Air Traffic Controller Tests

Air Traffic Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a cargo assistant. A colleague who is late for a meeting asks you to sign the document check on a consignment, saying he looked through the paperwork earlier and it was all in order. Your signature means you personally checked it. He has always been reliable, the consignment is waiting to move, and checking it yourself would take about ten minutes. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him you will take the ten minutes to go through the paperwork yourself, and sign the check afterwards once you have seen the documents with your own eyes.
   2. Decline to sign and suggest he finds somebody else on the shift to put their name to the check before he leaves for his meeting.
   3. Sign the check on the strength of what he has told you, since he has never been wrong about paperwork before and the consignment is holding up the bay.
   4. Ask him to confirm by email that he went through the documents himself, then sign the check citing his confirmation as the basis for it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell him you will take the ten minutes to go through the paperwork yourself, and sign the check afterwards once you have seen the documents with your own eyes.

   Least effective: C. Sign the check on the strength of what he has told you, since he has never been wrong about paperwork before and the consignment is holding up the bay.

   B: Passes the problem along: the same signature is still being sought without anyone reading the documents, and the next colleague meets the request with less reason to doubt it.

   C: Signs for work that was not done: the record now says the documents were checked by you, and anyone relying on it later has no way of knowing that nobody read them.

   D: Substitutes a colleague's word for the check itself: an email makes the shortcut traceable rather than undoing it, and the signature still asserts something you did not do.

   The most effective response is to tell him you will take the ten minutes to go through the paperwork yourself, and sign afterwards once you have seen the documents: your signature is a statement that you checked, ten minutes is a small price for making that statement true, and it costs the consignment very little. It beats asking him to confirm by email that he went through the documents and signing on that basis, because an email records who to blame rather than getting the documents read, and the signature still says something untrue. It beats declining and suggesting he finds somebody else to put their name to it, because that leaves the same unchecked paperwork looking for a signature, from someone with less reason to question it. The least effective response is signing on the strength of what he has told you: it puts your name to a check nobody performed, so the record is false and everything downstream is decided on it. That is worse than declining, which refuses, and worse than the email, which at least leaves a trail. The principle: sign only for what you did, and where that is inconvenient, do the work rather than redefining the signature.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a ticket desk agent. A passenger has just sworn at you across the desk about a fare rule and walked off before you could answer. You are shaken. The next passenger in the queue has stepped up and is waiting, and there are six people behind her. Nobody else saw exactly what was said. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take a few seconds to collect yourself, serve the next passenger as you normally would, and report what was said to your team leader at the end of the queue.
   2. Close the desk for ten minutes and step away, since being sworn at is not something anybody should be expected to carry straight into the next conversation.
   3. Tell the next passenger what has just happened and how you were spoken to, then work through the queue without mentioning the incident to anybody else at all.
   4. Carry on serving the queue and leave it there, since the passenger has gone, nothing came of it and reporting it would take longer than the incident lasted.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Take a few seconds to collect yourself, serve the next passenger as you normally would, and report what was said to your team leader at the end of the queue.

   Least effective: C. Tell the next passenger what has just happened and how you were spoken to, then work through the queue without mentioning the incident to anybody else at all.

   B: Takes ten minutes where seconds would do: a queue of seven waits and the row is a desk down, for an incident that was over as quickly as it started.

   C: Hands the incident to a customer and still leaves no record: she is asked to absorb the last passenger's behaviour, which is not hers to carry, and the abuse reaches nobody who could act on it.

   D: Leaves the abuse unrecorded: it is the record that lets anybody see whether this is happening often, at which desks, and to whom, and without it every instance is the first.

   The most effective response is to take a few seconds to collect yourself, serve the next passenger as you normally would, and report what was said to your team leader at the end of the queue: a few seconds is what you actually need, the queue is served by somebody composed, and reporting afterwards is what makes it visible rather than absorbed. It beats carrying on and leaving it there because the passenger has gone, since an unreported incident cannot show a pattern, and every one after it looks like the first. It beats closing the desk for ten minutes and stepping away, because that is a large response to something that was over in a moment. The least effective response is telling the next passenger what has just happened and how you were spoken to: it asks her to carry the last customer’s behaviour, which is not hers to carry. That is worse than the other two, which each carry one of those failings rather than both at once. The principle: take the seconds you need, serve the next person as though it had not happened, and report it so it is on the record.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are the only agent at the gate. Boarding must start now or the flight will miss its departure time and a hundred and eighty passengers will be delayed by an hour. At the same moment a passenger reaches the desk with a booking error that has to be corrected in the next two minutes or he cannot travel at all. The next gate is staffed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Correct the booking first, since two minutes is all it needs and the passenger loses his journey entirely if it is not done, then open boarding as soon as it is sorted.
   2. Open boarding and call the next gate for a spare pair of hands, then work on the booking error between scans while the queue keeps moving down the airbridge.
   3. Open boarding and send the passenger to the transfer desk in the terminal, since the flight has to go and his booking cannot be fixed while you are scanning boarding passes.
   4. Open boarding and deal with the passenger once the queue has gone through, without telling him that the correction has to be made in the next two minutes to be any use.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Open boarding and call the next gate for a spare pair of hands, then work on the booking error between scans while the queue keeps moving down the airbridge.

   Least effective: D. Open boarding and deal with the passenger once the queue has gone through, without telling him that the correction has to be made in the next two minutes to be any use.

   A: Spends the departure on one passenger: two minutes at the desk is the window boarding needed, so a hundred and eighty people lose an hour to save one man his flight.

   C: Sends him away from the only person who can help in time: the transfer desk is minutes away and he has two, so the flight leaves without him when it need not have.

   D: Lets him wait without the one fact he needs: he stands at the desk believing he is being helped, when the window in which anything could be done has already closed.

   The most effective response is to open boarding and call the next gate for a spare pair of hands, then work on the booking error between scans: boarding cannot wait, the booking cannot wait either, and the only way to have both is another person, which the next gate can supply in far less than two minutes. It beats correcting the booking first and opening boarding once it is sorted, because holding boarding for one correction costs a hundred and eighty people an hour. It beats sending the passenger to the transfer desk in the terminal, because that desk is further away than the time he has, so sending him is the same as refusing him. The least effective response is dealing with him once the queue has gone through, without telling him the correction has to be made in two minutes: he stands there believing he is being helped while the window quietly closes. That is worse than the other two, which both give him an honest answer about where he stands. The principle: when two things must happen at once, find the extra hands, and never let somebody wait on a chance that has already gone.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a turnaround coordinator. A loader from the handling company says sharply, in front of your whole team, that your paperwork is always late and that his crew are sick of standing around waiting for it. Today’s paperwork went across on time and you can show that. The two teams have to work the next four turnarounds together. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Catch him away from the group, ask which mornings he has in mind, and agree between you how and when the paperwork should reach his crew from now on.
   2. Answer him there and then with the times the paperwork went across this morning, so that the accusation is not left standing in front of your own team.
   3. Let it go without replying, and tell your own team afterwards that he is difficult to deal with and that they should come to you rather than speak to him directly.
   4. Report the way he spoke to you to his own supervisor, so that the handling company can deal with how their loaders address people from other teams on the ramp.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Catch him away from the group, ask which mornings he has in mind, and agree between you how and when the paperwork should reach his crew from now on.

   Least effective: C. Let it go without replying, and tell your own team afterwards that he is difficult to deal with and that they should come to you rather than speak to him directly.

   B: Wins the exchange in public: today's timings may be unanswerable, but the two teams have four more turnarounds together and he now has to back down in front of his crew.

   C: Talks about him instead of to him: the complaint is never tested, and the two teams are pushed further apart by a version of him that he never gets to answer.

   D: Escalates before speaking to him: it turns a bad-tempered remark into a complaint between two companies, and the question of whether the paperwork really has been late is never answered.

   The most effective response is to catch him away from the group, ask which mornings he has in mind, and agree how and when the paperwork should reach his crew: there may well be something real behind the complaint, asking is how you find out, and away from the audience he can say so without either of you losing face. It beats answering there and then with the times the paperwork went across this morning, because being right in front of both crews costs you the working relationship you need for the next four turnarounds. It beats reporting the way he spoke to you to his own supervisor, because that makes a formal matter of it while leaving the underlying question untouched. The least effective response is letting it go and telling your own team afterwards that he is difficult to deal with: it leaves the accusation unexamined and then briefs your team against him, so the two sides work four more turnarounds further apart than they started. That is worse than the other two, which both engage with the substance, however clumsily. The principle: take the disagreement to the person, in private, and find out whether the complaint is true before deciding how to answer it.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a turnaround coordinator. The cleaning team have told you they will finish about fifteen minutes later than planned, which means boarding cannot start on time. The gate agent is due to open the gate in five minutes and does not know. The cabin crew are already on board, and a colleague from another stand has just asked you out of interest how the turnaround is going. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say nothing for now and let the gate open on time, since the passengers will be walking down the airbridge while the cleaners are finishing and the two may well overlap.
   2. Wait until the cleaning supervisor gives you an exact finishing time, so that when you do tell the gate agent she can be given a firm minute to work to.
   3. Tell the gate agent now that boarding will be about fifteen minutes late, so that she can hold the gate and make an announcement before anybody queues.
   4. Tell the cabin crew first, since they are already on board and will want to know that the cleaners are running behind and boarding will be later than planned.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the gate agent now that boarding will be about fifteen minutes late, so that she can hold the gate and make an announcement before anybody queues.

   Least effective: A. Say nothing for now and let the gate open on time, since the passengers will be walking down the airbridge while the cleaners are finishing and the two may well overlap.

   A: Lets a queue build on a known problem: passengers end up standing in the airbridge because the one person who could have held the gate was not told by the one person who knew.

   B: Delays the decision: she opens the gate in five minutes, and an exact time that arrives after she has started boarding is worth less than a rough one that arrives before.

   D: Tells the people who are not about to act: the crew can do nothing with fifteen minutes' notice, while the gate agent is five minutes from opening a gate she should be holding.

   The most effective response is to tell the gate agent now that boarding will be about fifteen minutes late, so she can hold the gate and announce it before anybody queues: she is the only person in the scenario about to do something the delay changes, and she has five minutes in which knowing is still useful. It beats waiting until the cleaning supervisor gives you an exact finishing time, because an approximate figure now is worth more than an exact one after boarding has started. It beats telling the cabin crew first because they are already on board, since they cannot act on the news, so that spends the window on the wrong audience. The least effective response is saying nothing and letting the gate open on time: it lets a queue form in the airbridge over a problem you already knew about, and the people who could have prevented it were not told. That is worse than the other two, which pass the information on imperfectly rather than withholding it. The principle: tell the person who is about to act first, and tell them in time to act differently.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an operations coordinator, halfway through building tomorrow’s stand plan, which is due tonight. You are told that one flight has been retimed by two hours. That change affects several of the stands you have already assigned, and it also affects the ones you have not reached yet. Nobody else is working on the plan this evening. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Finish the plan the way you started it, then go back through and revise the stands the retiming affects once the whole thing is down on paper in front of you.
   2. Complete the plan on the original timings and leave a note for the morning team explaining that one flight has moved and the plan will need adjusting before it is used.
   3. Ask the person who told you about the retiming to confirm it in writing before you change anything, then carry on with the plan while you wait for their reply.
   4. Stop, apply the new timing to the stands you have already assigned, and then carry on building the rest of the plan around the corrected picture.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Stop, apply the new timing to the stands you have already assigned, and then carry on building the rest of the plan around the corrected picture.

   Least effective: B. Complete the plan on the original timings and leave a note for the morning team explaining that one flight has moved and the plan will need adjusting before it is used.

   A: Builds on an assumption known to be false: every stand you assign from here rests on the old timing, so the second pass has to undo work the first pass need never have done.

   B: Passes on a plan known to be wrong: the people who pick it up start from something you knew was untrue when you signed it off, with a note standing in for the work.

   C: Delays the decision: the plan is due tonight, and every minute spent waiting for confirmation is a minute spent assigning stands around a timing you have been told is wrong.

   The most effective response is to stop, apply the new timing to the stands you have already assigned, and then build the rest of the plan around the corrected picture: the retiming changes the assumptions behind everything still to be assigned, so applying it now means the second half is built once rather than twice. It beats finishing the plan the way you started and revising the affected stands afterwards, because every stand you assign in the meantime is placed against a timing you know has changed. It beats asking for written confirmation of the retiming before changing anything, because the plan is due tonight and waiting spends that time building around the old picture anyway. The least effective response is completing the plan on the original timings and leaving a note for the morning team: it hands them a plan its author knew to be wrong, with a note where the work should be. That is worse than the other two, which both intend to correct it themselves. The principle: when information arrives that changes the assumptions, apply it before you build anything else on top of them.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a check-in agent four hours into a day of heavy disruption. Passengers have been angry with you since the morning, none of it your doing, and you have two hours of your shift left. You can hear yourself becoming short with people at the desk, and the last passenger noticed it. There are three other agents working the row. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell your team leader that you need ten minutes away from the desk, take the break, and come back to the queue for the last part of your shift.
   2. Keep working the queue without a break, since the row is short-handed and stopping now would push more disrupted passengers onto the colleagues either side of you.
   3. Stay at the desk and let the sharpness show, on the basis that passengers who have spent the day shouting at staff can hardly complain about a short answer.
   4. Ask to be moved off the desk to back-office work for the rest of the shift, so that you are not dealing with disrupted passengers face to face again today.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell your team leader that you need ten minutes away from the desk, take the break, and come back to the queue for the last part of your shift.

   Least effective: C. Stay at the desk and let the sharpness show, on the basis that passengers who have spent the day shouting at staff can hardly complain about a short answer.

   B: Absorbs the strain until it shows: the queue keeps moving, but it is moving through somebody who has already started snapping, and the last two hours are the worst of the day.

   C: Passes the day's treatment on to the next passenger: the person in front of you has done nothing, and a member of staff deciding they have earned the right to be curt is the one version of this the airline cannot defend.

   D: Solves two hours by removing yourself for all of them: the row loses an agent at its busiest, when what the situation actually calls for is a short break.

   The most effective response is to tell your team leader you need ten minutes away from the desk, take the break, and come back for the last part of your shift: ten minutes is the smallest thing that fixes it, the row can absorb that far more easily than two hours, and saying so plainly is what makes it possible. It beats working the queue without a break because the row is short-handed, since that means the queue is served by somebody who has already started to snap, for the two hardest hours. It beats asking to be moved to back-office work for the rest of the shift, because that takes an agent out of a short-handed row when a break would have done. The least effective response is staying at the desk and letting the sharpness show: it decides that passengers have earned short treatment, so the day gets passed on to people who had no part in it. That is worse than the other two, which are poor answers to the pressure rather than an answer aimed at the customer. The principle: name what you need, take the smallest break that restores you, and never let the day come out on the next person in the queue.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a cargo assistant. A regular customer whose shipment is booked on tomorrow’s flight quietly offers you twenty pounds to move it onto this afternoon’s, which has space. Shipments are flown in the order they were booked, and three other customers are waiting on that space. The customer is friendly and treats the offer as a thank you. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take the note, move his shipment onto the afternoon flight, and treat the money as a customer thanking you for good service rather than as a payment for jumping the order.
   2. Refuse the money politely, explain that shipments fly in booking order, and leave it there without mentioning the offer to your supervisor afterwards.
   3. Decline the money, explain that the booking order decides which shipment flies, and tell your supervisor afterwards that the offer was made so it is on record.
   4. Turn down the money but tell him you will see what you can do about the afternoon flight, then leave the booking as it is when the space is allocated later on.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Decline the money, explain that the booking order decides which shipment flies, and tell your supervisor afterwards that the offer was made so it is on record.

   Least effective: A. Take the note, move his shipment onto the afternoon flight, and treat the money as a customer thanking you for good service rather than as a payment for jumping the order.

   A: Sells a place in the queue: three customers who booked earlier lose space they were entitled to, and the reason they lost it is one that cannot be written on any record.

   B: Handles it privately: the right answer is given to this customer, but nobody else learns that cash is being offered at the counter, so the next colleague meets it unprepared.

   D: Over-promises to avoid the awkwardness: it lets the customer leave believing he may have bought something, and the refusal he was owed is never actually given.

   The most effective response is to decline the money, explain that the booking order decides which shipment flies, and tell your supervisor afterwards that the offer was made: the offer is refused, the reason is a rule the customer can hear without embarrassment, and the record means the airline knows cash was offered at its counter. It beats refusing politely and leaving it there without mentioning it, because a refusal that stops with you leaves the next colleague to meet the same offer cold, with no record that it is happening. It beats turning down the money but saying you will see what you can do about the afternoon flight, because that vague assurance leaves him thinking the money may still work, which is a refusal in name only. The least effective response is taking the note and moving his shipment onto the afternoon flight: it accepts the payment and reorders the queue for it, so three earlier bookings lose out for a reason that appears nowhere. That is dishonesty rather than an awkward conversation handled badly, which is what separates it from the other two. The principle: decline plainly, and tell somebody, because the second half is what protects everyone else.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a cabin crew member. At the end of the last sector a colleague hands you one of the unsold sandwiches, saying the whole tray is about to be thrown away and that everybody takes one. The airline’s rule is that unsold stock is disposed of and not taken by crew. Nobody else is in the galley and the tray really is going in the bin. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say no thank you and put it back on the tray, and leave the question of what other people do out of it, since it is not your business what the rest of the crew take.
   2. Take the sandwich, since the tray is going in the bin either way and a rule about disposing of food nobody is going to eat is not one that really matters.
   3. Accept it and note it in the galley record as stock taken by crew, so that at least what happened is written down and the count still adds up.
   4. Decline the sandwich, and ask the senior crew member whether the disposal rule could be looked at, since the tray is wasted on every sector and the crew clearly think it is silly.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Decline the sandwich, and ask the senior crew member whether the disposal rule could be looked at, since the tray is wasted on every sector and the crew clearly think it is silly.

   Least effective: B. Take the sandwich, since the tray is going in the bin either way and a rule about disposing of food nobody is going to eat is not one that really matters.

   A: Declines quietly and stops there: the rule and the practice remain a long way apart, and nobody who could close that gap ever learns it exists.

   B: Decides which rules count: the reasoning would excuse taking anything due for disposal, and the fact that everybody does it is what keeps anybody from looking at it.

   C: Records a breach as though recording made it allowed: the rule says disposed of, so the entry is a note of the rule being broken rather than an authorisation.

   The most effective response is to decline the sandwich and ask the senior crew member whether the disposal rule could be looked at: declining keeps you the right side of a rule that exists whatever the crew think of it, and raising it is the only route by which a rule everybody quietly ignores gets either enforced or changed. It beats saying no thank you and leaving the question of what other people do out of it, because a private refusal leaves the gap between the rule and the practice exactly where it was. It beats accepting it and noting it in the galley record as stock taken by crew, because writing it down does not make it permitted, it just records the breach. The least effective response is taking the sandwich because the tray is going in the bin either way: it decides the rule does not really count, and the reason it feels safe is that everybody does it. That is worse than the other two, which both stay inside the rule or at least declare the departure. The principle: do not quietly break a rule you think is wrong; decline it and ask for it to be changed.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are one of four in a baggage hall team. Every shift, one colleague gets to the tracing desk first and spends the day there in the warm, leaving the hall work to the other three. Nobody has said anything to him and the other two grumble about it to each other. There is no rota: the desk has always been whoever sits down at it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Get to the tracing desk before him at the start of the next few shifts, so that he finds out what the hall is like when somebody else has taken the comfortable job.
    2. Suggest at the next team briefing that the tracing desk should run on a rota, without mentioning him, so that the arrangement changes without anybody being singled out.
    3. Say to him directly that the desk has fallen to him every shift and ask whether the four of you should take it in turns, treating it as a question rather than a complaint.
    4. Ask the team leader to put a rota in place for the tracing desk, since the way the work is shared out is properly a matter for whoever runs the shift.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Say to him directly that the desk has fallen to him every shift and ask whether the four of you should take it in turns, treating it as a question rather than a complaint.

    Least effective: A. Get to the tracing desk before him at the start of the next few shifts, so that he finds out what the hall is like when somebody else has taken the comfortable job.

    A: Answers the problem by copying it: it settles nothing about how the desk is shared, and turns an unspoken irritation into something the whole team can see being done deliberately.

    B: Raises it around the person: the change may well happen, but he hears it as a rule aimed at somebody unnamed and never learns that the team has been unhappy for months.

    D: Escalates before asking: four colleagues can agree a rota between them in a minute, and going to the team leader makes a supervised arrangement out of an ordinary conversation.

    The most effective response is to say to him directly that the desk has fallen to him every shift and ask whether the four of you should take it in turns: nobody has actually told him, the habit may be nothing more than habit, and putting it as a question gives him an easy way to agree. It beats suggesting at the next briefing that the desk should run on a rota without mentioning him, because a rota proposed to the room leaves him unaware the team has been unhappy, so the same thing recurs in the next arrangement nobody has spelt out. It beats asking the team leader to put a rota in place, because four people can settle this between them without a supervisor writing it down. The least effective response is getting to the tracing desk before him at the start of the next few shifts: it takes the desk to make a point, so the team watches a silent contest and the question of how the work is shared is never asked. That is worse than the other two, which both aim at an arrangement everyone can see. The principle: say the unsaid thing to the person, plainly and without accusation, before reaching for a rule or a manager.