Pilot Talks - Guide to Airline Selection Process for Aspiring Airline Pilots

Dear Pilots In The Making.

Welcome to another inspiring episode of Pilot Talks on Squawk 7001 the go-to podcast for all aspiring aviators and Pilots In The Making.

Today, we have a very special and informative session lined up for all of you who are embarking on one of the most exhilarating and challenging journeys of your lives – becoming a pilot.

In January 2024, the skies opened up new horizons as two leading airlines announced vacancies for pilots, igniting dreams and aspirations for many CPL holders. The journey from obtaining your CPL to securing a pilot's position in an airline is filled with anticipation, hard work, and the sheer will to achieve your dreams at the very first opportunity.

Understanding the selection process of airlines is crucial for every aspirant, and it's more than just meeting the qualifications. Each airline has its unique set of stages in selecting the right candidates, but the core objective remains the same - to find the most skilled, dedicated, and passionate aviators.

In today's conversation, Capt. Anantha will take us through the entire selection process he underwent, sharing invaluable insights and tips that are bound to help those of you who've recently applied to airlines. This session is designed to demystify the selection process and equip you with the knowledge to prepare yourselves for the upcoming exams and interviews.

In this insightful episode of Squawk 7001, Capt Anantha discusses various critical aspects of the journey to becoming a professional pilot. Here are key elements from the conversation:

• Early Aspirations and First Solo Flight: Anantha shares his initial fascination with flying and recounts the exhilarating experience of his first solo flight.
• Airline Selection Process: Detailed insights into the multi-stage airline selection process, including written tests, aptitude tests, group discussions, and personal interviews.
• Preparation and Determination: Emphasizes the importance of being well-prepared, understanding the selection criteria, and the relentless pursuit of one's aviation dreams.
• Overcoming Challenges: He talks about the hurdles faced during training and selection, offering advice on how to overcome them with resilience.

The episode concludes with Capt Anantha encouraging aspiring pilots to stay determined, be well-prepared for the selection process, and always keep learning. He underscores that with the right approach and dedication, a career as a professional pilot is within reach.

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Will see you soon again with yet another interesting conversation coming soon.

Until then, this is Bhushan Signing off for now. Thank You

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Transcript

0:18

Dear pilots in the making, welcome to another inspiring episode of pilot talks on Squawk 7001. The go -to podcast for all aspiring aviators and pilots in the making. Today we have a very special and informative session lined up for all of you who are embarking on one of the most challenging journeys of your lives, becoming a pilot. In January, 2024, the skies opened up new horizons as two leading airlines announced their vacancies for pilots. igniting the dreams of aspirations for many CPL holders. The journey from obtaining your CPL to securing a pilot position in an airline is filled with anticipation, hard work, and the sheer will to achieve your dreams at a very first opportunity. Understanding the selection process of airlines is crucial for every aspirant, and it is more than just meeting the qualifications. Each airline has its unique set of stages in selecting the right candidates, but the core objective remains the same. To find the most skilled, dedicated and passionate aviators. Today, we are honored to have with us someone who has recently navigated through this rigorous selection process and is on the verge of starting his career with one of the India's major airlines. Please join me in welcoming Captain Ananta Subramaniam. Over the past three years, Captain Ananta has been a beacon of guidance and mentorship for aspiring pilots. sharing his knowledge and experience to help shape the future of aviation. Currently, he is serving as a ground instructor with France Airbacons de Hyderabad, where he continues to inspire and dedicate the student pilots. In today's conversation, Captain Ananta will take us through the entire selection process he underwent, sharing invaluable insights and tips that are bound to help those of you who have recently applied to these airlines. This session is designed to demystify the selection process and equip you with the knowledge to prepare yourselves. for the upcoming exams and interviews. So whether you are a CPL holder aspiring to fly with big airlines or just passionate about aviation, this episode is tailored for you. Let's dive into this enlightening conversation with Captain Ananta and take a step closer to your dream of flying high. Hello, Captain Ananta. Welcome to Squawk 7001, an informative and engaging podcast platform for pilots in the making. This is the initiative by Trans -Africans Private Limited. a premier pilot training academy in Hyderabad. Thank you for joining us for this episode. Before I begin, please tell us about your aviation journey so far. First of all, thank you for having me on this podcast, sir. It's my pleasure. My journey so far has been quite challenging, just like any other pilot, I would say, all the way from my first solo till my career today. It has been a very challenging and interesting journey. and I recently had the opportunity to go through the testing and the introduction or the intake of an airline and I think I'll be able to talk to you some points about that today. Okay. So could you tell me what are the stages involved when it comes to airline selection process? Yes sir. The first stage invariably will be a written test where you'll be tested on various ground subjects. That will be where you will be filtered, I think pilots will be filtered the most. The second stage will be a combined aptitude test which has, which goes by different brand names and based on the airline you're appearing for the test, they will have their own set of aptitude test. Then will be a group activity or a group discussion followed by a personal interview. Thank you. Let us try to understand each step in detail so that. students and the business can benefit from that. Yes. Let us begin with written examination. Okay. So tell me how did you get ready for this test and what was your go -to study method? So from my understanding all these written examinations are based on what our basic qualification is when we apply for the written exam. So it can be one of two things you can either be a CPL holder with the basic license or you can be a type rated pilot. So Depending on whether you are a type rated pilot or a CPL holder, the weightage of the questions will depend. And getting ready for the test was a tedious task. There is a JAR question bank which has around 6 ,000 questions, which is quite exhaustive. And that really, that was my go -to study method for the test. I'm sure you must have spent a lot of time to prepare for your CPL exams as well. Did that help in any way? Yes, sir. That was of the greatest help because whatever basics you learn, all the way from the Abenicio classes, they will stick with you or they will help you all the way up to the written examination for an airline test and even further. Okay. So what motivated you the most during your preparation for this exam? So the biggest motivation was that if I clear this exam, which was the biggest hurdle in all of these, then I would be an airline pilot, which is an ultimatum for any student pilot, I guess, from the time they start. their first sortie as a student pilot, they would be dreaming of the right seat of a big jet engine aircraft. So that was the biggest motivation for me. And also being in an airline comes with a lot of perks and benefits. You mentioned about the JR Question Bank has helped you in preparation. So are there any other resources that people can look for which will help them in this preparation other than this question back? And where do they get this? Yes, sir. All the basic books that we... We study for the CPL subjects, for the ground subjects, for the DGCA exams. That should be the starting point because all of this written test is nothing but an objective type, olden style, pen and paper based, marking the bubble OMR exam, which was a surprise to me because I was expecting it to be a computer based exam. So all the basic subjects that I learned throughout my career in the ground school helped me a lot. So all those books. be it Oxford Aviation, be it Nordian, to name a few. All of these basic books will help in the written exam. So it's all objective questions? Yes sir. And usually how long does it last? What is the time involved in that? Sir, there will be about 100 questions and it will go for roughly 120 minutes or 2 hours. And another challenging thing or another tip that I would like to give to anybody who is about to take this exam is that we will think that it takes only a moment to mark the bubble. But to do it accurately takes a lot of time. So time management is of the essence in these exams. Right. So do you suggest that they should be practicing OMR marking also? Yes. Before they go for examinations? Yes. Yes, sir. I think that they should start OMR marking and also they should plan. The moment they give the question paper in their hand, they should start their time management and plan accordingly. Thank you. And you mentioned that the written test is different for type -rated pilots and non-type -rated pilots. Can you just elaborate more on that? So the primary difference in the written test between type rated and non -type rated pilots is that for type rated pilots roughly 70 % of the questions will be based on the aircrafts they are rated on and the remaining 30 will be from anything under the sun from basic CPL. Whereas for CPL holders all the hundred questions will be from their basic CPL subjects. So are they going to be? type and system specific questions for type rated pilots? Yes sir, roughly 70 % of the questions will be on the rating or the aircraft they have rated on. So does it mean that you have to go back to your type rating books also and study them once again? Yes, if it is a type rated pilot I would suggest that they focus more on the aircraft type and they go through the POH and FCOMs of their aircraft and little bit of focus on the CPL subjects but if you're a non -type rated person I would say you should stick to your CPL subjects you should stick to the basics and that is the best way to go about it. Thank you. Now we'll talk about the ADAPT test. So what is this ADAPT test is all about? It is a method of aptitude testing for pilots basically we have heard about Wombat and PABT test it is something similar but something which matches the technology of today's day and age because it is highly advanced and it gives accurate reports of who has taken that test at the end of the test. Okay and where is this test conducted? At the airline's premises or the testing center or you can take it remotely? Sir, this can't be taken remotely. You have to go to wherever the airline center because we need a lot of information technology infrastructure for this. So we need computers, we need joysticks and rudder pedals along with headphones and microphones for this test. So we need a well established setup to conduct this test. Okay. So does it replicate simulator kind of setup, something like that? Yes, it is a normal desktop PC with a joystick and a rudder pedal. Okay. And what is the duration of this test usually? Surprisingly, it is a long duration test. It takes around... 5 and a half to 6 hours to complete this test in total. But the difference is that one part of this test which is the psychometry assessment, that can be done from home or that can be done a day prior to the test usually. So if you exclude that, it is a 4 and a half hour test. That's a long time. Yes. Okay. So before I come to psychometric assessment, so tell me what was the most surprising thing about the end -up test for you? So the most suppressing thing for me was first of all it was the length of the test because it is a five and a half hour test. I have never taken such a test in my life and it is a test where you can take breaks in between the sessions. You can go out, have coffee and come back or you can use the washroom or whatever. So the clock stops when you take a break and it continues. Yes, it stops. So as long as you have finished a section, the clock is stopped and not all sections are time bound. Some sections you can take how much of a time you want, for example, psychometry and conflict resolution. But there are other parts of the test which are time bound and you have to complete it within the stipulated time. And once you start taking the test, you must finish the same day. Yes. Yes. Right. So did you find any of these assessments, you know, kind of pretty challenging and how did you handle them? So the most challenging part of this test was a test or what was a part known as the fast test. So it is quite challenging for anybody even, I think it will be challenging even for experienced pilots because it is a bunch of multitasking and listening and seeing and solving math problems at the same time. So you will be provided with a computer screen which will be split into four parts. On the main screen, which is on the top, you will have an aircraft which is flying by itself and on the... bottom left corner you will have a small obstacle course game which you have to play with the keyboard and on the bottom right corner you will have sums on maths, equation solving, you will have a set of six colours and the next slide they will ask what colour was missing and you will have anagrams, you will have missing numbers in CDs, all these questions will be popping up and in the fourth screen which is the screen in the middle you will have two buttons which tell you which say waypoint and aircraft. So whenever the aircraft in the main screen makes a turn, you have to click the waypoint icon. Whenever you see another aircraft on the horizon, you click the aircraft button. And along with this, on your headphone, you have various ATCs giving you instructions. So you have to make a note of how many voices you hear. Along with this, you will have a couple of red lights on the screen which will flash once in a while. and you have to remember how many times the lights flashed and after you do this three minute session you will be asked questions on how many times the red lights flashed, how many aircrafts we saw, how many voices we heard on the ATC and simultaneously we have to play this game on the left side and solve these problems. So it was the most demanding part of the process. So this is sounding something like you are actually sitting in a cockpit and doing all these activities simultaneously. Yes sir. you are looking at the displays, you are controlling the aircraft, you are talking to ATC also. So they are trying to assess how good are you in situationally aware and how can you handle the multiple tasks at the same time. That's interesting. So can you describe the situation during your adapt test that stood out for you, where you think you did fantastic? Okay, so there was this part on conflict resolution. Basically you had questions like you're sitting in a restaurant and somebody in the table next to you is fighting and what will you do? Will you interfere, will you not interfere, will you call the waiter? Questions like that. So such questions where I found it pretty interesting to solve them because maybe because of my nature, I am generally a very peace -loving person and I try to mitigate any such incidents, instances before they escalate. So that was very interesting and I found it a little easy. So that is I think I can relate it to the term CRM which is used by airlines. Yes. The conflict management and the relation management and resource management. Yes. Okay. Great. So how do you feel about the psychometric assessment and what was it something like you expected? Yes, so the psychometric assessment was first of all it was very lengthy because it should be and it was as I expected because they are trying to basically bring out the true self out of you. And my only advice for anybody who is taking the psychometric assessment is to be honest because nobody can fake a psychometric assessment because there will be around 500 or 600 questions and the first question you answer maybe you will have it in your mind that you answered this in a particular way but the 500th question may be the same question which has been rephrased and if you are not genuine to yourself you will not be able to answer it with consistency. And that consistency is what they are looking for, is what I feel. So as long as you are yourself, you will not have any problems with psychometric assessment. So basically you're saying you should not be pretending something what you're not actually. Exactly. So who conducts this test? Are there a panel of members who conduct the test or is it a one -to -one test? No sir, this psychometric assessment is also part of this ADAPT test. It's purely based on a questionnaire. So you are issued a questionnaire on the day before which you can solve at home at your leisure. You are given a link for that where you have to log in into the website and you have to attend it. So there is no human contact whatsoever in a psychometric assessment. Alright. Is it also time -bound or once you give a link you can attempt it for the next 24 hours? How does it work? It's not time -bound sir. There is no time limitation for psychometric assessment and we can take the 24 hours too. it. Can you attempt it as many times as you want, redo answers, rephrase answers? Yes, sir, we can change our answers but once we log in, I think we have to do it in one sitting. Okay, thank you. Okay, let's talk about the group activity now. So as I was told by most of the senior pilots as well as you know young pilots, so pilot is always a group leader as well as a group member. So that's the reason probably they conduct a group activity also. So what was this group activity like during the selection process? What happens there? Usually it's a group of roughly 7 to 8 people and then they are called in for a roughly 15 minute session. It can be anything from solving some puzzles to discussing on aviation incidents, accidents. So there will be a behavioral expert, there will be a HR expert and there will be a pilot. So these three people will be monitoring the group activity. One of them will be heading the activity. and while the other two monitor and basically they look for how you talk the nature with the way you talk and things like that. Okay, so are there any is going to be kind of tabletop activities and interactions or are there going to be any physical activities as such? It's all tabletop activities. It happens around the conference table and they ask they might ask you questions on what you spoke or what somebody else spoke after the the activity is done or after the 15 minutes is done. But then 15 minutes is all we get and there might be seven members. So one person will get slightly under two minutes to talk so that we can conclude the session as well. Okay and these activities and the timings are maintained and controlled by the panel members or somebody from the group itself? No sir, this is controlled by the panel members. But in my case, in my particular group activity, we had already decided who will keep time and who will summarize before we even started the group activity just to have a smooth flow within our group. But to my surprise, what happened was that even though the group activity is usually limited for 15 minutes, it may not be the case always. For example, my group's discussion went on for 15 minutes. which was quite a long time but we didn't feel anything because it was all organic and it was all... it was very smooth. Okay. And when you talk about this group activity, is it always within the same group or you will have some across the group activities as well? No sir, it is only within the group. Whatever activity happens, it happens within the members, within the seven members in your group. Okay. And it is likely to last for about 15 -20 minutes? Yes sir. Ideally it should last around 15 -20 minutes. Sometimes it can be more or less. So is there any presentation or summation that happens at the end of this activity? No sir, I feel they assess us on the basis of whatever we are doing there live in that 15 to 20 minutes. They might conclude... from their point of view on whatever topic we discussed but other than that we are not expected to do anything. No debris fees also conducted? No sir. Right. So can you recall a specific moment where your contribution made an impact during the group discussion or a group activity? Yes sir. So I was among the second last to start talking in the group. The topic given to us was an air crash where the aircraft had crashed without any fault of the aircraft. It was completely the pilot's fault. And these kind of accidents fall into a category of accidents known as CFIT, which is controlled flight into terrain. And from the start of my activity till I started talking, nobody had mentioned this, which I felt was an essence to discussing this activity. So that made, I feel that that made a good contribution because the other members started latching onto this term and they started talking about this afterwards. Wonderful. Wonderful. So how did you approach Colabrack? How did you coordinate with each other? The moment they allotted the group, we got to know each other and we started talking and basically we just made sure that this is not a competition because there should be a certain synergy in a group because if it is highly competitive then the whole point of the group activity might... and the whole group might be disqualified. So we came to a conclusion or we came to an understanding rather on what each member's role is and we were very clear that we wouldn't interrupt any person who's talking because that in a group activity is a red flag is what I feel. Okay and are you given any advance time notification for you to collaborate and coordinate with each other? No sir it is a very short time. the time you get in the elevator to move from your assembly area to the group activity room. That is the only time we get. And that's probably the first time that you are meeting them all. Yes. So would it be an advantage if you had your course mates in the group? Somebody you have already interacted? Yes and no because if you know the level of knowledge that person has, maybe we can leave some technical factors to him or we can take what we can say. But otherwise, I would say it is not a great advantage because whatever topic that is given to us, that is absolutely brand new and that will take you back. So the first five seconds after getting to know the topic everybody will be in a state of in a blank state of mind So I don't think it will help a lot. Now, let's get to the final stage of personal interview. So just walk us through this process What is this personal interview and what do they do there? Okay, so the personal interview is a is a much much shorter process I felt because each interview was lasting for roughly 10 to 12 minutes we had a very small panel of three members and and one was from the HR and the other two were pilots. So it started off with the HR asking me questions and then it was later taken over by the pilots. Roughly about 10 technical knowledge questions were asked. The other questions were all HR based. So are these panel members someone whom you already interacted with during your group activity or adopters started an examination or you are meeting them for the first time? No sir, all the three members were new to me and I was meeting them for the first time. Were there any unexpected questions in the interview? How did you handle them? Yes sir, one of the most interesting questions that were asked to me was where the pilot told me that I can fly for 60 minutes with 3 tons of fuel and he asked me how many minutes can I fly if I have only one ton of fuel. So I think that was based on quick arithmetic and quick decision making. That was an interesting and unique question. So the background part and all about my history, my self -introduction, all of this was handled initially by the HR and after that both the pilots started asking me technical questions. So I did not have to talk about my career or my past to the pilots. So it was very well bifurcated and I felt it was much easier that way. Okay and who do you think was easy to handle, the HR or the professionals? I think the professionals. is very easy to handle. Is it? Okay, that shows you are well prepared as far as technical knowledge is concerned. Alright, so how did you prepare for the HR based questions? Are there any specific strategies that you followed or adopted? Sir, I believe the biggest or the best thing you can do for HR based questions is to get to know about the company because I found it quite challenging because they started asking about the company's CSR policies. I had gone through some of their website and I could find some CSR activities but I think depth... in knowledge on the company's background plays a big role in answering HR based questions. So they're trying to understand how keen are you about the company? How much of a human have you gathered? It was purely based on my CV, whatever my past experiences, questions like that, questions on my family background. And then there were questions about the company, the fleet size, the CSR policies, all of that. Okay. So now let us discuss about your overall experience of that. So looking back, what was the toughest part of the selection process for you? Sir, if you ask me, the toughest part of the selection process was the ADAPT test, in particularly the FAST test where I spoke about the multitasking. That was the most difficult part because we are not, I felt that even though it is supposed to reenact a situation, a cockpit like environment, I think it was much tougher than that. It is easier to actually fly a plane and talk and communicate and navigate than to attend this adaptive test. I can understand that. Okay. So I believe this was your first attempt to go through all the stages. Now you are probably waiting for a call later from the airlines. Rest of the process you have completed. Yes sir. So how did you cope with any moments? Was there any moment where you doubted your caliber and capabilities or challenges during this entire process? Yes sir, I believe the return The written test is one of the biggest hurdles to cross in this. And after giving my written test, I found the question paper to be quite tough. And I was in fact unsure as to whether I'll make it to the cut -off or not. So I feel if we can clear the written process for any airline, then the rest will be more organic and more... easier. Okay. So like in the entire process, was there any moment where you thought I'm done, that's it or you kept on hanging on to it and made sure that you're confident that you're going to make it till the last. Again, I would bring this back to the written test because when I finished the written test and I came out of the hall, I thought I was done. But then when the results came, I was pleasantly surprised. Okay. So finally, if you could offer a piece of advice to people who are thinking of taking up this career. So what would it be? Sir, it would be to prepare very well for your DGCA exams because that will in turn help you. The ground subjects that you learn in your ground school and the books that you read and the questions that you solve. All of these will help you for the written test and even for the ADAPT and the interview because even in the ADAPT test there is a section on technical knowledge based questions. So even there your ground subjects will help you solve those 50 questions and even in the interview you can ask you from any part of your CPL syllabus so that will also help you. So my the biggest advice that I would give is to... learn your ground subjects very thoroughly as and when you learn it as right from the classroom. And the second thing is to have good knowledge about the company because the HR questions are very deep when it comes to the company's HR policies and other stuff. And finally, from the time you apply to a specific airline to the time you are done with interview and receive your offer letter from the airline. So what are the timelines involved? To what extent it is stretched? So these timelines are very very airline specific and based on I guess the demand for the pilots that they have some airlines Go from written test to personal interview within within a span of two months Whereas some airlines take up to eight to nine months So I think this is again a very airline specific thing it depends on I guess their need for pilots and the way agencies that they have. Thank you so much, Captain Ananta. Thank you so much, sir. Many congratulations on getting it through. And I'm looking forward to flying with you soon sometime. All the very best for your future career. We look forward to connecting with you once again with yet another enlating session. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. So in today's conversation with Captain Ananta, we explored the multifaceted airline selection process from written examination. to final interviews. Ananda's insights underscores the necessity of diligent preparation and deep understanding of both the technical subjects and the soft skills required by a language. He emphasized the importance of studying thoroughly and preparing well alongside believing in oneself to navigate through this challenging process successfully. Subscribing to our podcast will unlock access to invaluable guidance and expert discussions aimed at aspiring pilots. Our content is crafted not only to inform but also in reinforcing the belief in your capabilities and the significance of preparation to excel in your aviation career. Stay tuned for more episodes that are designed to pave your path to success in aviation industry. Let's catch up with yet another informative and insightful session on Squawk 7 -0 -0 -1 coming live on 25th of February 2024. Until then, keep learning, keep dreaming. This is Bhushan. signing off for now. Thank you.