Understanding the Psychological Evaluation

Almost every pilot selection ends with a psychologist. This course walks through the interview and personality-assessment stage: your motivation, your life story, the competencies being scored and the questionnaire debrief — and shows how to prepare with self-knowledge instead of a script.

8 lessons7 practice exercises

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Course Lessons

1What the Psychological Evaluation Is (and Isn't)3 min read 2Your Motivation: The Story and the Substance3 min read 3Know the Training and the Career Ahead5 min read 4Life Choices: Explaining Your Path3 min read1 exercise 5The Competencies: Working With Others4 min read1 exercise 6The Competencies: Judgement Under Pressure4 min read3 exercises 7The Personality Questionnaire and the Big Five4 min read2 exercises 8Answering Well on the Day4 min read

Practice Exercises

The real assessment exercises this course prepares you for.

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Technical & aviation interest16.When did you first seriously consider becoming a pilot?

Within the last year

One to three years ago

As a teenager

In childhood — and it never went away

Biographical Inventory

Meet the biodata questionnaire format used in pilot selection — structured multiple-choice questions about your education, achievements, teams, technical interest, pressure history and work habits. No score, no tricks: a familiarization and interview-preparation tool that turns your own life history into ready interview material.

12 minPsychological

Thirty miles out, new runwayStep 2 of 2The change is accepted with extra track miles…The selector disagrees with the clearance you copied.What do you do?

AFinish the FMS page first — you are nearly done…

BCall it now, in standard form, and close the loop…

CAsk an open question: "What's our cleared altitude?"

DReach over and re-set the selector to 7,000 yourself…

CRM Scenarios

Work through evolving flight-deck situations in two or three steps. At each step you choose how to respond as a crewmember, then see how that response would land with the crew and which CRM principle is in play — authority gradient, closed-loop communication, PACE advocacy, shared mental model, workload management.

14 minPsychological

Wrong altitude setYou are the First Officer. You notice the Captain has set an altitude in the FCU that is 2,000 ft above the cleared level…

AReset the altitude to the cleared level yourself…

BSay, "Confirm cleared altitude was 8,000?…Most effective

CSay, "I think that altitude might be wrong," and wait…

DWait to see if ATC catches the level bust…Least effective

Situational Judgement Test

Read realistic cockpit and crew-room scenarios and judge how a professional flight crew would respond. A practice and reflection tool: after you commit, you compare your judgement with an expert reference and read the reasoning behind it. Play the classic format, or a chat presentation modelled on Aon's chatAssess.

12 minPsychological

Scenario 1 of 10

The gap in the shower… Five minutes in, a patch of blue opens overhead. She drops the phone, starts up and taxis straight out: "Go now, before it closes."Which hazardous attitude does this response show?

Anti-Authority“Don't tell me.”

Impulsivity“Do it quickly.”

Invulnerability“It won't happen to me.”

Macho“I can do it.”

Resignation“What's the use?”

Hazardous Attitudes

Learn and reflect on the FAA's Five Hazardous Attitudes from aeronautical decision-making training. Rate 25 statements for a per-attitude self-profile, or drill short scenarios: name the attitude a pilot's response shows, then pick its prescribed antidote.

8 minPsychological

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13.Careful use of checklists and procedures is what keeps routine flights routine.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither Agree Nor Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Safety Locus of Control

A self-insight questionnaire based on aviation-safety locus of control research. Rate 24 statements about why flights end safely — pilot skill and preparation versus luck, weather, and the system — and see your Internality and Externality profile with a full per-item breakdown.

Moderately Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor Inaccurate

Moderately Accurate

Very Accurate

2.Make friends easily

Very Inaccurate

Moderately Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor Inaccurate

Moderately Accurate

Very Accurate

Big Five Personality Test

A scientifically grounded personality inventory based on the IPIP-NEO-120. Rate 120 statements to map your profile across the five major personality domains — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism — each broken down into six facets.

10 minPsychological

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I express complex ideas in a way anyone can follow.MostLeast

I actively seek feedback on how I can improve.MostLeast

I notice small errors that others tend to overlook.MostLeast

Forced-Choice Personality Questionnaire

Practice the forced-choice personality format used in airline selection (Aon/cut-e shapes, SHL OPQ32r). Each block shows three equally positive statements — pick the one most like you and the one least like you, then see the relative trade-off profile your choices produce.

8 minPsychological