Loganair Pilot Interview Prep: Routes, Sim, Questions (2026 Guide)

Last updated: 18 October 2026

Loganair, the UK’s largest regional airline, had two doors open for pilots at the last check, on 18 October 2026: its flight-crew careers page said it was recruiting only Direct Entry Captains, with a Captain vacancy on its recruitment site until 30 November 2026, and pilots who have stepped away from flying could apply to its Airline Returners Programme. Its pilot careers brochure sets 1,000 hours as pilot in command for command roles, and asks every pilot for a current UK CAA license and Class 1, ICAO English Level 4 and the right to live and work in the UK indefinitely. For newly qualified pilots, Loganair’s published route is a mentored APS MCC course with CRM Aviation Europe that ends in a simulator assessment and an interview with Loganair, but its page said applications were closed. Loganair publishes no selection stages for direct entrants, so this guide sets out what it does publish, labels what candidates report, and prepares you for an interview and a simulator assessment on a turboprop or a jet.

Note for Captains: the Direct Entry Captain posting on Loganair’s recruitment site (VN097, for all bases and fleets) was open at the last check, with applications closing on 30 November 2026. It counts the 1,000 hours as command of multi-crew aircraft over 10 tonnes or with more than 19 seats in passenger commercial air transport, and for the Embraer asks for 500 hours in command of a multi-crew jet.

At the last check, on 18 October 2026, Loganair’s flight-crew careers page said “We are currently only recruiting for Direct Entry Captains”, and its recruitment site listed the Direct Entry Captain posting (VN097), with applications closing on 30 November 2026, and no First Officer vacancy. The non-type-rated “Newly Qualified First Officer” listing (VN041) was no longer open for applications, the mentored APS MCC course page said applications were closed, and the Airline Returners Programme took applications through a form on Loganair’s site. Check the airline pilot jobs board for the current position.

About Loganair

Loganair calls itself Scotland’s airline. Its careers page counts more than 63 years of service to the UK’s islands and communities, and describes flying that runs from remote island airstrips to busy regional airports, as a lifeline for the Highlands and Islands. Its brochure lists five types: the ATR 72 and ATR 42 turboprops, the backbone of the network; the Embraer 145 regional jet, on some of the busiest routes; the DHC-6 Twin Otter, which flies from remote island runways and lands on the beach at Barra; and the BN-2 Islander, which flies the world’s shortest scheduled flight. Loganair said in August 2025 that it employs more than 250 pilots.

A pilot’s day, as the brochure describes it, is a morning or an afternoon shift of typically two to four sectors, with commercial and charter passengers, and freight. There are no overnight passenger flights and most duties end by the evening, so most of its pilots sleep at home almost every night, and rosters are stable, with the majority of weekends off.

The careers page names Edinburgh, Manchester, Jersey, Glasgow and the Isle of Man among its bases, and the brochure adds Aberdeen, Southampton and City of Derry. The network has shrunk in 2026: Loganair opened a base at Southampton in January 2026 and is closing it at the end of October (ITV News, 6 August 2026), and it is leaving Dundee, where its base closes after the last Dundee–London Heathrow flight on 23 October 2026 (ch-aviation, 2026). Check the bases in your vacancy (the returners’ application form still listed both on 18 October 2026), and do not build an answer around one that is closing.

Command takes at least three years, the careers page says, and typically three to five depending on previous experience and progression, the brochure adds.

Which route fits you

Loganair publishes a minimum for each seat, a route back for returners and, when it recruits them, routes for newly qualified pilots:

Whatever the seat, the brochure asks every pilot to be eligible to live and work in the UK indefinitely, to hold a passport permitting unrestricted worldwide travel, ICAO English Level 4 or above, a current UK CAA license and a valid UK CAA Class 1, to be able to swim at least 25 meters unassisted, to be 18 or over when applying, and to provide a full five-year employment and education history with valid criminal record checks.

Read the Captain minimum the way the posting counts it. The 1,000 hours are hours in command, on multi-crew aircraft above the weight or seat threshold, in passenger commercial air transport, so command of a single-pilot airplane does not count toward them as written, however much of it you have. For the Embraer the posting also asks for 500 hours in command of a multi-crew jet; for the ATR, 500 hours in command of a turboprop are desirable rather than required. Total your logbook that way before you apply (the Library’s guide to the pilot CV and application covers the flight hours table).

What sets Loganair apart for a pilot

• Recruiting at the top. At the last check only Direct Entry Captains were being recruited, so every First Officer route was closed or waiting.
• Five types, two worlds. Turboprops, a regional jet and two island types, so your simulator assessment may be on a type you have never flown.
• Short, hands-on sectors. Remote island airstrips and busy regional airports, through complex airspace, terrain and weather, two to four sectors a day.
• A UK license, and the right to stay. A current UK CAA license and Class 1, and eligibility to live and work in the UK indefinitely, so an EASA license alone, or a time-limited right to work, does not meet the list as written.
• A paid, bonded type rating. The brochure lists a fully paid type rating, bonded, with full salary from the first day, paid accommodation during the rating and paid travel to all training, and the Captain posting describes a paper bond, with no upfront cost. Neither publishes the bond’s amount or length, so ask.
• A way back for returners. Pilots who have held a type rating before can return through a structured program of refresher training, with an application form on Loganair’s site.

What Loganair publishes about selection

Loganair publishes no selection stages for its Direct Entry Captains, or for returners, on the pages we could read. It does publish the steps of one route, the mentored APS MCC course it runs with CRM Aviation Europe, which it describes as a complete pathway to its airline assessment and interview, taught to Loganair’s standard operating procedures. At the last check, on 18 October 2026, the course page said applications were closed and listed no intake dates.

The course is built on nine competencies, and they are a fair map for any Loganair assessment: problem solving and decision making, situational awareness, professionalism, leadership and teamwork, workload management, communication, management of the flight path by automation and by hand, and knowledge and procedures. The Library explains what an APS MCC adds to a standard course in multi-crew cooperation courses, and the competency framework in competency-based training and EBT.

What candidates and job boards report

Beyond the course, what is known about Loganair’s assessments comes from candidates, job boards and preparation providers, from different years, so read it as the shape of past selections, not a promise:

• Loganair’s 2024 listing for newly qualified First Officers, as a job board copied it, named a CV and cover letter, screening questions, a simulator assessment, an in-person interview, psychometric testing, a technical knowledge quiz and group exercises.
• A 2023 First Officer campaign for the City of Derry (Embraer 145) and Isle of Man (ATR) bases began with an online interview, followed by a simulator check at Gatwick, with type-rated candidates prioritized for assessment (afm.aero, August 2023).
• Candidates at a 2019 recruitment day reported on the PPRuNe forum an interview of 30 to 45 minutes before a panel of three, two written papers, verbal and numerical, and a simulator session of about 30 minutes in a generic turboprop simulator, flown in pairs, each candidate taking a turn as pilot flying and pilot monitoring.
• A candidate on PPRuNe in 2024, in a thread about an assessment at CAE Gatwick on the ERJ 145, described an informal interview with an introduction to Loganair and the job, a straightforward group exercise and a demanding simulator session, with a departure on a SID, VOR tracking, an ILS to a go-around, a second ILS to land and a takeoff with an engine failure.
• A preparation provider’s page, last updated in March 2024, says Loganair has used computerized aptitude tests in its pilot recruitment and, as of 2019, paper verbal and numerical reasoning tests when assessing qualified pilots.

Put together, prepare for a competency interview with technical questions, a simulator session flown as a crew, possibly on a type you do not fly, and timed reasoning tests. Ask the recruitment team what your invitation includes, since the content has changed from one campaign to the next.

The simulator assessment

Loganair publishes a simulator assessment as a step of its APS MCC route, but no profile, device or duration, and nothing for direct entrants. Candidates on PPRuNe have described a session in an ERJ 145 simulator at CAE Gatwick (2024) and, in 2019, a session of about 30 minutes in a generic turboprop simulator, flown in pairs, so prepare to fly a type you may not know, jet or turboprop, as one of a two-pilot crew. The Library’s guide to the airline simulator assessment describes the usual shape: 30 to 60 minutes after a briefing on the numbers to fly, with upper air work, a hold, an ILS with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure.

What to practice

• The briefing. Ask for the pitch attitudes and power settings for each phase, write them down and fly them. Anything unclear is better asked in the briefing than discovered in the simulator.
• Radio navigation on raw data. One candidate’s ERJ 145 profile included VOR tracking, so practice intercepting and holding a radial, then hand-flown ILS approaches without the flight director, with the scan centered on the attitude indicator (see VOR and instrument scan technique).
• The go-around. The same profile had an ILS to a go-around before an ILS to land: fly it by the numbers, pitch, power and configuration, with the calls (see go-around and missed approach).
• The engine failure after takeoff. Directional control with rudder, rotation at VR and not before, positive climb and gear up, then identification and confirmation with the other pilot before anything is shut down. On a twin turboprop, know what happens to the failed engine’s propeller, and on the ATR what the automatic systems do first (see engine failure and engine fire and asymmetric flight).
• Both roles. Where the session is flown as a crew, the pilot monitoring is assessed too: standard callouts, checklists and, above all, calling deviations (see crew coordination, briefings and callouts).

In the Library’s description, for low-hour pilots the session is largely a test of trainability, of how quickly an unfamiliar aircraft’s numbers are applied, while for experienced pilots, and Captains above all, the emphasis typically moves toward managing the flight and the crew. Errors are expected; what counts is whether they are noticed, said aloud and corrected.

The interview

Many airlines now use competency-based interviews, in which each question asks for a real past event rather than an opinion: a mistake you made, a disagreement with a Captain, a time you saw something unsafe, a decision on incomplete information. Answer with the STAR structure (situation, task, action, result), keep each story short and true, and show ownership rather than blame. Prepare eight to ten stories that between them cover the common themes, and if something in your record could come up, such as a failed check, raise it yourself: an interviewer who finds it later will assume it was hidden. The Library explains the method in competency-based pilot interviews.

Questions particular to Loganair

• Why Loganair? Three specific reasons that are true for both sides, such as the variety of the fleet, short-sector, hands-on flying, the lifeline services to the Highlands and Islands, or a life at home most nights. Not led by pay, and never a criticism of your present employer.
• Why command here? A Direct Entry Captain should expect the command side: decisions you have made, how you lead a crew and how you handle a disagreement on the flight deck, with examples from your own command (the Library covers flight deck leadership and the command upgrade).
• Which base? Know the bases in your vacancy and have a realistic plan for reporting on time from the one you would fly from; Southampton and Dundee are closing in October 2026.
• Weather, terrain and remote airstrips. Expect scenario questions drawn from the flying the careers page describes, through complex airspace, terrain and weather to island airstrips. Answer with your decision process and how you would involve the crew, not a single rule (the Library’s threat and error management gives the vocabulary).
• For returners. Why you stepped away, what you have done to stay current, and what you need from the refresher training. Be plain about the gap: the program exists for it.

Prepare two or three questions of your own about training, support for new pilots or the operation, not about leave or pay.

Technical questions

A technical interview generally covers three things: the type you fly or will fly, ATPL theory asked as open questions, and operational scenarios you talk through. A Captain applicant on the ATR or the ERJ 145 should expect questions on that type, and a newly qualified pilot on ATPL theory and the turboprop basics. The bar is explaining why a system works the way it does, not reciting what it does. If you do not know, say so, then explain what you do know and where you would look it up: panels generally score honesty first, then reasoning, then raw knowledge.

For the ATR, the type’s operational suitability data is a good guide to what a panel can ask: it names five training areas of special emphasis for the ATR 42 and 72, engine malfunctions during takeoff, including malfunctions of the automatic takeoff power control system (ATPCS); the positions and notches of the power and condition levers; the propeller brake; ice detection and management, including the aircraft performance monitoring; and the use of the avionics (the ATR 72 bank’s General and Powerplant chapters).

ATR questions to practice

1. How does the ATR protect itself against ice: which parts are de-iced by pneumatic boots, which are heated electrically, and why is a turboprop built that way? (see de-icing boots and propeller ice protection)
2. What is the minimum icing speed, the “red bug”, what does the aircraft performance monitoring compare, and what are the signs of severe icing? (the ATR 72 bank’s ice and rain chapter, and the Library’s airframe icing)
3. An engine fails on takeoff: what does the ATPCS do for you, and what is left for the crew to do? (the ATR 72 bank’s powerplant chapter, and propellers and propeller control)
4. Why is the propeller of a failed engine feathered, and what happens if it is left windmilling? (see the same propellers article and minimum control speeds)

ERJ 145 and jet questions

There is no ERJ 145 bank on v1prep: the E-Jet bank covers the ERJ 170 and ERJ 190 families, a different aircraft. For a session or an interview on the 145, prepare the jet theory with the ATPL banks and the Library:

1. What does wing sweep change at low speed, and what is a deep stall? (see swept wings and tail configurations)
2. What happens to a jet as it passes its critical Mach number? (see high-speed flight)

ATPL topics worth refreshing

1. V1, VR and V2, and what V1 commits you to (see takeoff speeds)
2. Minimum control speeds and the critical engine (see minimum control speeds)
3. Ground de-icing, anti-icing and holdover times (see ground de-icing and anti-icing)
4. Crosswind landings and contaminated runways (see landing technique and crosswind operations and wet and contaminated runways)
5. Holding entries and timings (see holding patterns)
6. Decode a METAR and TAF (drill it with our ATPL meteorology questions), and airspace and the rules of the air (see our ATPL air law questions)

What v1prep has for Loganair’s fleet

Where Loganair candidates go wrong

1. Counting the wrong command hours. The Captain posting asks for 1,000 hours in command of multi-crew aircraft over 10 tonnes or with more than 19 seats, and for the Embraer 500 in command of a multi-crew jet; single-pilot command does not count toward them as written.
2. An EASA license on its own. Loganair asks every pilot for a current UK CAA license and a valid UK CAA Class 1.
3. A time-limited right to work. The brochure asks for eligibility to live and work in the UK indefinitely.
4. Gaps in the five-year history. Loganair asks for a full five-year employment and education history with criminal record checks: gather the documents before you apply, not after an invitation.
5. Waiting for a First Officer vacancy that is not there. At the last check only Captains were being recruited and the APS MCC course was closed; watch the careers page and the course page, and if you have held a type rating before, apply to the returners program.
6. Preparing only for your own type. Candidates have described simulator sessions on an ERJ 145 in 2024, and on a generic turboprop simulator in 2019: if you fly turboprops, practice jet handling, and the reverse.
7. A silent simulator session. Accurate flying without briefing, calling and monitoring is weak crew performance.
8. Stories and records that do not match. Competency answers that do not survive a follow-up question, or figures that differ from your logbook. Across the industry, the commonest reason an offer is withdrawn is a gap between what a candidate declared and what the records show.

From application to a course date

Loganair publishes no timings for direct entrants. What is known:

Plan for a range, not a date. While you wait, keep your license and your Class 1 current, and your theory sharp.

Loganair pilot recruitment: common questions

The hours, license, medical and right-to-work rules are on our Loganair pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the Loganair pilot selection process?

Loganair publishes no selection stages for Direct Entry Captains. For its mentored APS MCC route it publishes the steps: the course with CRM Aviation Europe, its Assessment of Competence on the final Friday, a simulator assessment and an interview with Loganair the next day, then priority placement in the hold pool for those who succeed; applications were closed at the last check, on 18 October 2026. Past campaigns, as candidates and job-board copies describe them, added an online or in-person interview, group exercises, psychometric or reasoning tests and a technical quiz.

What is the Loganair simulator assessment like?

Loganair publishes no profile, device or duration. A candidate on the PPRuNe forum described, in 2024, a session in an ERJ 145 simulator at CAE Gatwick with a SID departure, VOR tracking, an ILS to a go-around, a second ILS to land and a takeoff with an engine failure, and candidates at a 2019 recruitment day a session of about 30 minutes in a generic turboprop simulator, flown in pairs, taking turns as pilot flying and pilot monitoring. Prepare to fly a type you may not know, on raw data, with standard callouts in both roles.

What does the Loganair interview ask?

Expect competency questions about real past events, answered in the STAR structure, and questions particular to Loganair: why Loganair, which base, how you handle weather, terrain and remote airstrips, and, for Captains, your command experience. A candidate on PPRuNe described one interview, in 2024, as informal, and candidates at a 2019 recruitment day a 30 to 45 minute interview before a panel of three.

Does Loganair use aptitude tests?

Loganair publishes none. Candidates at a 2019 recruitment day reported verbal and numerical papers, a preparation provider’s page, last updated in March 2024, says Loganair has used computerized aptitude tests, and Loganair’s 2024 listing for newly qualified First Officers, as a job board copied it, named psychometric testing and a technical knowledge quiz. Practice timed numerical and verbal reasoning before any invitation.

How can a newly qualified pilot join Loganair?

Through a route Loganair opens when it recruits First Officers, and at the last check, on 18 October 2026, none was open: its mentored APS MCC course with CRM Aviation Europe, which leads to a simulator assessment and an interview with Loganair, said applications were closed, and its 2024 Newly Qualified First Officer listing, which set no hours minimum, was no longer open. Loganair also works with three flight schools, Leading Edge Aviation, Skyborne Aviation Academy and Ravenair, on tagging arrangements and tailored programs.