Malaysia Airlines Cadet Pilot Selection 2018 ( Non Mara ) – Read 2
Hearing about the programme;
A few friends of mine who are aware of my dream of taking flight saw the website to apply, so they sent the link to me. I worked on my application and CV, and I applied in May, I believe, or maybe before that. I started to
lose hope in them ever contacting me after a few months. A friend of mine got the email earlier to sit for the assessments, so I got worried. On the 30th of July, I finally got the email that I would be sitting for my first assessment, the written test on the 2nd of August.
First Stage (Entrance Exam)
Registration was at 0945 hours, so I arrived at 9, had some breakfast downstairs at the cafeteria then headed upstairs to the hall where we were to sit for the exam. Actually, we used the same hall for the next 3 assessments. I went to the back of the hall and settled for a seat there. I figured since we’ll be taking the exam there, I shouldn’t be too close to the other candidates while answering questions. The subjects were Maths, English and Physics. They were all pretty simple objective questions. English was comprehension, Maths involved problem solving and be warned, I remembered some logarithm questions, so be sure to know the basics of Add Maths. The Log question wasn’t difficult, it was very simple. You might not have enough time to finish all the Math questions, though, so be sure to skip questions that you know are gonna be time consuming.
Finish the others first, then return to those questions to give them a second try. If you still haven’t managed to figure it out, just circle the most probable answer. Don’t leave it blank. All in all, the tests were alright if you did your revision properly. Physics was SPM based, and Maths had a few minor IQ questions that involved numbers and patterns.
Second Stage (Interview)
On the 14th of August, I received an email that I passed the entrance exam, and that my interview was on the 27th of August. I had 13 days to prepare for that, so I researched the history of MAB, the MAG, I did some research on their fleet and all their planes, the board of directors and how planes flew. They emailed us a form and we filled it up and brought it on that day. They also instructed us to bring;
● Updated Resume / CV
● Degree Transcript (Original and a copy) if any
● SPM certificates (original and one copy)
● Copy of your NRIC
I brought them all. I put my Resume, a copy of my SPM cert, a copy of my NRIC and the form in a white A4 envelope and handed it to the HR during registration. In another ring folder, I placed my Resume, my original SPM cert, a copy of my NRIC and the original certificates of all the competitions that I have participated as evidence as I have stated in my Resume and CV.
We gathered in the same hall, and I sat next to a girl that I was quickly acquainted with. There were three other girls there too, so we settled and began talking. I was glad that I managed to find friends. Afterwards, they told 10 people to come down and register, so those first 10 people would be the first 10 to be interviewed. I went for the second batch. When my batch was called, we went to a corridor and were instructed to sit by the rooms.
There were three rooms, and each room there were three of us sitting next to the door waiting to be called. I got really nervous when it was my turn. I came in, and waited for them to ask me to sit down. Captain Rohaizan, Joshua and a HR lady were my interviewers. They greeted me, and asked my name, and how they would address me. After that they dived straight into questions; tell me about yourself, they asked. I knew the trick was that they wanted to see how confident I was. I told them my name, where I was born, my family background, my age, where I schooled, why I wanted to be a pilot but they remained quiet afterwards, so I realized that they wanted me to talk more, but I didn’t really know what else to say other than my hobbies and what I enjoyed doing in my free time. They talked about my involvement in Debate next, and the HR asked me why I joined. I told them that I enjoyed Debate because it improved my English, got me to become more confident and also made me aware that there is no right or wrong, it’s actually which is better for the long term rather than the short term and which had less harms to the majority of people. There were no questions about MAB or MAG history and no technical questions. It was all about my background.
Afterwards, the Captain asked me a theoretical question.What if the Captain I am flying with wants to smoke in the cockpit?
Here’s basically the whole conversation;
Captain: I want to smoke.
Me: It’s illegal, Cap, you can’t (deadpans)
Captain: If I don’t smoke I will fall asleep
Me: I can offer you some coffee instead
Captain: I still want to smoke
Me: Cap, it’s illegal, you could get caught
Captain: It’s okay. It’s just you and me, nobody will have to know
Me: Actually, it’s not just you and me. Our voices are actually being recorded now, Cap, so if anything happens they’ll know that you were smoking, and you’ll get in trouble. Also, the cabin crew might smell from outside.
Captain: I don’t care, I still want to smoke.After that I looked at the Captain with a shrug, “what am I supposed to do, attack him?” of course I didn’t say that but my face said it. I then said that we would continue our duty as usual, land the aircraft and once we’re off the plane I would try to advise him again. The Captain asked me if he said he doesn’t care, what would I do?I said that following protocol I would have to report him, so I would do that.
They thanked me and I left the room feeling content and satisfied.
Third Stage (Psychometric Assessment)
Got the email that I passed the interview on the 6th of September. So the next stage was a Psychometric test on the 13th of September. Initially they just sent the email with a link for the candidate to sit for it at home but I guess they knew people cheated so this time they had us gathered in MAA again in the same hall to take it. We could either bring a laptop or an ipad. The link is by ESP assessments. You can only open it once in that period of time, so if u try opening it again nothing is gonna happen.
The test consisted of English and Maths questions.
First part;
Choose between always agree, sometimes agree, never agree, often agree, about statements. Like “I enjoy socializing with coworkers even during working hours”
Second part; Spelling (quite easy if you have good vocabulary)
Third part; Number patterns (spot the difference, something similar to that)
Fourth part; synonyms of certain business words
Fifth part; multitasking by answering and reading emails while solving Math questions.
Fourth Stage (Psychomotor Assessment)
I started going for simulator after stage 3, but before I got the email that I passed it. I just wanted to be prepared so I went for a few sessions at Skysimulator at eCurve. The instructors there are nice and professional, and very helpful. I would definitely recommend it to the other cadets. I got the email that I passed on the 28th of September. And it stated that I had passed the psychometric assessment. The next stage was the psychomotor exam, which they stated “they will reschedule within 2 weeks
time”. Which is funny, because on the 3rd of October they emailed again and confirmed that my psychomotor assessment would be on the 5th of October. A few of my friends were panicking because they never prepared, but I myself, who had gone for a few sessions, was worried. So I went for one more session on the 4th.
The Psychomotor assessment was held at Subang, nearby Subang airport. We arrived early and waited a while before we were briefed to be in groups of 4. The Captain then explained how we would be doing the sim check, and that there will be an engine fire. He just basically told us to follow the FD. So if possible go for simulator before you head for your psychomotor assessment because you won’t be able to trial and error when you’re there.
It was a fixed base (no motion) simulator with the B777-200. Us as a group of 4 came in and took turns doing
the simulator. Basic takeoff, airborne then engine fire (actually just reduced thrust) then we used the rudder to
assist in flying. Then we land, very simple and basic procedure following FD.
Afterwards we went home.
Final Stage;
- Financial
● Medical checkup (class one and employment checkup)
● Wait for announcement for slots
● Settling Finance
- Own money
- Financial institutions for loans- Maybank (7.75% interest)
Entitled to 3 things
- -rm400 monthly allowance
- -ID90
- -uniform
After 2 years of flight school, 7-9 months of training at MAA (Kelana Jaya)
Monthly salary;
Rm2000 (increase accordingly after 3 months)
After 7-9 months of training
2nd officer monthly salary – RM23k
