The Application Process

Here's a little story of the application process I went through before I got accepted to my flight school. 

So, after deciding to pursue the career of a professional pilot I did a lot of research of all the aspects of the field, reading official sources, different forums and stories all over the internet. I noticed that SL Flight Training, a flight school in Helsinki-Malmi airport, some 20 minutes away from my home had a professional pilot programme starting in July and that the enrollment procedure was on. I filled the application form and was now ready to start the four-part application process.


Part 1 - The Application Form

The first phase in the enrollement procedure was sending the application form and suitable applicants would then be selected to aptitude testing. I filled up the three-page application form, which had questions on previous flight experience, education, grades in finnish, english and mathematics and previous jobs. The last part was to write a short essay on yourself. I wrote a little description on my history and why I wanted to become a pilot. I also had to gather a bunch of attachements like my previous licences, school reports and proof of completed conscription. I also had to go to a GP for a general health evaluation and attach all the required papers related to this. After all this it was time to begin waiting for a possible invitation to aptitude testing and in no time I got a nice email telling me that I could continue on to aptitude testing,


Part 2 - The Aptitude Test


The First Day:

The aptitude testing was held at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) in Töölö, Helsinki and it lasted for two whole days beginning at 8am and ending at about 16pm. The first day consisted of general testing where basic mathematical and physics skills were testing in addition to psychological questionnaires and if the results were good one could continue on to the next day. In the hallway there was three of us eagerly waiting to be tested and in no time we were already doing the first tests.

The internet is full of descriptions about aptitude tests so I'm not going to go in-depth about those here. Also, one should remember that aptitude testing isn't about being the best, but about being suitable. There's really only so much you can do in terms of preparing yourself for the tests. It's better to go on with an open mind, do the tests one at a time, trying to be as honest as possible and not to stress too much.

The tests were all different and some were done with pencil and paper while others were computer-based. Tests and questionnaires ranged from psychological questions to drawing assignments and from simple mathematics (often with a little twist) to everyday physics. Many times I felt that a test really measured something else than what one might at first think. Usually the result isn't as important as the way you approach the problem, solve it and work under pressure. Many tests were also there to wreck your nerves. There was always way too little time to finish all the questions and I think the idea was to test how far you could reach with relatively good success rate until your brains exploded from overload. At the end of the day I got to know that my results had been good and that I could continue on to the next day.


The Second Day:

On the second day the nature of the aptitude testing changed and the tests started to become more challenging, diverse and involving. There was group discussion excercises, psychological interviews, hands-on problem solving, personality mapping and even the famous Rorschach inkblot test! Most challenging were all of the different multitasking excercises, where you had to focus on three to four thing at the same time, like keeping a crosshair in top of a constantly moving ball while tapping coloured buttons according to noises heard and so on... The hardest and most infamous test was the dice test where you had to figure out the correct symbol on a given side of a dice with reference to a few two-dimensional pictures of a dice. This forces you to imagine and rotate a three-dimensional dice in your head and to make things harder, those are no numbers on the sides of the dices, but different symbols that can be upside down or sideways. At the end of the day I was quite exhausted but felt good since I felt I hadn't failed any of the tests totally.

After the atitude tests followed the most discomfortable part of the enrollment procedure, which was waiting for the results. About three weeks passed constantly looking through my mail waiting for that letter. The fact that I spend almost every day at Nummela airfield gliding and flying ultralights didn't make this any easier, since friends constantly asked if I had already gotten the answers.

At last I got the long-awaited letter telling me I that the FIOH recommended me for professional pilot training. Everyone who applies to SL Flight Training's pilot training also has the possibility of getting in on a fully self-sponsored cadet scheme for Flybe Finland, but that path didn't open for me. I later found out that although my tests had gone well and my profile was suitable, the airline had somehow questioned my motivation due to the fact that I also had the university doors open for me at the time I applied. I've heard that some have been more applicable after applying for the second time but there would have been a two-year wait before the next application period, which was out of the question for me. I'd already be almost graduated by then! :)


Part 3 - The Medical

The third phase of the application process was acquiring the medical. All commercial pilots must hold a class 1 medical in order to excercise the privileges of their licences. So I went to the Aeromedical Center in Helsinki to be tested.

The medical testing lasted for a day and was somewhat familiar since I already had a sport pilot's medical (class 4). Of course the medical-1 testing was much more thorough and the eyes particularily were under heavy examination. There was a very large amount of tests during the day but thankfully the results turned out to be good. The most memorable event was when a substance was put in to my eyes causing my vision to degrade so that I couldn't read even the large headlines of a newspaper. After the testing I had to wait for a few hours before I was able to drive again.


Part 4 - The Interview

Soon afteer the medical there was the school interview, which was the last part of the application process. SL Flight Training relies on the results from FIOH for pilot selection and so the interview's more like a chance for them to get to know you. So I chatted about an hour with the interviewer, discussing subjects like the training and what it includes, general studying-related things and hopes and expectations on the future. Once again I could tell about myself and my background and why I wanted to become a pilot and attend the training. All in all, the interview was a nice situation, although I had previously researched everything so comprehensively that not much new things came along the interviewers school introduction.

After the interview I got a letter, which welcomed me to attend the school's professional pilot programme, starting on Monday 9th of July. I felt quite happy :)