flydubai Pilot Interview Prep: Stages, Sim, Questions (2026 Guide)

LAST UPDATED: 12 OCTOBER 2026

flydubai is a one-type, one-base airline: every pilot flies the Boeing 737 and every pilot is based in Dubai. It recruits only through its own careers portal, whose Captain, First Officer and Second Officer vacancy pages appeared in search results in late September 2026, and its selection runs from online psychometric tests and an on-demand video interview to two assessment days in Dubai that include a simulator assessment. This guide sets out what each route asks for, what flydubai publishes about each stage and what candidates report, and how to prepare. Which streams are taking applications could not be confirmed on the portal, so check there before you start.

Note for Airbus pilots: the fleet is all Boeing 737 for now (737-800, MAX 8 and MAX 9, mostly MAX), with 787-9s on order and an A321neo memorandum signed for deliveries from 2031. The type-rated First Officer stream asks for 500 hours on the 737; a non-type-rated stream relayed by job boards asks for 2,500 hours total, and the training bond is larger if you are not rated.

About flydubai

flydubai began flying in 2009 and is owned by the Government of Dubai through the Investment Corporation of Dubai, which also owns the Emirates Group. It is a sister company of Emirates, not a subsidiary: since a 2017 partnership the two coordinate schedules through Dubai, but they are managed and recruit separately, so applying to one does not count as applying to the other.

At September 2026 the airline gave its fleet as 98 aircraft: 25 737-800s, 69 MAX 8s and 4 MAX 9s, with 11 MAX deliveries in 2026. 30 787-9s are on order, the first now reported for late 2027 or early 2028, and in November 2025 flydubai signed memoranda for 75 more MAX and 150 A321neos due from 2031; both were announced as memoranda of understanding, so check whether either has become a firm order. flydubai also has its own Flight Training Centre in Dubai, opened in early 2025 and built with CAE, with full-flight simulator bays for the 737.

The network runs across the Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and the Caucasus, Africa and Eastern Europe, including high, hot or terrain-limited airports. The 2026 regional conflict is the backdrop: the UAE partially closed its airspace from 28 February, UAE carriers restarted gradually in March and the last restrictions were lifted in early May. In mid-September the chief executive said flydubai was serving about 130 of its roughly 140 pre-war destinations and expected to be back at or slightly above pre-war capacity by the end of the year. 2025 was its fifth profitable year in a row and its best to date.

Entry routes and minimums

The medical is an ICAO Class 1, the English requirement ICAO Level 4 or above, and you must be eligible for a UAE residence visa, which the airline sponsors. Work from the advert you apply against: the streams and their figures come from pages as indexed and from job boards, not from a direct read of the portal.

The selection stages

Two practical points. Use the practice questions flydubai offers before the online tests: they show you the formats, and timed practice beyond them is what moves a score. And bring the originals of every document the invitation lists, because the document check is part of the assessment, not an administrative afterthought.

The 737 simulator

flydubai lists a simulator assessment among the elements of its two assessment days but publishes no profile. Candidates report a 737 session flown as both pilot flying and pilot monitoring, often with Dubai-area procedures, with the weight on CRM and on saying what you are doing. Non-rated candidates describe basic airmanship rather than type knowledge; rated candidates should expect a proficiency-check standard.

How to prepare

• Study Dubai before you travel. Look at the current Dubai International SIDs, STARs and runway layout. Nobody expects them learned by heart, but a candidate who has studied them briefs better.
• Both seats’ jobs. As pilot monitoring, call deviations early and clearly, run the checklists and back up the other pilot; as pilot flying, brief, fly and say what you are doing (the Library covers pilot flying and pilot monitoring).
• Rated candidates: fly to a proficiency-check standard, with flows, callouts and limitations without hesitation.
• Non-rated candidates: basic airmanship is what candidates describe being tested. If you come from an Airbus, practise manual trimming and a conventional instrument scan before the session, and ask for the pitch attitudes and thrust settings before you start.

The video interview and the Dubai panels

The on-demand video interview is a set of recorded answers to set questions, reported as a HireVue-style recording with short preparation time and a fixed time per answer. Put the camera at eye level, look at the lens and finish each answer inside the time: a shorter, complete answer beats a long one cut off halfway. In Dubai the competency-based interviews are reported as a panel of an HR representative and a line Captain, and the psychometric assessment with the psychology team sits alongside them.

Competency questions and the psychology team

Answer behavioural questions with real events in the STAR structure (situation, task, action, result), keep each story short and true, and prepare eight to ten of them. The psychometric stages reward the same honesty: the online tests include a work-behaviour questionnaire, and personality questionnaires have no right answers to learn; consistency and honesty are what they look for, so the person in the questionnaire, the panel and the simulator should be the same one.

Questions particular to flydubai

• Why flydubai and not Emirates? The panel knows some candidates see flydubai as a stepping stone. Answer about the flying you want, several sectors a day into demanding airports with a command in view, not about the brand.
• The 2026 conflict. How you feel about living and flying in the region after the airspace closures. Answer calmly and factually, with no politics: closures, reroutes, NOTAMs and conflict-zone guidance are part of the job here.
• Demanding airports. How you brief terrain, high elevation, escape routes and performance at the actual temperature. Give a method and one real example.
• Night flying and fatigue. A hub that operates around the clock: rest planning, the flight time limitations, and fatigue reporting as a professional act.
• Why should we invest a type rating in you? For non-rated candidates: evidence that you learn quickly, and acceptance of the bond as a fair exchange.
• Living in Dubai. Dubai is the only pilot base, so a realistic plan for the move, and for your family if you have one, reads as maturity.

Technical questions

The 737 is the entire technical syllabus for now, and the fleet is mostly MAX, so know both variants and the differences between them. Expect the systems questions to come back to the same places: hydraulic systems A, B and standby, stabiliser trim and MCAS on the MAX, the standby power system, and the NG to MAX differences.

Example 737 questions to practise

1. What pressurises hydraulic systems A and B, and what does the standby system power? (see the 737 hydraulic system)
2. You lose systems A and B: what happens to the flight controls? (the manual reversion question, in the same article)
3. What does MCAS do on the MAX, when does it act, and how do you stop a runaway stabiliser? (see pitch control and stabiliser trim, and MCAS in the NG to MAX course)
4. With both engine-driven generators lost, what does the standby power system supply, and from what? (see the 737 electrical system)
5. What changes on the flight deck between the NG and the MAX? (see flight deck and displays)

Performance and weather for this network

1. Take-off at a hot, high airport: what limits the weight, and what can you change? (see take-off and landing performance)
2. An engine failure over high terrain: drift-down, escape routes and the decision point (see engine failure en route)
3. NOTAMs and airspace: what you check before a routing that has changed (see aeronautical information services)
4. Decode a METAR and TAF and choose an alternate (drill it with our ATPL meteorology questions)

What v1prep has for flydubai’s fleet

Where flydubai candidates go wrong

1. Answering “why flydubai” with Emirates. flydubai is a separate airline that recruits separately, and the panel knows some candidates see it as a stepping stone: an answer that is really about Emirates gives you away.
2. Missing originals. The document check is part of the assessment days. A missing original is the one failure you can fix entirely before you fly out.
3. MAX hours, NG wording. The rated stream asks for 500 hours on the 737-300 to -900. If your hours are on the MAX, check how the advert treats them before you apply.
4. Neglecting the psychometrics. Online tests before you travel and a psychometric assessment in Dubai: two chances to fall short on something you can practise.
5. Silent crew in the simulator. Candidates report a session flown as pilot flying and pilot monitoring with the weight on CRM, so accurate but silent flying reads as weak crew performance.
6. Politics. Questions about the 2026 conflict call for calm operational answers, not opinions.

From application to Dubai

flydubai’s careers pages list the stages; we found no published timings. What is known:

We found nothing else published about timing, so plan for a range rather than a date, and spend the gaps on the 737 systems and on timed reasoning practice.

flydubai pilot recruitment: common questions

The hours, licence, type rating and bond terms are on our flydubai pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the flydubai pilot selection process?

An online application with documents, then online psychometric tests (work behaviour, logical thinking, multitasking and verbal reasoning, with practice questions offered first) and an on-demand video interview. Then come two assessment days in Dubai: a psychometric assessment with the psychology team, competency-based interviews, a check of your licence and flying documents, and a simulator assessment. The medical and pre-employment checks follow.

What do the flydubai interviews ask?

First an on-demand video interview, recorded against the clock. In Dubai the competency interviews are reported as a panel of an HR representative and a line Captain, alongside a psychometric assessment with the psychology team. Expect real events in the STAR structure and questions particular to flydubai: why flydubai and not Emirates, the 2026 airspace closures, answered operationally and without politics, demanding airports, night flying and fatigue, why it should invest a type rating in you, and living in Dubai, its only pilot base.

Is there a training bond at flydubai?

Yes. The training bond reduces over 36 months: USD 24,000 if you are type rated and USD 36,000 if you are not. Bond terms for the cadet stream are not confirmed.

What is the flydubai simulator assessment like?

flydubai lists a simulator assessment on its two assessment days in Dubai but publishes no profile. Candidates report a 737 session flown as both pilot flying and pilot monitoring, with the weight on CRM and on saying what you are doing, often using Dubai-area procedures. Rated candidates should expect a proficiency-check standard; non-rated candidates describe basic airmanship rather than type knowledge.

What technical questions does flydubai ask?

The 737, NG and MAX: hydraulic systems A, B and standby and what happens when A and B are lost, stabiliser trim and MCAS on the MAX, the standby power system, and what changes on the flight deck between the NG and the MAX. Then performance and weather for its network: a take-off at a hot, high airport, an engine failure over high terrain, NOTAMs on a changed routing, and a METAR and TAF with the choice of an alternate.