Pilot Interview
On the live Q&A with FlightDeckWingman, you recommend a book titled ‘Why You? 101 Interview Questions’ to practice for the airline pilot interview. The book consists of nearly 300 pages. I’m wondering which questions you studied before your airline assessment?
I went through the book from start to finish. It gives excellent coaching on interview technique but also the psychology to help you put a compelling CV together and answer those annoying competency-based questions.
I love this book because it is not just applicable to aviation but to any job, you are applying for. It’s a great book. Take your time with it and go through the exercises that they give. After that book, I never had any issues with the ‘HR’ side of interviews.
Do you have any tips on what I should look out for when I’m looking for training providers? I want to get my ppl as quickly as possible but also want to go through a school that will be well received on my CV.
Good question – did you see this post on questions to ask your flight school? https://kcthepilot.com/questions-to-ask-flight-school/
I get the impression that once you are in with a flight school, you are stuck. Can I drop/ change flight schools and instructors for other schools?
Yes, you can change schools but only after the end of a given stage. For example, you do your PPL at one school and then switch to another for your night rating. I wouldn’t recommend switching in the middle of a given course as you’ll most likely have to start again and probably have to pay twice. But if you are only an hour into your given course and it’s really not working, then fair enough…
I’m finishing college soon, so I’m hopefully going to begin my modular route. Should I try and limit the number of training providers or go to different ones to keep the cost down. I’ve spoken to some pilots who said it doesn’t matter; however, the pilot schools I talk to say that it does matter, and airlines look for people who don’t go to 3 or more training providers
My experience:
- PPL – Ravenair
- Hour building, IMC & night rating – ANT Blackpool
- ATPL Theory – CATS
- CPL – Westair
- MEIR – PTT
- MCC – VA
3 job offers 4 weeks after finishing
The key is MCC. You need to do an excellent MCC and get first time passes at all the other stages. Hand on heart, APS MCC made all the difference to me when making the jump to airline employment.
Do you have any flight training questions? Please leave a comment below – I would love to hear from you!
Kudzi Chikohora is a B737 Captain and Line Training Captain (LTC) with over 5,000 hours of flying in Europe. He is also a qualified Type Rating Instructor (TRI). He holds a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, is a chartered engineer, and is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Kudzi completed his pilot training via the self-funded modular route and created kcthepilot.com to share honest, experience-based guidance on pilot training and aviation.
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