Virgin Atlantic Pilot Interview Prep: Requirements, Sim, Questions (2026 Guide)

LAST UPDATED: 12 OCTOBER 2026

Virgin Atlantic’s way in for experienced civil pilots is a rated one. At the last check, on 21 September 2026, its own careers site carried a First Officer and Senior First Officer posting for Airbus pilots, which we saw in search results and on UK pilot job boards rather than on the portal itself. It asks for 1,500 hours on multi-pilot aircraft, a current Airbus rating on a UK CAA licence and ICAO English Level 6. We found no published selection stages, so this guide sets out what the posting asks for, line by line, and then prepares you for the parts most airline assessments share: a competency interview, technical questions and a simulator check.

Note for pilots rated on a Boeing: the posting asks for a current rating on the A320, A330, A340, A350 or A380, although the fleet includes the 787-9. A pilot rated only on another manufacturer’s types does not meet it as published. We could not confirm which type a new First Officer is trained on, so prepare for both families.

At the last check, on 21 September 2026, Virgin Atlantic was recruiting: its Airbus First Officer and Senior First Officer posting and its Pilots and Pilot FAQ pages appeared in search results and were relayed by UK pilot job boards. We could not read the portal itself or confirm a closing date, and no direct-entry Captain route is offered. Check the airline pilot jobs board for the current position.

About Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic’s pilots are based at London Heathrow and Manchester, and every aircraft in the fleet is a wide-body: the A330-300 and A330-900neo, the A350-1000 and the 787-9. All but the 787-9 are Airbus types, and the posting asks for a current Airbus rating. The 787-9 is a Boeing, built on a different philosophy: its fly-by-wire keeps a control column and soft rather than hard envelope protection, and its systems use almost no bleed air, both of which a panel can ask you about.

The posting covers First Officers and Senior First Officers alike, and there is no direct-entry Captain route, so experienced pilots join in the right-hand seat. Pilots from named RAF types have a route of their own. Be ready to explain why a wide-body First Officer’s career suits you now, and what you hope to do with it.

What the posting asks for

The posting also asks for a UK CAA Class 1, the right to live and work in the UK and ICAO English Level 6, certified at application. Level 4 is the ICAO minimum for a licence and Level 6 the top of the scale, so if your licence records a lower level, take the assessment before you apply rather than after an invitation.

The hours are counted by aircraft, not in total. Time on single-pilot or light aircraft does not count towards the 1,500, however much of it you have; time on a multi-pilot turboprop above the threshold does. Total your logbook the way the posting counts it, and show the figures that way in your application (the Library’s guide to the pilot CV and application covers the flight hours table).

What sets Virgin Atlantic apart for a pilot

• Rated, and current. The posting needs the Airbus rating held and current, so the hours alone do not meet it.
• An Airbus rating for a mixed fleet. The rating must be on an Airbus type, even though the 787-9 flies alongside the A330s and A350s.
• A UK licence. The rating must sit on a UK CAA ATPL, frozen ATPL or MPL, so an EASA licence alone does not meet the requirement as written.
• English at the top of the scale. ICAO Level 6, certified when you apply.
• A door for RAF pilots. Seven named RAF fleets have a route of their own.
• No direct-entry command. Captains are not recruited from outside, so a move to Virgin Atlantic is a move to the right-hand seat.

The selection stages

We found no published selection stages for Virgin Atlantic, so we do not list any. What can be said is general: most airline selections screen applications against the published minimums, then test competencies, technical knowledge and flying skill through some mix of interviews, aptitude tests, group exercises and simulator evaluations, before a medical and pre-employment checks. Airlines reorder, combine or skip those stages, and candidates who already hold the airline’s type rating sometimes skip the simulator (the Library’s guide to airline pilot recruitment and selection describes each one).

Until an invitation tells you the format, prepare for a competency interview, technical questions on your Airbus type, the 787 and ATPL theory, and a simulator check. Keep your documents ready as well: the hours totalled as the posting counts them, your rating and its currency, your UK CAA licence, your Class 1 and the evidence of your Level 6.

The simulator check

We found no simulator profile, device or duration published for Virgin Atlantic, so prepare for the check most airlines run. In the Library’s description of the airline simulator assessment, it usually lasts 30 to 60 minutes in a full flight simulator or a fixed-base device, flown as one of a two-pilot crew, and a typical profile contains a take-off, upper air work such as steep turns, a hold, an ILS to minimums with a missed approach, and sometimes an engine failure.

What to practise

• The briefing. Ask for the pitch attitudes and thrust settings for each phase, write them down and fly them. Anything unclear is better asked in the briefing than discovered in the simulator.
• Raw data. Some assessments are flown with the autopilot, the flight director and often the autothrust off. Practise level-offs, steep turns and hand-flown ILS approaches with a radial scan centred on the attitude indicator (see instrument scan technique).
• Both roles. Where the check 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).
• The engine failure after V1. 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 (see engine failure and engine fire).
• Your own procedures. A type-rated candidate should expect standard operating procedures to be judged as well as handling, so fly the device as you fly the line: flows, checklists and callouts as briefed.

Errors are expected. What is assessed is whether they are noticed, said aloud and corrected; flying accurately in silence leaves the communication and teamwork side of the check without evidence.

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 Virgin Atlantic

• Why Virgin Atlantic? Three specific reasons that are true for both sides, such as the fleet, the base or the kind of flying a wide-body seat brings. Not led by pay, and never a criticism of your present employer.
• Heathrow or Manchester? Know both bases, and have a realistic plan for reporting on time, every time, from the one you would fly from.
• Your Airbus type. Expect questions on the type you fly now. The posting asks for the rating to be current, so know your recency and when your next check is due.
• Your English. Level 6 is required, so your English is on show in every answer, not only on your licence.
• Five years from now. With no direct-entry Captain route, expect to be asked where you see yourself. Growth within the company, towards command, a training role or a safety role, is the answer the question looks for.
• For RAF applicants. Expect to explain, with real examples, how your crew experience on a named type carries over to airline operations.

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, such as a pressurisation failure in the cruise. 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.

Airbus questions to practise

1. Normal, alternate and direct law: what takes you from one to the next, and which protections do you lose at each step? (see A320 flight control laws and protections)
2. Can an Airbus be stalled in normal law, and what changes after a reversion to alternate law? (see fly-by-wire and flight envelope protection)
3. What is alpha floor, and when is it not available? (see the same fly-by-wire article)

787 questions to practise

1. The 787 has almost no bleed air: what pressurises the cabin, protects the wing against ice and starts the engines instead? (see the 787 no-bleed architecture)
2. Airbus and Boeing both fly by wire: what is the difference between hard and soft envelope protection, and what does a 787 pilot feel near a limit? (see fly-by-wire and the 787 flight controls)

ATPL topics worth refreshing

1. V1, VR and V2, and what V1 commits you to (see takeoff speeds)
2. Extended diversion time operations for twin-engined aeroplanes: the threshold time, the entry point and critical fuel (see ETOPS)
3. Low-visibility operations and ILS categories (see low visibility operations)
4. Decode a METAR and TAF (drill it with our ATPL meteorology questions)
5. Airspace classes and the rules of the air (see our ATPL air law questions)

What v1prep has for Virgin Atlantic’s fleet

Where Virgin Atlantic candidates go wrong

1. Counting total time. The 1,500 hours must be on multi-pilot turbojets or turboprops of at least 10 tonnes MTOM or with more than 19 seats, and hours on single-pilot or light aircraft do not count towards them.
2. No current Airbus rating. The posting asks for one on the A320, A330, A340, A350 or A380. A Boeing, Embraer or ATR rating alone does not meet it as published.
3. An EASA licence on its own. The rating must sit on a UK CAA ATPL, frozen ATPL or MPL.
4. English below Level 6. It must be certified when you apply, so an invitation is too late to sit the assessment.
5. Waiting for a deadline. We could not confirm the posting’s closing date, so apply while it is listed.
6. Leaning on the automatics. If the simulator check is flown on raw data, a pilot who has not hand-flown an approach without a flight director for years will show it.
7. 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

We found no published timings for Virgin Atlantic’s selection. What is known:

Plan for a range, not a date. While you wait, keep your Airbus rating current, since the posting asks for a current one, and keep your theory sharp.

Virgin Atlantic pilot recruitment: common questions

The hours, type rating, licence and English rules are on our Virgin Atlantic pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the Virgin Atlantic pilot selection process?

We found no published selection stages for Virgin Atlantic. Prepare for the usual shape of an airline assessment: screening against the published minimums, a competency interview with technical questions, and a simulator check, then the medical, a UK CAA Class 1.

What is the Virgin Atlantic simulator check like?

We found no published profile, device or duration, so prepare for the usual 30 to 60 minutes in a full flight simulator or a fixed-base device, flown as one of a two-pilot crew: a take-off, upper air work such as steep turns, a hold, an ILS to minimums with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure. Some assessments are flown on raw data with the autopilot, the flight director and often the autothrust off, and a type-rated candidate is judged on standard operating procedures as well as handling.

What does the Virgin Atlantic interview ask?

Expect competency questions about real past events, answered in the STAR structure, and questions particular to Virgin Atlantic: why Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow or Manchester, the Airbus type you fly now and its recency, and where you see yourself in five years, since there is no direct-entry Captain route. Your Level 6 English is on show in every answer, and RAF applicants should explain with real examples how their crew experience carries over to airline flying.

What technical questions should I prepare for Virgin Atlantic?

Your current Airbus type, explained rather than recited: the flight control laws, what changes after a reversion to alternate law, and alpha floor. Then the 787: its no-bleed architecture and the difference between hard and soft envelope protection. Then ATPL theory: V1, VR and V2, extended diversion time operations, low-visibility operations, METAR and TAF, and airspace.

Can military pilots join Virgin Atlantic?

Pilots from the RAF’s C-17, Voyager, Poseidon, Atlas, RC-135, Wedgetail and Envoy IV fleets have a route of their own. A military pilot on another type should ask Virgin Atlantic before relying on it. No direct-entry Captain route is offered.