What Does an Airline Examiner Actually Look for in a Sim Check?

The simulator assessment is where most airline candidates feel the most pressure — and where many make avoidable mistakes. Not because they can't fly, but because they don't understand what the examiner is actually assessing.

This article gives you a direct look at examiner priorities, so you stop preparing for the wrong things.

First: The Examiner Is Not Trying to Fail You

This sounds obvious but it's worth stating clearly. By the time you're in the sim, you've already passed the CV screen, the HR filter, and often a technical interview. The airline has invested time and money to get you there.

The examiner's job is to verify that you are who your application says you are — a safe, professional, competent pilot. They're looking for reasons to pass you, not trap you.

That said, there are specific things they're watching for. Knowing what those are changes how you prepare.

1. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

This is the number one priority. Above raw flying skill, above systems knowledge, above meteorology.

Examiners want to see that you operate within a framework. You call things out. You use checklists. You brief approaches properly. You don't deviate from the standard flow without a reason.

A technically perfect ILS flown with no callouts, no checklist discipline, and no crew coordination will score worse than a slightly rough approach flown with full SOP compliance.

What to do: Before the sim, study the airline's published SOPs if available. If not, use standard Airbus or Boeing flows and call everything out loud. Don't cut corners because you're "experienced."

2. Crew Resource Management (CRM)

You will almost certainly fly with a check captain or assessor in the right seat. They are watching how you interact.

Key CRM behaviours examiners look for:

• Briefings — are they structured, complete, and invite input?
• Task sharing — do you delegate appropriately under pressure?
• Communication — are you clear, assertive, but not autocratic?
• Awareness — do you keep your co-pilot in the loop?
• Handling errors — if your co-pilot makes a mistake, how do you address it?

The most common CRM failure in sim assessments: tunnel vision under pressure. A pilot who stops communicating the moment something goes wrong is a red flag, regardless of how they handle the aircraft.

3. Workload Management and Prioritisation

Things will go wrong in the sim. That's the point. The examiner wants to see how you prioritise when multiple things demand your attention simultaneously.

The classic hierarchy:
1. Aviate — fly the aircraft
2. Navigate — know where you are
3. Communicate — inform ATC and crew
4. Manage — checklists, systems, decision-making

Candidates who immediately dive into the QRH when an ECAM triggers — while the aircraft is deviating from the cleared altitude — fail on the fundamentals, not the systems knowledge.

What to do: Practice calling "I have control" or "you have control" clearly. Practice announcing what you're doing: "I'm going to level off and stabilise before we action the checklist." Narrating your thinking is not a weakness — it's CRM.

4. Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

Sim scenarios rarely give you perfect information. You'll face a technical issue with ambiguous indications, or a weather situation with incomplete information, or a fuel situation that requires a decision without full clarity.

Examiners are not looking for the perfect decision. They're looking for a safe and structured decision-making process:

• What information do you have?
• What are your options?
• What's the safest course of action?
• Have you consulted your co-pilot and relevant resources?

A candidate who decides quickly but ignores their co-pilot scores worse than one who takes 30 extra seconds to brief the decision clearly.

5. Stabilised Approach Criteria

One of the clearest objective measures in a sim check. Most airlines define a stabilised approach by a specific gate (typically 1,000 ft AAL in IMC, 500 ft AAL in VMC) with defined criteria:

• On the correct flight path
• Configured (gear down, correct flap)
• At the correct speed (Vref + defined additive)
• Correct power setting
• Within defined deviation limits

Examiners watch whether you call the go-around when an approach becomes unstabilised — or whether you continue and try to salvage it. Continuing an unstabilised approach is one of the most common causes of approach-and-landing accidents. Examiners know this. They will sometimes manufacture an unstabilised approach to see what you do.

The right answer is always the go-around. A go-around flown well, for the right reason, is a pass. A landing salvaged from an unstabilised approach is a fail.

6. Handling Abnormals Without Rushing

On abnormal procedures, two opposite failure modes exist:

• Too fast: actioning memory items before confirming the situation, skipping callouts, rushing through the QRH
• Too slow: paralysis, excessive hesitation, letting the aircraft deteriorate while managing paperwork

The sweet spot is deliberate and calm. Identify, brief, then action. Even under time pressure, a five-second brief to your co-pilot — "We have a left engine fire indication. I'll fly, you action the memory items" — is worth more than silence and speed.

What Examiners Are NOT Primarily Assessing

• Perfect aircraft handling (smooth landings are not the goal)
• Systems knowledge recitation
• Fastest response time to ECAM alerts
• Flawless English phraseology

These matter, but they are not what separates passing candidates from failing ones.

Summary: What to Walk In With

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