Selection

So, after our group exercise we were greeted with the dreaded PILAPT tests. These are the tests that everybody talks about in the forums, they tell you to sign up to this website, or that website, but in all honesty, they're not tests that you can practice and I think that's the point of them. The only parts of the PILAPT test I could say you can prepare yourself for (that I can remember), is the mental mathematics (make sure you can add, divide, subtract and multiply, also make sure you can perform currency/measurement conversions) and having had a few goes on a flight simulator with a joystick. Being a bit of an avgeek, I've had a flight simulator since I was 11, so I found that part of the exam quite enjoyable. 

After about an hour and a half of the PILAPT tests (which felt like 5 minutes)  we all left the testing room exhausted, sweaty and mentally drained. We retired to the dining room, where we all discussed how we thought it had gone. After about an hour we were split into two groups, where one group was given bad news, and the other group gained the good news they had hoped for. Luckily I got the good news that I had passed the morning's tests, along with one other candidate. Now all that remained was the interview.

So I finally bit the bullet and booked my assessment day for the 11th August 2014.

As it was an early start the next day, I decided to stay the night in Dibden manor, where the assessment would take place. In the morning, I met up with the other hopeful candidates, downstairs in the living area of the building. 

We were shortly called through to a board room, where we were given a briefing of the day and a quick run through the course CTC had to offer us. After which we were taken back to the living area to wait for our assessments to start. After a wait of 30 mins, we were called through to begin the group exercise. This was actually a really enjoyable exercise, I wish I could go into further detail, but we've been specifically asked not to. Soz.

The interview was taken by a BA first officer, and it went really well. We talked about why I thought I was ready to come to CTC, what I had done to get where I wanted to be and generally having a chat about aviation. Make sure you're ready to answer a couple of competency based questions, such as how flight crew can help save the company money etc.

After the interview, and after CTC's photocopier ate a sizeable chunk out of my A-level certificates, I drove home, completely drained and petrified at receiving my results the next day. 

I received the phone call the very next day, at 10:52 (I'll never forget the time) from Karla, one of the assessors from the previous day. We had a bit of a chat before, about how I though yesterday had gone, and if I had any comments for her. This went on for a few minutes which only lead me to believe that I hadn't made it.