AirAsia’s new Gimmick: turning Bloggers into Pilots

With several budget airlines appearing in the headlines lately, they are coming up with more new and innovative stunts to pull in the crowd. Now this new one will definitely catch you wide-eyed and salivating!

Malaysia’s top budget airline AirAsia has launched a contest, ‘So You Wanna be a Pilot?’, opened to the public, giving 10 contestants to live their dreams in the sky. As quoted on AirAsia’s online blog, Just blog and be a Pilot. Simple rules right?

All contestants need to do is to send in a blog entry from 1 April 2009 to 15 May 2009 and convince AirAsia why they deserve this opportunity! No experience or training is necessary. Obviously the contestants must meet a set of minimum requirements, as set by the Department of Civil Aviation and AirAsia standards for pilot acceptance.

10 winners will be selected, entitling them to attend the first round of selection for AirAsia’s new pilot intake program and spend a day with a select group of pilots at AirAsia Academy. A place in the pilot training program is not guaranteed, but applicants will have a chance to dig further into the profession and maybe even have a go at computer pilot simulation series. But this is still a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all those who dream of flying in the skies.

These are the criteria of the contest:

1. Competition is open to all from aged 18 to 28 as at date of submission of entry
2. Passed SPM (or its equivalent that is recognized by the Malaysian Government) with at least A2 in English and Mathematics and B3 in Physics taken at one sitting. (Those from the Arts stream should have at least an A2 in General Science); or possess a Diploma/Degree in Engineering or Science-related disciplines with CGPA 3.0 and above and at SPM level scored at least a B4 in the subjects mentioned above taken in one sitting.
3. Good command of English and Bahasa Malaysia both written and spoken.
4. Must be physically and mentally fit with good eyesight (visual acuity of at least 6/60 without optical aid, correctable to 6/6 and not colour blind. Should be able to successfully pass a medical examination up to a Class 1 standard conducted by a Department of Civil Aviation Authorised Medical Examiner (DAME).
5. Minimum height of 163 cm (5ft 3in).
6. Be prepared to sign a training bond with a surety.

Check out more details on AirAsia’s blog here.

Contact blogteam@airasia.com for more details.

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