Airline Assessments - part 1

Dear reader,

As I'm writing this article, we're en route to Tel Aviv, in the dead of night, in one of our E-jets. A while ago we've crossed into Bulgarian airspace and rather sooner than later, we're anticipating a handover to Turkish air traffic control (ATC). The night is crystal clear, most of our passengers are asleep and our senior purser, a true professional in every sense of the word, just called from the galley to ask if there is anything else we need. I notice that, slowly but surely, radio chatter starts to pick up. Short but concise messages belonging to other long haul crew, piloting their ships to and from the European continent. I wonder how they have endured the past year and a half .

As our flight progresses, I'm verifying our flight times, fuel consumption, enroute weather and, since planning ahead comes as a second nature to us, I'm starting to think about the next phases of our flight. Soon we'll have to deal with the peculiar ATC situation near Cyprus as well as Israel's Air Defense Zone (ADZ). However, I cannot prevent my mind from drifting off and admiring Turkey's coastline while enjoying this calm and clear night. The world really looks so peaceful from above.

I'm starting to reflect on the impact that Covid has had on our industry and the small signs of recovery that have been emerging the past few weeks. Bases & routes are being reopened, furloughed flight and cabin crew are rehired, wages are being reinstated and, more important, job vacancies are starting to reappear. The more I think about this situation, the more I realise how lucky I've been to be able to hold on to my job. However, several colleagues and ab-initio candidates were not that fortunate. Some of them have not seen the inside of a cockpit for quite a while now.

It is a this point that I wonder; 'Isn't there anything I can do to assist them?'. Surprisingly, the answer is 'yes'.

- KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. SHARED KNOWLEDGE IS POWER MULTIPLIED. -

Over time, as a flight instructor and fellow airline pilot, I've collected information, experiences and knowledge concerning a variety of aviation related topics. It is my believe that some of this information could be useful to candidates who are prepping themselves for upcoming airline assessments. Combined with my love for writing, education and teaching, I've decided to collect, summarise and share this knowledge through the use of LinkedIn articles. I hope that by sharing this information, somehow, I can assist candidates in successfully passing an intake and finding their way (back) to the flight deck.

In the following paragraphs you'll find my first topic: the layout of an airline assessment combined with actual questions asked. Please note that I do not own any of these questions and that, due to copyright protection, I will not disclose the name of the company involved.

- AIRLINE ASSESSMENT #1 -

In general, assessments such as these, are divided into several phases and spread out over several days. At the end of each phase, one will be informed if he/she has made it to the next round. The interviewers will assess a candidate's theoretical knowledge and his/her flying skills, perform group assessments, personal interviews & psychological assessments. The level of difficulty of each phase as well as the number of phases, differs strongly from company to company. Some firms might choose not to include group assessments or perform additional medical evaluations, others might prefer to combine several phases into one or even prefer to outsource the entire recruitment process.

The company I'm discussing, used to divide the intake process into four different stages. Each stage was organised on a different day and took place at the company's headquarters. The assessment was conducted in the following order: a theoretical assessment, a personal interview, a simulator assessment and finally a psychological assessment. I will dive deeper into the first 3 stages of this screening.

1. Theoretical assessment

The theoretical assessment consisted of a 3-hour written exam which included around 60 open-ended ATPL(A) questions. No calculator provided (nor needed). Candidates needed to achieve a score of at least 75% in order to be invited for the next stage. Below you'll find a list concerning some of the questions asked.

2. Personal interview

This part of the assessment was performed by two line training captains. Aside from the traditional human resource questions one could reasonably expect, they would, additionally, request your feedback concerning aviation specific scenarios.

• "You and your captain are flying to Chios (Greek island in the Northern Aegean Sea). The runway at this aerodrome is very limited. The refuelling agent at Chios makes a mistake and exceeds the requested amount of fuel by 400 kilograms. What do you do? What will you tell the passengers?"
• "After landing in Rhodes, you notice that one of your cabin crew members is terribly ill. It looks like she has the flue. What are your options?"
• A Crew Resource Management (CRM) clip is shown concerning a flight deck situation which results in an altitude bust. You are asked to discuss the actions of the captain, first officer as well as the cabin crew member involved. How could this have been prevented?

3. Simulator assessment

The simulator assessment was conducted on a full motion simulator which resembled a twin-engine, short-to-medium range, narrow-body aircraft (e.g. B737/A320). The candidate was not paired together with another applicant but with one of the company's line training captains.

Upon arrival at the simulator centre, the candidate was provided with the scenario and the necessary documentation (masses, approach charts, etc.). He/she was given between 15 and 30 minutes to prepare his/her session. Since the recruiters wanted to assess your manual flying skills, the entire assessment was flown without the use of autopilot, autothrottle nor flight director.

The scenario was challenging and consisted of the following elements:

• Standard Instrument Departure (SID) out of major European aerodrome, climbing to 6000ft altitude.
• Intercepting a radial inbound to a navaid station followed by general airwork (steep turns, stalls, etc.).
• Instruction to proceed to another navaid for an holding exercise. This navaid also served as the Initial Approach Fix (IAF) for your subsequent approach.
• Full procedure for an ILS approach which resulted in a go-around.
• During the go-around you experience an engine failure after which a one-engine out (vectored) ILS approach is performed.

That's it for now! Stay safe and stay tuned for more!??

(On a last note, the sunrise on our way back to Warsaw was absolutely stunning!??)

My name is Thomas Peeters and I'm a graduate from OSM Aviation Academy. I have been involved in aviation since 2012 and I'm currently employed by LOT Polish Airlines. On a daily basis, I have the privilege of piloting a 45 million dollar airplane across the European continent while admiring sunrises and sunsets at flight level 360. My love for aviation stretches far beyond the flight deck, right into the classroom. As a flight instructor, I love to teach and educate whenever an opportunity presents itself. Safe flights!