PSY2 Air France: what to expect

At Air France, pilot selection runs through a series of stages known by shorthand names: PSY0 for cadets' online pre-selection, PSY1 for the day of psychotechnical and psychomotor testing, and PSY2 for the final phase. All candidates on PSY1's main list are called forward to PSY2, as are those on the reserve list, depending on the airline's needs.

PSY2 takes place at Air France's selection department, in the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle area. Timelines reported by candidates on the professional (ab initio) track in 2024 and 2025 run from application in October, to PSY1 in December, to PSY2 in April, to results in July. These dates don't appear on the official pages consulted and may change from one recruitment campaign to the next. According to candidate accounts, each stage passed remains valid for two years.

According to Air France's “Airline Pilot” page, PSY2 comprises two personality inventories, a group exercise and an individual interview. The company's brochure, which is shorter, mentions only the group exercises and the interview. Candidates sign a confidentiality agreement covering the group exercises, which explains why exact details rarely circulate.

Candidates generally describe the day running as follows: two questionnaires — one on personality, the other on behavioural profile — completed on arrival; group exercises scored against a grid by a panel that observes without intervening; then an individual interview with an airline pilot and a psychologist. These are candidate accounts, not an official description: the order and duration of each part may vary.

The Air France pages consulted give no details on the content of these questionnaires, nor on how they're used. So you can't “revise” for them like a course topic, and it would be unwise to hunt for the “right” answers. What does help is answering honestly and staying consistent from one questionnaire to the next, and with what you say later in the interview.

A personality questionnaire has no right or wrong answers in the multiple-choice sense — it describes tendencies. It's better to know your own than to play a part, because sooner or later the interview will ask you to illustrate who you are with real-life examples.

The group exercises are scored by a panel that observes: it assesses how well you work together more than the solution you reach. What matters is listening, proposing a method, managing time, responding to new information, and drawing others in, without being passive or domineering.

The Air France pages consulted don't detail exactly how these exercises run. ForAllPilots' simulator reproduces a group-exercise format, with five minutes to read a confidential brief, forty-five minutes of discussion, and a “flash” piece of information introduced on the harder topics — but this isn't the official format. A dedicated guide covers the method in detail: “Pilot Group Exercise: The Method”.

According to candidates, the interview with an airline pilot and a psychologist focuses little on technical knowledge. It explores your background, the consistency of your choices, your motivation, your strengths and areas for improvement, backed by concrete examples. Candidates are also asked whether they prepared for it.

The best preparation is genuine self-reflection: why you want to be a pilot, why this airline, which experiences show your strengths and your limits. Prepare a few specific real-life situations, including one where you failed or changed your mind, rather than a rehearsed speech. ForAllPilots' Selection Coaching offers a simulated written interview with an AI panel, currently in beta: it's practice for shaping your answers, and it offers no guarantee whatsoever of the outcome of a real selection process.

A recruitment board then decides between admission and deferral. On the professional track, candidates report that the board may send some of them to the simulator after PSY2, on an A320, flying from raw data. The final decision is made by the board, followed by the Class 1 medical examination.

A deferral at PSY2 isn't necessarily final. For cadets, Air France states that it gives candidates another chance, within a timeframe set by the board, of either one or two years depending on the case. On the professional track, since 1 January 2025, two deferrals at PSY2 mean elimination from the process. Candidates also say a phone debrief is offered after a failed attempt, and you can request your results under your right of access to personal data.

Air France states that, in its view, paid group-exercise coaching has shown no added value in its selections. Candidates are divided: some recommend structured preparation, whether through an association or paid coaching, while others consider it pointless. Above all, remember that what you can genuinely prepare is your self-knowledge and your way of working in a group.

A simple plan: a few weeks beforehand, write out your background and motivations, practise telling three or four real-life situations, run through several group sessions — alone with simulated candidates or with others — and review the debriefs afterwards. These are training exercises, not the official tests: ForAllPilots is independent of Air France, and the real rules may differ or change. Re-read the official page before every application.