Swissair selection - all about it
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Swissair selection - all about it
Sadly just got the bad news - didn't get through the Swissair selection process, but for anyone who is thinking of giving them a go, here's what goes on :
Swissair offer a sponsored cadet pilot scheme, you attend their comprehensive selection process, and if successful can expect to have training to ATPL and Airbus Type-Rating paid for (deducted from salary for next ten years).
The application form is very basic, the usual stuff, less emphasis on the 'examples when you showed leadership skills' stuff, mainly factual. You need to get an eye test at the initial stage and include the result with the application along with your school certificates etc. You also have to put in a handwritten CV.
If they like your form, you are invited to the first test day, which consists of a gruelling series of not too tricky exams from about 8.30 am to 5.00 pm. There are mental arithmetic excersises where you have to add columns of numbers up the page against the clock. Then the same thing where the numbers are replaced by symbols so you have to translate it then do the sum. Next test is a mechanical understanding multi-choice thing where you are given diagrams of mechanisms or physical situations and you have to decide whether the mechanism would function, or which 2 gearwheels would rotate the same way etc. Then there's an essay, title was 'teamwork in the cockpit' - write 1 side in one hour, very easy. Ominously you need to state whether you are left handed so the graphologist knows when they analyse your scrawl. Luch break for 1 hour. After lunch there's a memory test. You are given a list of 13 3-digit 'phone numbers' and the owners of the numbers. You have 3 minutes to memorise it. Then you get a map of a city, quite complex with a route all over ther place from your 'home' to your 'work'. You have 2 minutes to memorise it. Then a 200 word or so text about a hospital construction project full of facts which you have 3 minutes to absorb and memorise.
Then, keeping the above in mind you do the next test, which is 40 minutes of tests from a booklet. There are various genres of test, one per page. You have to complete a sum, or follow a squiggly line to its conclusion, or count the number of right turns in a zig-zaggy path. Or count the 'C', '%' and 's' symbols on a page full of random characters. This is very time intensive and you are expected to be fast and accurate. The second version is similar to the above but they complicate it with a second simultaneous task. For example when you do the sum they will also ask something like 'substitute the first + symbol for a / and the second to last - symbol for a x'. Or follow the lines to their conclusion but when the line reaches it's maximum height join the line which next intersects it. In between you have to write words in a list which begin with a certain letter.
Once you've done this, you have to write down the 13 phone numbers, draw the map through town and answer questions on the hospital text.
Then, a spot-the-difference test with similar faces. Then a spatial awareness test where symbols or cubes are rotated and you need to pick the odd one out. Or 'nets' that you have to mentally fold into 3 dimensional shapes.
Next test is rows and rows of squares inside circles with dots inside the squares. At speed you have to draw a line across the page and any circle containing a square and TWO dots must be indicated by a peak in the line entering the square. It's confusing as hell.
After this you go home and wait for the letter which arrives 2 days later inviting you to stage 2.
Stage 2 is a coordination test, involving a piece of apparatus a bit like a cockpit, with altimeter, airspeed indicator, compass, clock, throttle, yoke and a pedal and various buttons. On the first test you are given aural instructions through a headset. Every time the clock hand passes a 45' interval you have to press a button. At the same time you are making a turn left or right, to do a 360 in exactly one rotation of the clock. At the same time you are climbing 1000ft in exactly one minute. The airspeed must stay constant and attitude affects airspeed so the throttle comes into play. If you get our of tolerance and are turning or climbing too quick an alarm sounds and you must regain tolerance as quickly as possible. The second test is the same but about 15 seconds in you are given a maths problem to solve. Remember to keep pressing that button every 45' of the clock. At the end of the minute you have 10 seconds to enter the answer to the maths problem into an indicator on the yoke. About 15 seconds before the end you are given the instructions for the next excersise. This goes on for 20 minutes.
Part two is similar but above each instrument you get target values to attain. So a green light flashes over the compass and a figure appears which is the heading you have to aim for. Then the ASI might light up and you have to hit say 120kts as quick as possible. At the same time you have to press the button every 45' of the clock. In addition there are 2 red led displays in the upper left and right of your peripheral vision. You have to keep an eye on these and if they are identical you have to step on a pedal. You do this twice with each test lasting about 20 minutes.
After all this malarky, sweating and stressed you get to tell the psychologist how you feel and how well you think you did. Wait outside for 5 minutes and she tells you the result straight away.
Pass this and you get a booklet about part 3 which is the PIT simulator (pilot instrument trainer). The book contains parameters you are expected to learn in the 2 weeks or so before you attend part 3. The test involves flying a simulator on instruments alone, and you need to learn the following :
all turns have a bank angle of 20'.
turns less than 20' - heading to go = bank angle.
climb rpm = 2600
level flight rpm = 2500
descent rpm = 1700
descent rate = 500fpm
climb speed = 85kts
You also have to memorise the compass headings and windrose. And you must be able to calculate reciprocal headings very quickly.
The test itself is 4 50 minute runs in the sim. You get instructions on paper which at first are textual instructions which might say 'fly level for 20" then turn left through 255 degrees. Climb for 15"' For some instructions they'll say head NNW so you always need to know the shortest turn to get to NNW from the present heading. Then you continue on a graphical representation, where you follow a course on paper. If the line is black you are flying level, if white you are descending, and if dotted climbing. Remember for all climbs descents transitions you need to maintain the criteria above and always apply power then climb or descend then decrease power. The usual PAT - APT mnemonic. Then you do it again on a purely graphical representation. Each manoevre lasts about 10 seconds and you have to do calculations while flying. This goes on for 50 minutes. The final test is very hard. The headings written on the instructions are printed as reciprocals so you first need to convert them through 180' then calculate the outcome then fly the manouevre, at the same time preparing for the next one, keeping inside the tolerances, doing the tasks in the right order. Every ten seconds. For 50 minutes. This is super hard. You get a debriefing afterwards where they point out your mistakes and draw all over your course in red pen.
During the day, you get a group psychological test too, where they give you a task to complete. We had to invent 7 modern wonders of the world as individuals then have a group discussion to try and sell our ideas to the others. A final shortlist of 7 from the group members must be drawn up in 10 minutes.
Then we had to create a presentation on being a pilot to give to 4th grade school kids.
We also got a maths physics and geography test at the end of the day too.
If you pass this (I did not sadly) you are given a day of panel interviews and a medical. If they go OK then you are in, congrats.
I hope this stuff helps anyone thinking of trying Swissair. Their emphasis is very technical and aviation related rather than say BA which seems more business and human relations based.
Good luck.
Swissair offer a sponsored cadet pilot scheme, you attend their comprehensive selection process, and if successful can expect to have training to ATPL and Airbus Type-Rating paid for (deducted from salary for next ten years).
The application form is very basic, the usual stuff, less emphasis on the 'examples when you showed leadership skills' stuff, mainly factual. You need to get an eye test at the initial stage and include the result with the application along with your school certificates etc. You also have to put in a handwritten CV.
If they like your form, you are invited to the first test day, which consists of a gruelling series of not too tricky exams from about 8.30 am to 5.00 pm. There are mental arithmetic excersises where you have to add columns of numbers up the page against the clock. Then the same thing where the numbers are replaced by symbols so you have to translate it then do the sum. Next test is a mechanical understanding multi-choice thing where you are given diagrams of mechanisms or physical situations and you have to decide whether the mechanism would function, or which 2 gearwheels would rotate the same way etc. Then there's an essay, title was 'teamwork in the cockpit' - write 1 side in one hour, very easy. Ominously you need to state whether you are left handed so the graphologist knows when they analyse your scrawl. Luch break for 1 hour. After lunch there's a memory test. You are given a list of 13 3-digit 'phone numbers' and the owners of the numbers. You have 3 minutes to memorise it. Then you get a map of a city, quite complex with a route all over ther place from your 'home' to your 'work'. You have 2 minutes to memorise it. Then a 200 word or so text about a hospital construction project full of facts which you have 3 minutes to absorb and memorise.
Then, keeping the above in mind you do the next test, which is 40 minutes of tests from a booklet. There are various genres of test, one per page. You have to complete a sum, or follow a squiggly line to its conclusion, or count the number of right turns in a zig-zaggy path. Or count the 'C', '%' and 's' symbols on a page full of random characters. This is very time intensive and you are expected to be fast and accurate. The second version is similar to the above but they complicate it with a second simultaneous task. For example when you do the sum they will also ask something like 'substitute the first + symbol for a / and the second to last - symbol for a x'. Or follow the lines to their conclusion but when the line reaches it's maximum height join the line which next intersects it. In between you have to write words in a list which begin with a certain letter.
Once you've done this, you have to write down the 13 phone numbers, draw the map through town and answer questions on the hospital text.
Then, a spot-the-difference test with similar faces. Then a spatial awareness test where symbols or cubes are rotated and you need to pick the odd one out. Or 'nets' that you have to mentally fold into 3 dimensional shapes.
Next test is rows and rows of squares inside circles with dots inside the squares. At speed you have to draw a line across the page and any circle containing a square and TWO dots must be indicated by a peak in the line entering the square. It's confusing as hell.
After this you go home and wait for the letter which arrives 2 days later inviting you to stage 2.
Stage 2 is a coordination test, involving a piece of apparatus a bit like a cockpit, with altimeter, airspeed indicator, compass, clock, throttle, yoke and a pedal and various buttons. On the first test you are given aural instructions through a headset. Every time the clock hand passes a 45' interval you have to press a button. At the same time you are making a turn left or right, to do a 360 in exactly one rotation of the clock. At the same time you are climbing 1000ft in exactly one minute. The airspeed must stay constant and attitude affects airspeed so the throttle comes into play. If you get our of tolerance and are turning or climbing too quick an alarm sounds and you must regain tolerance as quickly as possible. The second test is the same but about 15 seconds in you are given a maths problem to solve. Remember to keep pressing that button every 45' of the clock. At the end of the minute you have 10 seconds to enter the answer to the maths problem into an indicator on the yoke. About 15 seconds before the end you are given the instructions for the next excersise. This goes on for 20 minutes.
Part two is similar but above each instrument you get target values to attain. So a green light flashes over the compass and a figure appears which is the heading you have to aim for. Then the ASI might light up and you have to hit say 120kts as quick as possible. At the same time you have to press the button every 45' of the clock. In addition there are 2 red led displays in the upper left and right of your peripheral vision. You have to keep an eye on these and if they are identical you have to step on a pedal. You do this twice with each test lasting about 20 minutes.
After all this malarky, sweating and stressed you get to tell the psychologist how you feel and how well you think you did. Wait outside for 5 minutes and she tells you the result straight away.
Pass this and you get a booklet about part 3 which is the PIT simulator (pilot instrument trainer). The book contains parameters you are expected to learn in the 2 weeks or so before you attend part 3. The test involves flying a simulator on instruments alone, and you need to learn the following :
all turns have a bank angle of 20'.
turns less than 20' - heading to go = bank angle.
climb rpm = 2600
level flight rpm = 2500
descent rpm = 1700
descent rate = 500fpm
climb speed = 85kts
You also have to memorise the compass headings and windrose. And you must be able to calculate reciprocal headings very quickly.
The test itself is 4 50 minute runs in the sim. You get instructions on paper which at first are textual instructions which might say 'fly level for 20" then turn left through 255 degrees. Climb for 15"' For some instructions they'll say head NNW so you always need to know the shortest turn to get to NNW from the present heading. Then you continue on a graphical representation, where you follow a course on paper. If the line is black you are flying level, if white you are descending, and if dotted climbing. Remember for all climbs descents transitions you need to maintain the criteria above and always apply power then climb or descend then decrease power. The usual PAT - APT mnemonic. Then you do it again on a purely graphical representation. Each manoevre lasts about 10 seconds and you have to do calculations while flying. This goes on for 50 minutes. The final test is very hard. The headings written on the instructions are printed as reciprocals so you first need to convert them through 180' then calculate the outcome then fly the manouevre, at the same time preparing for the next one, keeping inside the tolerances, doing the tasks in the right order. Every ten seconds. For 50 minutes. This is super hard. You get a debriefing afterwards where they point out your mistakes and draw all over your course in red pen.
During the day, you get a group psychological test too, where they give you a task to complete. We had to invent 7 modern wonders of the world as individuals then have a group discussion to try and sell our ideas to the others. A final shortlist of 7 from the group members must be drawn up in 10 minutes.
Then we had to create a presentation on being a pilot to give to 4th grade school kids.
We also got a maths physics and geography test at the end of the day too.
If you pass this (I did not sadly) you are given a day of panel interviews and a medical. If they go OK then you are in, congrats.
I hope this stuff helps anyone thinking of trying Swissair. Their emphasis is very technical and aviation related rather than say BA which seems more business and human relations based.
Good luck.
Guest
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Sir,
Sorry you didn't make it, thank you for an extremely interesting post though.
Now that we know what the nationality requirements are, my question is, are there any language requirements? (French etc.)
I shall duly make my way to the SR website, but if you have any other web addresses that you consider useful to this cause, please could you post them here for us??
Thanks again for your time, and Good Luck!!
AJ
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Good Morning Buenos Aires
Sorry you didn't make it, thank you for an extremely interesting post though.
Now that we know what the nationality requirements are, my question is, are there any language requirements? (French etc.)
I shall duly make my way to the SR website, but if you have any other web addresses that you consider useful to this cause, please could you post them here for us??
Thanks again for your time, and Good Luck!!
AJ
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Good Morning Buenos Aires
Guest
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Is this all aimed at part-qualified pilots or something? The tests sound quite appropriate, but surely if you had just done your IMC or something, then that would put you at a huge advantage for the sim test. Is that what they're after, or is it supposed to be the same deal as what BA are offering, where experience is 'non-essential'?
Pie
Pie
Guest
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I do fly for SR and I reckon that the test are still the same as 7 years ago, with the old 'SLS' school.
It's not so easy to find the link to the home page of the school, so here it is:
http://www.swissair-as.ch/indexE.nhtml
Unforunately not all pages are available in english.
Be aware that there are 2 different types of requirements : For the school and for Swissair. So read the pages carefully!
-Languages : German and English, orally and written(and for Swissair also French!).
It's not so easy to find the link to the home page of the school, so here it is:
http://www.swissair-as.ch/indexE.nhtml
Unforunately not all pages are available in english.
Be aware that there are 2 different types of requirements : For the school and for Swissair. So read the pages carefully!
-Languages : German and English, orally and written(and for Swissair also French!).
Guest
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EVEN SWISSAIR PILOTS CAN NOT PASS THIS TEST.
SWISSAIR LOST 3 BILLIONS OF US DOLLARS LAST YEAR.THIS AIRLINE SHOULD SHUT THEIR MOUTH UP.COME TO THE TEST WITH A CHECK OF 150'000 SWISS FRANCS, YOU WILL BE SURPRISED TO SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO PASS THE TEST!
THE SWISS AIR SCHOOL IS A SCAM.
SWISSAIR LOST 3 BILLIONS OF US DOLLARS LAST YEAR.THIS AIRLINE SHOULD SHUT THEIR MOUTH UP.COME TO THE TEST WITH A CHECK OF 150'000 SWISS FRANCS, YOU WILL BE SURPRISED TO SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO PASS THE TEST!
THE SWISS AIR SCHOOL IS A SCAM.
Guest
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ronchonner, take it easy...Swissair also lost some money, but surely not the amount you quote...you probably made reference to the SAir Group, a different cup of tea indeed!
Paying 150'000 SFR (I thought it still to be in the region of 130'000) doesn't really give you an edge for the selection, it barely puts a JAR B/IFR in you hands. And the price is in line with similar offers here in Chocolateland.
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... cut my wings and I'll die ...
Paying 150'000 SFR (I thought it still to be in the region of 130'000) doesn't really give you an edge for the selection, it barely puts a JAR B/IFR in you hands. And the price is in line with similar offers here in Chocolateland.
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... cut my wings and I'll die ...
Guest
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I am a Swiss and EU citizen (dual nat.) but for Swissair you need to be Swiss or EU but able to get a Swiss work permit. We all know LX employ non-eu pilots on work permits, so other nationals might also have a chance. N. Americans and Aussies might have trouble though.
I heard from a post on here ages ago that SR will let you attend selection if you are non-swiss but the rumour was that you'll get a mysteriously low score. Don't know how true that is. On my first day at selection there were belgians, germans, french, spanish - all kinds of nationalities.
The test is aimed at zero hour candidates. Weird really, because if you do have experience you get a major advantage - you are used to scanning instruments, used to reading them in the periphery of vision, used to instinctively correcting thrust during attitude changes etc.
Still, I am certainly not bitter and am applying for another big airline cadetship soon.....
Good luck everyone !
I heard from a post on here ages ago that SR will let you attend selection if you are non-swiss but the rumour was that you'll get a mysteriously low score. Don't know how true that is. On my first day at selection there were belgians, germans, french, spanish - all kinds of nationalities.
The test is aimed at zero hour candidates. Weird really, because if you do have experience you get a major advantage - you are used to scanning instruments, used to reading them in the periphery of vision, used to instinctively correcting thrust during attitude changes etc.
Still, I am certainly not bitter and am applying for another big airline cadetship soon.....
Good luck everyone !
Guest
Posts: n/a
This topic has been added to the Wannabes Archive. Including Ronchonner's 'contribution', unfortunately, but we can't have everything the way we want it!
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Scroggs
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Scroggs
Wannabe Forum Moderator
[email protected]
