Common questions asked by Pilots affected by the COVID crisis.

This is largely dependent upon your personal financial circumstances. If you decide to complete your training, then do bear in mind that you will need to consider keeping your IR and medical valid as well as trying to stay in recent flying practice – all of which costs money. If you are completing your training via the modular route, then you could investigate pausing your training, but we would recommend that you complete the module you are undertaking as a minimum and do bear in mind that continuity during flying training is important – picking up where you left off may not be as easy as you would like it to be. 

In the current recruitment environment, we would recommend keeping all flying opportunity options open, including that of a Flight Instructor. Do bear in mind the financial investment though and we would be mindful of the health of any flying schools that you might seek employment with.

Absolutely. When the job market for pilots does improve, demonstrating motivation and a willingness to learn new skills and stay in employment will only be viewed positively.

Some opportunities have been available for those with previous military flying experience to re-join the Armed Forces. We are not aware of any opportunities for those with no previous military flying experience being able to “skip” any portion of the normal joining and flying training process. Joining the military could be an option for those right at the beginning of their flying career, but do bear in mind that joining the Armed Forces brings a “Return of Service” requirement. You can find out more by getting in touch with your nearest Armed Forces Careers Information Office.

Many operators have historically looked for a minimum of 500 hours on type when recruiting new pilots into their airline. What is unclear however, is how airlines will treat pilots that have been affected by this pandemic with low experience. We would like to think that many airlines will take a practical view on peoples experience and, through a robust recruitment process, still give those pilots that have been affected the chance to continue their careers uninhibited through no fault of their own.

It’s anyones guess really, as so many factors could come into play. We don’t think there is likely to be significant recruitment for 18-24 months, but things can (and often do) turn for the better as quickly as they turned for the worse…

Not necessarily! Whilst it is true that airlines often look to type-rated pilots when they open recruitment, they don’t always get the candidates that they require. Some of the terms that an airline might recruit on, may not be tempting for more experienced pilots and many airlines and operators also like to create a broader pilot demographic for their operation. A good performance at a selection process is still required of course – a type-rating is unlikely to be all that is required to get over the finish line and into the flight deck!

100%! In fact, getting your CV and/or Cover Letter re-vamped and being prepared for any opportunities that arise, should be considered essential. Competition for jobs will be extremely fierce when recruitment does return, so having an application which ensures that you will be giving yourself the best chance of getting to an assessment stage is one of the things that you can be proactively working on right now! Visit our CV and Cover Letter pages to learn more about how Flight Deck Wingman can help.

Beware companies that write your CV and/or Cover Letter for you – this is unlikely to maximise the impact of your application and is also likely to have been constructed using some form of “template” which means that airline recruiters are likely to recognise it!

Through our work supporting pilots at Thomas Cook and flyBe, it was apparent that many of those pilots had not been through a modern day interview process in some time, or indeed ever before. We would strongly recommend that you seek some support in interview techniques ahead of any new interview process, as interview processes have evolved significantly in the last 10 years. Being prepared is something you can and should be doing now – don’t leave it until the last minute, as it is possible that you won’t be able to get training at short notice, or have sufficient time to work on any problem areas!

We can help with interview preparation of course, or if you would just like to check your readiness for an interview, then you might like to consider our Pilot Skills Test.  You can find out more about our Interview Training here and Pilot Skills Test here.

If you are considering paying for a type-rating with no offer of employment attached to it, then we would generally not recommend this. You risk paying for a type-rating which a future employer may not require (if they don’t operate that type of aircraft) and maintenance of skills within that type-rating might be very difficult and very costly.

One effective way is to use a sim practice scheme, like the one on offer at Motion flight using their fixed base sim.

As professional pilots, maintaining our skills is vitally important. We would encourage pilots to try and stay current, even if it’s in an SEP aircraft. If you can’t afford to rent an aircraft, then try and “back-seat” when you can, in order to keep your brain in the operational environment. You might also like to check out the “Providers” section at the bottom of this page, where you can find information on other forms of skill-set maintenance. Do be aware that some airlines have historically asked for “XX amount of hours in the preceding XX months” – this has only tended to be the case for low hours pilots looking for their first airline job.

Yes! Pilot aptitude testing is a feature of airline entry processes all around the world. It is fundamentally important that you practise these tests well in advance of any potential assessment, particularly if you’ve never had to encounter these tests before. Your performance can be significantly improved through practise, even if you’re not completing exactly the same tests that a specific selection process involves.

We recommend that you contact our friends over at Pilot Aptitude Test for help with preparing for any selection process.