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Interview Profile

Direct Entry First Officer

• You will be flown to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific for the interview
• You will be responsible for getting yourself to a city served by CX
• Simulator Evaluation
• Conducted in the 747-400 or 747-200
• You will receive paperwork in advance specifying which simulator and giving you a profile and callouts to memorize

Simulator Profile:

• Normal take-off and climb out
• Steep turns
• After maneuvers, you may be asked where you are in relation to the airport and ILS course
• Given a vector onto the ILS
• Shoot the ILS down to minimums, then go missed
• Outboard engine failure during the missed approach (mine was a fire, specifically. I would suggest letting the engine burn until you get to a safe altitude on the missed approach procedure, then shut it down and clean up)
• Run engine failure checklist on the downwind vector back to the ILS
• 3-engine ILS approach to the landing

Personality Inventory

• Standard computer based personality test
• "Which do you appreciate more, a well made gun or a poem?"
• Agree or disagree "People don't usually like me and are out to get me."

Group Dynamic

• You will meet with a group of 10-12 other applicants
• The group will be given a problem to work through and a time limit. Two evaluators will move around the room with clipboards observing you progress.
• Problem: You are part of a congressional committee tasked with choosing an astronaut for a particular mission. You will have a mission briefing sheet detailing specific requirements for the mission such as education, skills, physiological requirements, etc. You will also be given the profiles for a number of potential astronauts, then asked to decide as a group which one meets the requirements of the mission
• NOTE: Each mission briefing sheet contains different information. For example, my sheet said an astronaut could only be considered if they had blood type O. Another group member had a sheet that said if the astronaut didn't have blood type O, they could still be considered if they had received immunization X, which included all the potential astronauts. Be careful about following false leads.

Written Test

• Multiple choice aviation knowledge test
• Which clouds are associated with severe turbulence?
• What are the inputs to the EGPWS system?

2 on 1 Interview

• Interview conducted by one Check/Training captain and one HR representative
• Technical and HR questions (see question bank)
• Logbook review

Cocktail Party

• Meet in the bar at the top of the Headland Hotel for drinks and snacks with the pilot recruitment team

Interview Question Bank

30 technical questions, multiple choice

• What are katabatic winds?
• What is washout?
• What does CAVOK mean?
• What things are associated with a mountain wave?
• What are the inputs to a GPWS?
• Deviation changes due to what?
• What is the relationship between TAS, Mach number, and Speed of Sound in an equation?
• QNH set to 989 instead of 998 What will the error be?
• What is the definition of a wet runway in mm of water?
• What is the difference in ground-looping tendencies between a tail dragger and tricycle gear?

Human Resource

• Give me a summary of your flying career up to this point
• Why did you become a pilot?
• How did you pay for your flight training and/or school?
• Do you have any secondary duties at your current job? Why or why not?
• If your spouse were sitting here, what would they say is your biggest weakness?
• Why do you want to work for Cathay?
• Why are we just hearing from you now?
• What is something you don't like about your current company?
• Have you applied anywhere else? What if you receive another job offer, which job will you take?
• Tell me about a time you made a mistake in the cockpit
• What can you tell me about Cathay?
  • Who is the CEO and COO of CX?
  • Do you know anyone who works for Cathay?
  • Have you flown on Cathay?
  • Where have you gotten the majority of the information you know about Cathay? Has it all come from the internet?
  • What are some of the negative things you've heard about Cathay?
  • Why do you think you would fit in well at Cathay?
  • What are some destinations that Cathay flies to?
  • Where does Cathay fly in North America?
  • What types and numbers of aircraft comprise the fleet? What types of engines?
  • What aircraft are on order?
• What makes you think you will enjoy flying long haul?
• If you receive a job offer from XYZ airline and Cathay, which would you take?
• What can you tell me about Hong Kong?
  • What is the climate like?
  • What is the approximate Latitude?
  • What is the approximate population of Hong Kong?
  • What do you think some of the negatives of Hong Kong are? Positives?
  • What is the current relationship between Hong Kong and China?
  • Have you been to Hong Kong? Has you spouse?
  • What makes you think you will like Hong Kong?
• Are you interested in moving to Hong Kong eventually?
• What will you be doing as an SO? Will you land the airplane?
• What are your strengths?
• What are you weaknesses?
• What would your co-workers say about you?

Technical

• You land on a wet runway, autobrakes applied and reversers deployed, and the airplane starts to skid. What do you do and why?
• Define induced drag
• Define parasite drag
• Draw a drag curve
• Where is Max Range on the drag curve
• Where is long range cruise? What is the difference
• What do winglets do?
• Why doesn't the 777 have winglets?
• RB211-524HT
• What are the advantages of this engine?
• Disadvantages?
• How much thrust does it produce?
• How many turbines in each stage of the engine? Compressors?
• What is EPR vs. IEPR?
• You are flying between Hong Kong and Anchorage when it become apparent under the present conditions that you will land below the minimum fuel required by regulations. What will you do?
• What is a typhoon?
• When is typhoon season?
• How would the aircraft performance change if you were over-flying a typhoon?
• What would be some considerations if you were landing in a typhoon?
• What is wind shear?
• How would you brief for wind shear?
• How would you identify wind shear? Does your current aircraft have windshear detection? How does it work?
• What would you do if you encountered wind shear?
• What do you do with the landing gear during windshear recovery? Flaps? Why?
• What is the tropopause?
• What happens to Mach as you climb? What about IAS?
• What does ITCZ stand for?
• How does the ITCZ affect weather?
• What does EGPWS stand for?
• What are the inputs to EGPWS?
• What is the benefit of wing sweep? Disadvantages?
• What is wing twist? Why do we have it?
• What is Mcrit?
• Where does the high speed shockwave form first on the wing? Where will airflow go supersonic first on the 747-400?
• What is dutch roll?
• How do we correct for dutch roll?
• What is a critical engine?
• Which engine on the 747-400 is critical?
• What aircraft is that (looking at a model on the table)?
• How can you tell the difference between a freighter and a pax 747-400? What about a BCF?
• What is Vmcg?
• What are factors that affect Vmcg?
• What is V1?
• What is the relationship between V1 and Vmcg?
• What are the types of hydroplaning? How can you calculate hydroplaning speed? What is the hydroplaning speed on your current aircraft?
• How does the 747-400 use fuel? What about the A340-600?
  

Comments

• Very pleasant interview process. Stressful, but pleasant. If you are a U.S. RJ pilot, I can't stress enough the value of a sim session before going across. The training is a little disorganized, and not at all what us North Americans are used to, but they are very supportive, and the process is relatively painless, as long as you meet them half way. Before getting on property, practice that ICAO R.T. as this is one of the big sticking points for those of us coming from a far more relaxed aviation culture. If you hit the ground with your R.T. standard, and you don't spend too much time in Dakota's (the company bar) training really is a breeze.
  
  Great company, great people so far (almost finished first year)
• Everyone I met was very professional and courteous. I've hear a lot of negative things about the interview process with Cathay but I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. I really hope things work out and I go to Hong Kong for phase II.