Friday, November 8, 2019

Life is like a box of chocolate part 3 (hopefully the last one)

Ola, its part 3 to the soap opera of my life.

The Interview

There was 250 ish of us pilots attending the interview. All gathering for for our long awaited turn to get our jobs that we so hard strive for. If you asked me in 2012 why i would like to become a pilot, i would say to see the world but now, i say. just to pay the bills. Somehow all my anxiety caught up with me all the interviews i attended was bitter but memorable one . in the time while i was working in outsource, i conducted interviews too many times and yet being on the other end brought it all back. all the question i was asked recalled and memorized .I got my self the ACE Pilot Interview Q &A PDF. was memorizing them days before the interview. Then my turn came up. 3 pilots 1 DFO (Director of Flight Operations) 1 DOT (Director of Training) 1 Fleet Captain and 1 HR . 4 vs 1 interview panel. My name was called up and the friendly staff made me sit outside the interview room and hence started my silent review.

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My first memory of a panel interview was what is a microburst . the answer that i gave was related to a thing called a windshear. The second interview question from another group of panels were What is an ITCZ (Inter-tropical convergence zone), how clouds are formed and how does an airplane fly. ill give a full explanation later about the big words and terms. All of the questions and correct answers was running in my head. sort of going to war in my head. and also in the back ground praying saying my hail mary's as much as i could. Haansel!! was called. i calmly knocked the door went in greeted them with a diplomatic smile and hand shook all of them. And it began. After the formal introduction they asked about myself, my employment, simple family background, education and why i had 2 sittings. I explained and then came the work related questions like explain to me about Bernoulli's theorem , How are clouded created, what are windshere and what are the actions. towards the end they asked if i was fine if i were to be relocated to another city if the pay is lower then the on i received and what can i bring to the company that not many have . I simply replied Confidently I am bringing my experience and my willingness to learn and hopefully be a trainer in the company. After that they proceeded with explaining the company training duration, salary all the basic HR things and asked any questions. i asked, How did i perform? is there room for improvement for me to better my self in the next one. The panel stood silent for a moment then they mentioned that we cant disclose that you got through or not. I replied i was not asking about the result sir just my performance to better myself. I guess they did misunderstood the question at first and they gave their feedback on my interview. I told them thank you shook hands with all of them and mentioned that i am looking forward on to working with them soon. Come to think of it , i have not done this at all asking feedback on my performance in any interview before this.

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After going out, i saw my buddies and some guys i met at the interview and shared my experience. and left home. 3 days later at work i got an email inviting me for another round of interviews a psychometric assessment. to my knowledge i took it as a " just another round and ill be out" thing . Still did the necessary preps and went to the assessment with 2 of my batch-mates. simple chitchat and shared some info and went to the assessment. And again with an open mind went back and slept as if nothing had happen. 3 days later another email came in calling in for Simulator check. I started to get worried. In my heart i felt "gawd this is too good to be true" i mean could you blame me. it was too surreal. Ok this is getting serious. as usual I prep and attended the Simulator session and again my batch-mates was there. (my batch-mates  and i a total of 3 of us are the balance unemployed ones) so kinda happy that the balance are getting a job together moreover it was my best friend from flying school together. we were sort of hoping to go in together and get partner up and all) . so we prep and went in 1 by 1 and again went home with a little hope that i am almost there. That night i got an email stating that i was needed to attend a medical check up. For a piloting interview there are stages :

  1. Assessment
  2. Interview
  3. Simulator check
  4. Medical checkup
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The assessment and interview does not necessarily needs to follow the arrangement but once you reached simulator check and medical checkup you are 95% confirmed you got the job. I got the email at 9pm and being a weekend , went to the check up and waiting. again this time although 95% confirmed i know i got the job but the balance 5% still made me doubt myself. will i get though? a week later while at work got a call. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to join our company as a Pilot. When can you join us?" I told "i need minimum a months notice" and they said "ok we will send you the reporting dates and get back to us with the best dates you could join".
Now that I got the job i have to break the news to my boss. Obviously the he was upset. but was letting me go. i was suppose to give 3 months notice but with my bosses help i managed to get my 1 month notice. Later on my workmate mentioned that my boss sort of acting out because of me leaving. I was suppose to take over his position after all. In the end he came along and me leaving my old office was a bitter sweet situation. yes i took Half days to attend the interviews which raised some eyebrows . My boss knew I was up to something but did not expect me to go for the pilot position. We had a going away party and then began my career as a pilot. This time with out the help or influence of dad.

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At a young age being naive and all thinking that all our plans will go straight and everything will fall into place and little did we know that the journey which was planned vs actual journey was totally different. This is the reason why i chose the title as Life is like a box of chocolates. Why i share this story is simply to tell the world that to achieve something that you really want,  we need to we persevere . Life is not going to hand things to you just like that. There are always curveball's that cant be avoided. Its how we persevere on what we want. Yes i did take things for granted but life thought me a good lesson in a hard way. Until you do not learn a lesson that life teaches you, you will remain where you are. So learn and progress. Look at it this way. Through hardships we appreciate our achievements. All our destinations are the same but our journey makes us who we are. Honestly i dont know what you could learn from this but i hope its a positive one.

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Yes i did not read-proof(which i normally do) my story so please forgive me for them. I am just writing this just of my head.

So this is my signing off
#Simplebutcomplicated #thirthyshadesofblue #pilotstory #lifhappend #interview #sidetrack #Curvball #justkeepswimming #keepmovingforward #lifelesson #learnfromexperience

PS:
1. Microburst
  • microburst is an intense small-scale downdraft produced by a thunderstorm or rain shower.
  • usually last from seconds to minutes
  • A sudden increase of airspeed and a climb in the intial stage
  • followed by a gradual desend
  • and ending with a drop of airspeed and increase of rate of desent.
  • Action : if on approch, Go Around. If on departure, delay takeoff
Image result for Windshear

2. Windshear
  • Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. 
  • Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizontal wind shear.

3. ITCZ (Inter-tropical convergence zone)
  • Is the area where the northeast and southeast trade winds converge. 
  • It encircles Earth near the thermal equator, though its specific position varies seasonally. 
  • When it lies near the geographic Equator, it is called the near-equatorial trough. 
  • Where the ITCZ is drawn into and merges with a monsoonal circulation, it is sometimes referred to as a monsoon trough, a usage more common in Australia and parts of Asia.
 Image result for ITCZ (Inter-tropical convergence zone)

4. How Do Clouds Form?
  • Clouds form when rising air, through expansion, cools to the point where some of the water vapor molecules "clump together" faster than they are torn apart by their thermal energy. 
  • Some of that (invisible) water vapor condenses to form (visible) cloud droplets or ice crystals.
  • When they are too heavy to hold the fall down as rain 

 Image result for how do clouds form
5. How Does an Airplane Fly?
  • A plane's engines are designed to move it forward at high speed. 
  • That makes air flow rapidly over the wings, which throw the air down toward the ground, generating an upward force called lift that overcomes the plane's weight and holds it in the sky. 
  • So it's the engines that move a plane forward, while the wings move it upward.

 Forces acting on a flying plane: thrust, weight, drag, and lift

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