doing while flying. In this sense the number of required fire extinguishers on a B777 that you’ve never put a foot on becomes very irrelevant (but is part of the EASA theory).

Last Edited by Vladimir at 29 Nov 20:19
LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

Vladimir wrote:

Having in mind that airlines are looking for practical pilots and not engineers or law-makers,…

No. They look for people who strictly follow rules set by other people. If those rules include knowing the prevailing wind direction in Mumbai in March (this was one question in the long range exam I had to answer in my pre-EASA ATPL) then they will ask about it.

Never forget that the task of these “screeners” is to select one or two people out of a group of twenty whose level is very similar. This can only be achieved by making the questions more and more difficult – to a point where a specific preparation can be almost impossible. Or by setting up traps which only one out of ten will be able to avoid. One simulator screener of a German airline used to send candidates into a holding below minimum holding altitude over the holding fix. If they did not question this instruction they got failed. To me this seems very unfair and totally unrealistic, but if they can’t come up with another method of discarding unwanted candidates then this is what they will do.

NB: I think the best advice for people going to an interview with an airline still is: Be yourself and trust in yourself. Nothing else. If you pretend to be someone which you are not by answering questions in a way that you think they want them answered they will find out easily. And if you trust in yourself, you will be less nervous and come up with the correct answers without even thinking about them.

Last Edited by what_next at 29 Nov 21:16
EDDS - Stuttgart
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