Finding Work Overseas - incl Multiple Airline Recruitment Processes Part One

John and I are quite invested in making sure new CPL pilots don’t fall into the scary statistical pit of the 71%ers - those who leave the industry because they can’t find a role.

It would appear that every New Zealand born CPL pilot wants to end up with Air New Zealand, but it simply isn’t possible with the numbers of pilots qualifying each year. Broaden your horizons and look to other airlines overseas.

In our brochure - downloadable from this website - we comment that a third of newly qualified pilots head overseas.

In today’s article and probably next week’s as well, we will hear from a range of overseas based pilots. Today, we hear from Juliet Small, a Kiwi who flies for Shoal Air in the Northern Territories of Australia.

We also hear from an anonymous overseas pilot of hiring practices of airlines from around the world - one of my favourite sayings is ‘Forewarned, fore armed’. Be ready to take notes!

Here’s Juliet’s story to start things off…

Juliet Small - a Kiwi in Oz

Hello, my name is Juliet. I began my flight training in 2017 at Southern Wings in Ardmore, where I developed a passion for flying, especially when I had the opportunity to take friends and family around the North Island.

After an unsuccessful job-search in NZ, I shifted my focus to a career in Australia. 

In February 2020 I arrived in Darwin, without any contacts in Australia I had to quickly learn how to become a competitive candidate in the industry. This involved gaining experience on a C210 aircraft and studying Australian aviation regulations.

In March 2020, Shoal Air offered me a line pilot position in Kununurra. However, when COVID hit, I relocated back to Auckland and worked in operations at Barrier Air. This operations experience proved invaluable, providing me with skills that I use in my line pilot role every day.

In January 2022, I returned to Kununurra, reinterviewed, and regained my line pilot position.

Over the past 2.5 years, I have operated single and multi-engine fleets through VFR and IFR operations across our three bases: Drysdale River Station, Broome, and Kununurra. Our work is highly diverse, ranging from scenic flights and tours of the Bungle Bungles and Mitchell Falls to charter work, including community service flights for Aboriginal communities. This year, I transitioned into the role of Head of Training and Checking, enjoying the challenges and responsibilities that come with it.

As part of my role, I was tasked with pilot recruitment this year, a demanding job involving sifting through hundreds of applications. Ultimately, we hired eight new pilots.

I have gained invaluable experience from working in general aviation in remote northern Australia and would love to assist any enthusiastic Kiwis interested in pursuing an aviation career in Australia.

Juliet enjoying a spot of night flying for Shoal Air

A Journey Through the Pilot Recruitment Jungle
Although we can currently see a first dip in the post-COVID flight crew recruitment frenzy, airlines are generally hiring again including many outside New Zealand. It is therefore timely to add to the Air New Zealand pilot hiring perspective provided by Chris Kriechbaum a few blog posts ago with an international outlook.

Due to the combination of an extensive flying background and the post-COVID hiring peak, a Pauwels Flying Scholarship’ supporter was able to experience many different recruitment processes in a short time. You’ll find that the pilot recruitment standards and methods vary widely and it can be a bit of jungle out there. But the insights may help you navigate the winding path.

Having hibernated in general aviation during COVID, I was able to gain an A320 rating immediately post-COVID as that seemed the aircraft type that was most likely to get me ‘back on the horse’.  With my medical renewed as well, I started applying and soon received invitations from a number of airlines outside New Zealand to enter their pilot selection process. Buying a one-way ticket, I set off for Paris first.

Parisian Pursuits: A Freight-Based Foray
Getting an eleventh-hour slot for an A330F role with a well backed Parisian cargo operator shortly before leaving New Zealand, made me change travel plans last minute. While having thoroughly prepared for interviews with other operators initially, I only had limited time to prepare for this one and, predictably, it showed.
The technical quiz had ATPL questions that I could answer fairly easily as this overlapped with my preparation for the other interviews. But there were also A330F questions, an aircraft variant I had not been able to find any information on at such short notice. Relying on pretty old A330 knowledge, I likely got quite a few questions wrong.

The interview was partly technical; 'explain windshear and what to do', and partly HR competency; 'tell me about at time when…' That all flowed reasonably well. But my answer of 'Leadership' as being the most critical competency for a pilot was perhaps not the best option and 'Problem Solving and Decision Making' or 'Communication' would probably have been a better answer. Also, my replies about how I would see us living in Paris and being a line pilot and not a pilot-manager may not have sounded convincing. They took over six weeks to send the rejection letter, but at least they sent one, unlike the next company.

Istanbul – terrain ahead!
Before leaving the Pacific, I had a brief on-line interview with a large low-cost operator based in Istanbul, which was good enough to invite me for the simulator evaluation. To their credit, they flew me up and down to Istanbul from another city in Europe and put me up in a hotel for two nights.
Four of us, one Turkish, two Italians and I showed up for the A320 simulator sessions, and the examiner paired me up with the Italian who was an A320 captain flying for an ACMI operator. The examiner told us we would use runway 06 in Sabiha Gokcen airport. Clearly, there is terrain ahead on takeoff from 06, and when I noticed my sim partner had an iPad with the Airbus FlySmart application, I suggested we should look at the engine out procedure. The program, not surprisingly, called for a left turn after takeoff. When we mentioned this to the examiner, he said – 'no, go straight ahead'.

The airport in question

As we were not sure if perhaps this was somehow part of the assessment, we asked again, and he repeated we should go straight ahead in case of an engine failure after takeoff, as it would be fine….

After waiting two hours for the first pair to finish, it was my turn in the simulator. There was a manual thrust no FD takeoff and then raw data, no FPV maneuvering followed by a raw data ILS approach, and everything was hand flown. Since it had been three months since I had last flown the A320 simulator, not counting practicing at home using X-Plane, it was a handful, but I managed reasonably well and flew stable turns, approach, and landings.
The second takeoff involved an engine failure after V1, and I stayed nicely on centerline and speed. After trimming and sorting out the flight path I selected TOGA thrust as I was concerned about climbing out only gradually, due to engine failure, while there was terrain ahead. After securing the engine, accelerating, and completing the ECAM procedures, I coordinated the return to the airport using my PM and the purser while informing the passengers and the company. From what I recall, it was a LOC approach. All standard stuff and so far, so good.

We swapped seats and it was now the Italian's turn to shine. His air work was a bit smoother than mine, which was to be expected as he flew last flew the A320 the day prior. His engine failure on takeoff was OK, but he did NOT select TOGA thrust. As a result, we gained altitude extremely slowly, and I several times read out radio altimeter values indicating my concern about the proximity to the terrain. He eventually decided to do something about that by selecting TOGA thrust when the sim developed a problem. The examiner then put us back onto the ground for another go at the engine failure. Again, the candidate did not select TOGA thrust after the engine failure and he subsequently made a mistake by selecting climb thrust and open climb after securing the engine but before we had accelerated to retract the flaps. I reminded him of the correct sequence, at which point he levelled off again to retract the flaps. As we had now moved even closer to the terrain while still not above the MSA an EGPWS ‘Terrain Ahead’ warning went off. Experiencing a terrain warning is not something you want to happen during a simulator assessment process.

No timely company feedback or my lack of follow up?
Several months passed and I never heard anything from Istanbul, despite the previous communication with the recruitment department always being timely, accurate and pleasant.
I assumed that this was for either of two reasons.
The other candidate likely failed as he probably should have used TOGA thrust and not make the acceleration mistake which caused the terrain warning. As I was part of a crew that got an EGPWS warning I must also have failed. Or perhaps I didn’t as the position of a PM during an employment sim assessment whereby the PF/CAPT is supposed to show off his flying skills and decision-making, is tricky. Should I have been more assertive about the terrain and not just read out RA values? Should I have not commented on the incorrect acceleration sequence, which made him level off?
There was a second possibility that I had passed but had been mixed up with the other candidate. That seemed quite possible as the examiner never double-checked or even called us by our names. We were always addressed as ‘you’.

Never assume….After over five month, with nothing to lose and mostly out of curiosity, I wrote to the company describing my rather unusual recruitment simulator experience. I explained that the whole problem would not even have occurred if we had flown an engine-out procedure to avoid the terrain in the first place as we had both suggested. Why did the examiner insist on us going straight ahead? Was it part of the test to see who had the sense to go for TOGA thrust?
The reply came that they had tried to contact me several times. I had passed the selection and could join the next course. Really? There had been no issue exchanging emails before the selection, so why had there suddenly been a problem getting a message to me? Was it simply an administrative lapse in getting back to me with a result, or had my email about the simulator session corrected an error such as a candidate mix up? While I did then take things a little further with this company, I was no longer confident in their processes and turned them down. The salary being subject to extreme currency devaluation certainly also played a role.

Hamburg Airport

Hamburg – Not so Basic
In Germany, initial assessment is heavily based on computer-based testing. For this A330 operator, I made my way to Hamburg about a week after Istanbul for an entire day of 'Basic Qualification'. These tests are probably relatively straightforward for a 20-year-old switched-on German cadet pilot, not so for an over older brain who last sat an ATPL exam 30 years ago.
Preparing thoroughly for the ATPL knowledge, mental math, orientation, psycho motor skills, physics, multitasking, reasoning, general knowledge, and German, the tests were still enormously challenging. I was surprised by the pass result provided at the end of the day with only a slight dip in my reasoning results. Indeed, my logic is sometimes a bit different from everyone else's. But, clearly, everyone else is wrong. My ATPL knowledge was solid, and my English was, as hopefully witnessed by this article, considered ‘outstanding’. About a third of the candidates on the day did not pass.

Budapest Airport

Brutal cuts in Budapest
I went straight from Hamburg to Budapest for the rather infamous selection days with the large low cost A320 operator based there. True to the selection process’ reputation, we started the two days with 16 candidates and ended up with four making it through.

First, there was a thorough ATPL and aircraft knowledge test where many failures occurred. Again, my preparation saw me through this stage. A multitasking test was challenging, but as it seemed mainly based on learning rate rather than pure ability, I appear to have made enough progress between the two test rounds. Next, there was a small group exercise, building Lego, with one team having the pieces and the other team having the instruction booklet, which was uneventful. The day's last event was an interview with scenario and technical questions. That proved a bit tricky as I was asked A320 questions, an aircraft I had a rating for but zero experience with at the time, and I got myself a bit mixed up with the A330. But I did OK by being honest about what I didn't know and using some logic for the rest.
The next day there were six people left for the simulator assessments. I thought this is where my recent very much manual handling simulator flying in Istanbul would come in handy. But this test was very different and concentrated on captain’s assessment and decision making rather than aircraft handling. Taking off with a cargo door indication problem and weather on our path, it was a question of setting priorities and managing the problems. After I had shown to be able to make a few decisions and execute them, we returned for an uneventful approach and landed within about 25 minutes after taking off.
After the sim, another round of tests, including a module on captain's CRM decision making. Questions like ‘the cabin crew are revolting’ or ‘the FO wants to do this’ with the answer options all seeming equally unsuitable and very much alike. I must have stumbled on the preferred answers often enough.

Take it or leave it
Within a few days, and this is how it should be, I was told I had passed. On the other extreme, when a mere two weeks later I was offered a position based in Moldova and I turned it down, the company stopped all communication. Low costs efficiency in the extreme perhaps or making very clear to future employees exactly where they stand. Still, such a total lack of flexibility may mean missing out on good a group of candidates that have proven to be up to the task.

Just so you can get on with your day, we’ll end the article here for this week and we’ll pick up with it next week. Hope you have found it useful!