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

Last updated: 31 October 2026

WestJet hires its First Officers into two airlines with two sets of minimums: the mainline, which flies Boeing 737s and 787-9s, from 2,000 hours with a Transport Canada ATPL, and WestJet Encore, which flies the Dash 8-400 from Calgary, from 750 hours, 100 of them in command, with a CPL and the IATRA exam or the ATPL’s SAMRA and SARON. Neither asks for a type rating, and both want Canadian citizenship or permanent residence. WestJet publishes little about its selection beyond one promise on its pilot careers page: your first and final pilot interview, because once you are hired into the WestJet Group, fleet moves and upgrades are honored by seniority. This guide sets out what the postings ask for, line by line, then prepares you for what WestJet names and what a preparation site and older candidate reports describe: a review of your documents, an interview, a simulator session and the checks before an offer is final.

Note for Encore applicants: the interview you pass for WestJet Encore is, in WestJet’s words, your first and final one in the Group. WestJet’s careers page calls Encore a great place to begin your career, with the opportunity to progress to the mainline as you gain experience, and lists a Pilot-in-Command Under Supervision program there. Prepare it as the interview that has to carry your whole career with WestJet.

At the last check, on 15 October 2026, WestJet’s job boards showed a mainline B737 First Officer posting dated 14 October 2026, with no closing date shown, and a WestJet Encore Q400 First Officer posting at Calgary open until 1 December 2026; WestJet’s pilot careers page, read again on 31 October 2026, gave the same minimums, bases and fleets. We found no direct-entry Captain route for the mainline; the careers page lists Encore Direct Entry Captains from 2,000 hours, with no dated vacancy. Check the airline pilot jobs board for the current position.

About WestJet

WestJet’s mainline pilots are based at Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal, and fly the Boeing 737-700, 737-800 and 737-8 MAX and the 787-9, on a network that WestJet’s careers page says includes transatlantic, transpacific and Caribbean destinations. WestJet Encore’s pilots are based in Calgary and fly the De Havilland Dash 8-400 (Q400). WestJet’s pilot careers page, read again on 31 October 2026, sets out both, with the minimums of each.

The fleet is changing. In September 2025 WestJet placed its largest order, 60 Boeing 737-10s with options for 25 more and seven 787-9s with options for four more (WestJet newsroom, 3 September 2025), and in September 2026 it began retiring its 737-700s, selling 27 of them to FTAI, 17 of which it leases back for a transitional period (Airdata News, 28 September 2026). For a new mainline First Officer, that makes the 737 the type of the posting and the 787-9 the long-haul fleet beside it. WestJet’s careers page gives the mainline’s minimums for First Officers only and lists Direct Entry Captains, from 2,000 hours, at Encore alone; we found no direct-entry Captain route for the mainline, so expect to join it in the right-hand seat.

What the postings ask for

Both postings add conditions that decide an application late rather than early: a clear criminal record and background check, a Restricted Area Identity Card, the pass for the restricted areas of Canadian airports, obtained before the end of initial ground school, an offer conditional on a pre-employment alcohol and drug test, and the visas or travel documents to travel without restriction to WestJet’s destinations, which the mainline posting makes your own responsibility. During recruitment you show your Transport Canada aviation document booklet, logbooks, licensing record and licensing verification letter, so put them in order before you apply.

Read the hours as the postings count them. The mainline posting has a line that reads “minimum 500 hours fixed-wing multi-engine time and multi-crew experience is preferred”, which we could not settle as a requirement or a preference, and it warns that applications may exceed the vacancies, so the preferred extras are what move an application up. At Encore, the 100 hours in command must be on fixed-wing aircraft, and a First Officer who joins with a CPL has the Pilot-in-Command Under Supervision program ahead; our WestJet pilot requirements page explains how its hours count toward the ATPL.

What sets WestJet apart for a pilot

• Two doors into one Group. Encore from 750 hours with a CPL, the mainline from 2,000 hours with an ATPL. Apply through the one your logbook meets today.
• One interview. WestJet’s careers page promises “your first and final pilot interview”: once you are hired into the Group, fleet moves and upgrades are honored by seniority.
• Your base at the offer. The same page promises clarity on placement: you know your base at the time of offer.
• No type rating needed. Neither posting asks for one; job boards’ copies of the postings describe the rating as part of new-hire training.
• Canadian status, already held. Citizenship or permanent residence. WestJet dropped a 2025 plan to hire Encore pilots on temporary work permits, as the requirements page sets out.
• Schedules not decided by seniority. WestJet uses a non-seniority-based bidding system for schedules and standby travel, so pilots off reserve typically get what they bid for (WestJet’s pilot careers page). At many North American airlines, seniority decides line bidding instead (the Library’s airline pilot ranks, seniority and scheduling).
• More applicants than seats. The mainline posting says so itself.

The selection stages

WestJet publishes no list of selection stages. What its pilot careers page and the two postings say: you apply on WestJet’s job board; during recruitment you show your Transport Canada aviation document booklet, logbooks, licensing record and licensing verification letter; there is a pilot interview, your first and final one in the Group; and an offer is conditional on a pre-employment alcohol and drug test and a clear criminal record and background check, with a Restricted Area Identity Card to obtain before the end of initial ground school.

The rest comes from others, and it is labeled as such here. A preparation site does not agree with itself: its WestJet recruitment page, checked by its authors on 3 October 2026, says WestJet does not publish its assessment stages, yet also says an aptitude battery screens applications before anyone reads them, and an older version of the same page, still in search results on 31 October 2026, described a one-day assessment in Calgary with an interview and a simulator session (RotatePilot). Candidate reports on Glassdoor, which we could read only in search results, are old: accounts from 2017 describe a face-to-face interview with one HR representative and one pilot, followed by a written technical test, and one from 2013 describes that test as mostly multiple choice. We found no recent first-hand account, so prepare for each stage below without counting on its format (the Library’s guide to airline pilot recruitment and selection describes each kind).

The simulator session

WestJet publishes no simulator profile, device or duration, and the only description of a simulator stage we found is in the older version of the preparation site’s page above, still in search results. In the Library’s description of the airline simulator assessment, such a session 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 takeoff, upper air work such as steep turns, a hold, an ILS with a missed approach, and sometimes an engine failure. Because neither posting asks for a type rating, the device may be a type you have never flown.

What to practice

• 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. Practice level-offs, steep turns and hand-flown ILS approaches without the flight director, with the scan centered on the attitude indicator (see instrument scan technique).
• A control column. The 737 and the 787 are both flown with a control wheel and column (see the 787 flight controls), and in manual flight on the 737 the pilot trims the stabilizer with the switches on the control wheel (see pitch control and stabilizer trim). If you come from a sidestick, make small inputs, trim often and fly the numbers.
• Both roles. Where the check is flown as a crew, the pilot monitoring is assessed too: standard callouts, checklists and 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).
• From a single-pilot cockpit. Encore takes First Officers from 750 hours, and many of them will be mostly single-pilot hours. Practice flying as one of a crew of two, with callouts and a shared workload, before the session (the Library’s multi-crew cooperation courses covers what the crew side adds).

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

WestJet’s careers page calls it your first and final pilot interview, and that changes how to prepare. An Encore First Officer who later moves to the mainline does so by seniority, not through a second interview, so the panel is judging the pilot you will be in ten years as well as the one in front of it. Show that you understand the path: why Encore or the mainline is the right door for your experience now, and what you hope to do with a career in the Group.

The material is the same as for most airline interviews. Competency questions ask 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.

The candidate reports we found are old and could be read only in search results: Glassdoor accounts from 2017 describe a relaxed face-to-face interview with one HR representative and one pilot representative, followed by a written technical test, and one from 2013 describes that test as mostly multiple choice. Expect the format to have changed since, and prepare both the competency side and the technical side.

Questions particular to WestJet

• Why WestJet? Three specific reasons that are true for both sides, such as the fleet, the network or the culture WestJet describes when it asks you to “become a WestJetter, not an employee”. Not led by pay, and never a criticism of your present employer.
• Encore or the mainline? Know the minimums of both, and the difference between flying the Q400 from Calgary and the 737 or the 787 from six bases. Show that you are applying through the door your logbook meets, and what you hope the path brings.
• Your base. You know your base at the time of offer, so have an honest answer about the bases you would accept and how you would report on time, every time, from each.
• Schedules and reserve. WestJet’s bidding is not by seniority. Its careers page describes short-call and long-call reserve lines on the mainline, at most 16 days a month (18 on a reserve line), and no dedicated reserve-only lines at Encore, at most 17 days a month for at least six scheduling periods a year. Know what you are signing up for.
• Where you come from. Whether you instruct, fly charter, fly for a CAR 705 airline or come from the military, expect to explain what that flying taught you that carries over to a multi-crew airline; the mainline posting prefers CAR 705 time.
• Your record. Both postings run a criminal record and background check and ask that you can travel without restriction to WestJet’s destinations, so declare everything, and know every figure in your logbook before the panel does.

Prepare two or three questions of your own about training, the path from Encore or the first year on the line, not about leave or pay.

Technical questions

A technical interview generally covers three things: the type you fly now, theory asked as open questions, and operational scenarios you talk through, such as a pressurization failure in the cruise. Start with your current type, then add the types of the door you are applying through: the 737 and the 787 for the mainline, the Q400 for Encore. The bar is explaining why a system works the way it does, not reciting what it does. If you do not know an answer, 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 (the Library’s technical questions in airline interviews).

737 questions to practice

1. What changed from the 737 NG to the MAX: the engines, the displays and the flight controls? (see 737 NG and 737 MAX differences and the 737 NG to MAX course)
2. What do the two STAB TRIM cutout switches do, and what did MCAS add to the pitch system of the MAX? (see pitch control and stabilizer trim and the 737 NG to MAX module on MCAS and stabilizer trim)
3. Systems A, B and standby: what does each hydraulic system power, and what is left if A and B are both lost? (see the 737 hydraulic system)

787 questions, for the long-haul fleet

1. The 787 has almost no bleed air: what pressurizes the cabin, protects the wing against ice and starts the engines instead? (see the 787 no-bleed architecture)
2. Extended diversion time operations for twin-engined airplanes: the threshold time, the entry point and critical fuel (see ETOPS)
3. Crossing the North Atlantic: what is the strategic lateral offset procedure, and which way may you offset? (see oceanic and North Atlantic operations)

Q400 questions, for Encore

There is no Dash 8 bank on v1prep, so revise the Q400 from its own manuals; the Library covers the principles underneath, and the other airlines that fly the Dash 8 are on our page of turboprop pilot jobs.

1. Why is the propeller of a failed engine feathered, and what does a constant-speed unit do to a windmilling propeller first? (see propellers and propeller control)
2. How does a pneumatic de-icing boot remove ice, and what is ice bridging? (see de-icing boots and fluid ice protection)

A Canadian winter, and the theory underneath

1. Ground de-icing: when does the holdover time start, and what happens if it runs out before takeoff? (see aircraft ground de-icing and anti-icing)
2. On a very cold day, is the aircraft higher or lower than the altimeter reads, and by roughly how much? (see cold weather operations)
3. V1, VR and V2, and what V1 commits you to (see takeoff speeds)
4. Decode a METAR and TAF (drill it with our ATPL meteorology questions)

What v1prep has for WestJet’s fleet

Where WestJet candidates go wrong

1. Applying through the wrong door. The mainline asks for 2,000 hours and a Transport Canada ATPL; Encore for 750 hours, 100 of them in command, and a CPL with the IATRA or the SAMRA and SARON exams.
2. Counting hours loosely. Encore’s 100 hours in command are on fixed-wing aircraft, and the mainline posting has its own line on multi-engine and multi-crew time; total your logbook the way each posting counts it (the Library’s pilot CV and application covers the flight hours table).
3. Applying without Canadian status. Citizenship or permanent residence is required, and WestJet dropped its 2025 work-permit plan.
4. Letting the exams lapse. Encore wants the IATRA, or the SAMRA and SARON, valid until the pilot proficiency check.
5. Treating it as the first of several interviews. WestJet calls it your first and final pilot interview in the Group, so there is no later interview to make up ground in.
6. Papers that do not match. Your document booklet, logbooks, licensing record and licensing verification letter are reviewed during recruitment; a figure that differs from your application raises a question you do not want.
7. Leaning on the automatics. If the simulator session is flown on raw data, a pilot who has not hand-flown an approach without a flight director for years will show it.
8. An undeclared record. Both postings run a criminal record and background check and an alcohol and drug test before the offer is final. 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 WestJet’s selection. What is known:

Plan for a range, not a date. While you wait, keep flying, keep your Category 1 and Group 1 instrument rating current, keep your Canadian exams valid, and keep your theory sharp.

WestJet pilot recruitment: common questions

The hours, license, medical and status rules are on our WestJet pilot requirements page; the questions below are about the selection itself.

What is the WestJet pilot selection process?

WestJet publishes no list of stages. Its postings name an online application on its job board, a review of your Transport Canada aviation document booklet, logbooks, licensing record and licensing verification letter, a pilot interview, which its careers page calls your first and final one in the Group, and an offer conditional on an alcohol and drug test and a criminal record and background check. A preparation site’s current WestJet page says WestJet does not publish its stages, though an older version still in search results in October 2026 described an assessment in Calgary with an interview and a simulator session, and candidate reports from 2017 describe an interview with an HR representative and a pilot.

Is there a simulator assessment at WestJet?

WestJet’s own pages name none, and we found no current source that describes one: an older version of a preparation site’s WestJet page, still in search results in October 2026, described a simulator session in Calgary, but the current page says WestJet does not publish its assessment stages. Prepare for the usual shape without counting on it: a briefing on the numbers to fly, upper air work, a hold, an ILS with a missed approach and sometimes an engine failure, often flown by hand as one of a two-pilot crew, possibly on a type you have never flown, since no type rating is asked for.

What does the WestJet pilot interview ask?

Expect competency questions about real past events, answered in your own words, and questions particular to WestJet: why WestJet, why Encore or the mainline at your experience, the base you would accept, and how you see a career in the Group, since this is your only pilot interview there. Candidate reports from 2013 and 2017, read in search results, describe an interview with an HR representative and a pilot and a written technical test; we found no recent first-hand account.

Do WestJet Encore pilots interview again to fly for the mainline?

No. WestJet’s pilot careers page promises your first and final pilot interview: once you have been hired into the WestJet Group, fleet moves and upgrades are honored by seniority, and it calls Encore a great place to begin your career, with the opportunity to progress to the mainline as you gain experience. We could not confirm the terms of that move beyond seniority.

When do you find out your base at WestJet?

At the offer. WestJet’s pilot careers page promises clarity on placement: you know your base at the time of offer. The mainline bases are Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal, and WestJet Encore’s base is Calgary; the mainline B737 posting of October 2026 gave its location only as Canada.