I recently attended a Horizon Airlines interview session. The general format was pretty much along the lines of previous postings on this website - Thank you Will fly for food!

I've recently gone on several commuter interviews, and received offers at 3 out of four, and almost blew this interview off. I'm glad I didn't- this company seems to be the most organized, efficient and professional of all the interviews attended. The profiles, interviews, etc. are all as previously posted on this website. I was offered a job in either the Dash 8 or Fokker Jet (F28). You know which one I picked!

Thanks again, Will fly for food!

Arrived at Horizon ops building at PDX @ 10:30 for 11:00 interview. Signed in at front desk, asked to sit down. Within 5 minutes, Kim Powers came out and introduced herself to me, and showed me to the break room where I took all my stuff with me to. There were 3 other pilots waiting there for 10:00 and 10:30 show times.

In another 10 minutes, Sharon came and got me. We went over my paperwork. I had prepared copies of everything (medical, licenses, FCC license, etc.) but she said she still needed to make their own copies. Did like having everything typed and copies of everything like DD 214, transcripts, etc.

She asked me questions like "What got you interested in flying?", "Why Horizon?", "Describe yourself to me in 3 words", "What makes you unique that we'd hire you over another person?", "Can you work any shift?", "Where would you like to be based?"

That part didn't take too long. Shown back to the break room. Lamar Haugaard, chief pilot, was walking toward the breakroom to get me at the same time, instant hand-off.

In Lamar's office. He asked what got me interested in flying, my flying background. Talked Army aviation for a bit. Asked me a lot of the same questions sharon did, "Why Horizon", "Why you over someone else"? "What do you do extra-curricularly outside of flying for fun?" He is a VERY nice person. He went through my logbooks, mostly (only, actually) at the last parts to see what type of flying I'd been doing recently. After chatting for almost 20 minutes (REAL lay-back. No technical questions, we had a lot in common). Showed back to the break room.

10 minutes later, Lamar came and got one of the other applicants, who was sent home. That applicant was older (probably 50) and came from a corporate background, mostly King Air's. He asked a LOT of questions about the training contract (2 or 3 year committment), and was determined by the staff that he wouldn't stay.

The rest of us were sent upstairs after meeting Aaron (who is mentioned elsewhere as an F-28 FO), a DHC-8 Captain who would run the sim portion. They fed us lunch, and took the 50-question written, while we took turns going to the sim. the written is out of the ATP practical test, with a bonus last essay question "why do you want to work for Horizon"?

The simulator: Very straight forward. Speeds were Vr 90 (kts), climb 120, cruise and hold at 180. Gear speed 160. Final approach speed and DO NOT EVER GET SLOWER THAN speed of 120.

Start at PDX. River 6 departure 10R, climb and maintain 3000, arc North at 6 DME. Freeze. Due North of Laker NDB. Hold Southeast on the 330 degree bearing TO the station (yes, to, not from). Left turns. EFC in like 20 minutes. It was a teardrop entry and was already on the outbound heading for it.

After the first time I'd passed the fix and was on the outbound of the hold (don't forget to tell departure you've entered the hold and what time), he froze it.

Northwest of Laker. Cleared for the NDB 28R approach. By the way, winds were out of the North to North east, probably at about 20 knots. Briefed myself for the approach, released for flight. Flew the approach. I corrected the wrong way after the final approach fix, costing me the job. Standard missed approach (climbing right turn to 4000 and tracking inbound on the BTG 160 radial). Froze.

Cleared for the ILS 28R approach (there is no runway in the sim for that approach, I already knew that so was prepared for the missed, although there is a runway on 10R and you'll break out right at mins either way). Was already receiving the lOC & GS when released, quickly dropped flaps (to 50%) and gear, 120 approach speed. Went missed, applied full power, and broke out on the power up. Froze. Then for "extra credit" he wanted me to land the plane as it's easier for him to reset the sim when it's on the ground.

That was it. Then we waited around for over 3 hours before we got the news in the break room. Only 1 was hired that day, I wasn't due to NDB approach, but was asked to come back soon.

Most of the information from the 6/98 interview posted above is accurate, so I will try to enhance that information and see if I can remember some of the specific questions on the written and the exact sim profile.

There were 6 interviewees this day. They really look for people from the Pacific NW or those with Alaska time. All but one in my group had these qualifications. Average flight times seemed to be around 2000 tt with 600-1000 multi-engine- a Navajo Pilot, a Tri-Lander pilot, a couple Twin Otter pilots, and a couple misc. piston twin pilots.

Phase one: A brief interview with the turbo-pro chief pilot, Lamar Haugaard, and assistant chief pilot Terry Allen. A very informal get to know you type interview. Very nice guys. This is your chance to convince them that Horizon is the only one for you, that you wouldn¹t think of living anywhere but the Pacific NW, and that you have extensive customer service experience to bring to Horizon.

Next: a standard human resources interview. Mine was with Sharon, head of Flight Attendant recruitment. She¹s an extremely nice person, and you won¹t feel a bit of nervousness speaking with her. "Why do you want to work for Horizon? Why should we hire you over the other applicants? How do you handle conflict in the workplace? Tell me about a recent conflict with a co-worker. How¹d you handle it? How do you keep your energy level high for a long day of work? Do you smoke? What would your employer say about your personality and work ethic? What you know about Horizon Air? What¹s your definition of a professional pilot? Where do you see yourself in 5 yrs?" There¹s a really good book at Barnes and Noble called the Complete Q&A Job Interview that really helped prepare for these questions.

Once again, come up with some extensive customer service history and spend a good amount of time telling them about it, and how you are better qualified than the rest because of it. Believe me, it worked!

Next, a long break and then lunch while the simulator evaluator briefs the sim check and hands out written tests. 48 questions out of the ATP book and two on the company. Who¹s the CEO? (George Bagley) Where is the corporate headquarters? (Seattle, not Portland!) There was not a single question on weather except one about decoding a pilot report listing cloud bases and layers. There are three Beech 1900 weight and balance questions. They take a long time so make sure you¹re proficient. (or better yet, memorize the answers out of the ATP book) What are ILS Cat. IIIA minimums? (700 RVR, I believe) What does the Microwave Landing System provide? (Azimuth, distance, and elevation) GPWS is required in what aircraft? ( all turbine aircraft) Crewmember flight time limitations apply to what kind of flying? (answer: all commercial flying as a crewmember) Three questions about the tops of Class C, E, and A airspace. Maximum error on a VOR check? Until captain has 100 hours in type, approach minimums are raised by how much? (100 ft. and 1/2 mile) Max airspeed in class B airspace? Max holding speeds? Class E VFR cloud clearance requirements? IFR malfunction reports? When must flight recorder be on? Flag carrier duty time in 7 day period? (32 hours) If marginal weather at destination and alternate, simply list another alternate. Flag carrier- flight needs to be re-dispatched if on the ground for more than one hour. VFR on top rules. (maintain VFR altitudes and cloud clearances, and observe all other IFR regs.) Turbine aircraft: maximum range with headwind or tailwind? Question on angle of attack/lift. What if ATC assigns a speed you cannot use? (advise of speed that will be used) Two questions on H.S.I. interpretation. This should help you ace the test, although the Chief Pilot did make a comment on re-writing it soon to make it a bit harder. (Bummer!)

Simulator: Frasca 142 simulator set up like either a very high performance piston twin or perhaps a King Air C90. Climbs at about 1500 fpm, cruise at 180, climb and approach at 120. Gear and flap speed 150. Very easy to nail proper airspeed. Just set power and leave it alone. Here¹s the exact profile I got. You may get either Eugene or Portland, but it doesn¹t matter. On runway 16 at Eugene. Clearance: Climb and maintain 3000. Fly runway hdg. to 1000, then turn to intercept the 210 radial outbound. Contact departure through 1000. Intercept the 5 DME arc and arc west. You¹ll arc through about 70 degrees and then he freezes the sim. You¹re repositioned and told to proceed direct to the NDB and given holding instructions. The sim is frozen, and before he restarts it you are given time to sketch out your holding entry. Take this time and use it to your advantage. At least one guy this day did not pass the sim because of the wrong entry! By the way, the wind is blowing at about 15-20 kts. and you must figure out where it¹s coming from to compensate properly. After holding, you¹re frozen again and get cleared direct to the NDB for the full approach including procedure turn. You must make it to the airport on course because passing the middle marker is the M.A.P. Fly the published miss, then you¹re frozen one more time and repositioned for a vectored ILS to minimums. Once again you¹re given time to set up the radios and study the chart while the sim is frozen. I think this shows that they really want you to pass! Fly the ILS to minimums and you¹re done. They have a sheet you are graded on. There are ten areas, with the scale being 0-10 points per area. Some of the ones I remember are: Scan, smoothness of control, situational awareness, communications, organization, DME arc, hold, NDB approach, and ILS approach,. They grade pretty hard. I think the highest score this day was an 80, with a couple in the seventies and some in the sixties. (you need a 70 to pass) Two, maybe three guys got job offers. Two busted the sim, and one was sent home after the morning interview with the chief pilots. The great thing is that they offer you a job that afternoon or tell you you didn¹t make it. No waiting for that dreadful letter!

One last comment: There¹s a place at Boeing Field in Seattle which offers a Horizon prep course for $450-$500 dollars. Please, let¹s all get together and try to put a stop to this outrageous price gouging. You shouldn¹t have to pay more than $200 tops for a sim. prep. The Outermarker in St. Louis only charges $135 for their F-142 Trans States prep, and it¹s the exact same sim you do the checkride in! There are actually several major differences between the sim. that Horizon uses and the one at Boeing Field. My advice: definitely get some time in a Frasca 142, flying the profile I just gave you. But if at all possible, do it somewhere else. God knows we struggling pilots aren¹t made of money- yet!

Once again I must confirm what others have said: that the Horizon interview process is an absolutely enjoyable experience. As long as you come prepared to ace the written and fly the sim almost as well as you fly your current airplane, you will get hired. Good luck- I hope to see you on line!

HIRED (same day) - F28 Start Date: May 24, 1999

Arrived at 10:00am for my 10:30am interview. Checked in with the front desk receptionist and was shown to the break room. There were five other interviewing that day - a woman who flew charters in a Lear, a United Express pilot, a Las Vegas scenic flights pilot, a retired Air Force guy, and a cargo pilot flying out of Colorado. Kim Powers came in and grabbed me from the break room at about 10:20. Lamar Haugaard had a meeting most of the day, so my Chief Pilot interview was with Terry Allen and Kim Powers. Very friendly, about 20 minutes. Asked: Describe flying background. What makes you think you’re ready for Horizon? (asked in a friendly, joking sort of way, probably because of my lower flight time) Why did you choose Horizon? Any accidents/incidents/violations? How’s your driving record? Do you smoke? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Asked if current job in Metros was single pilot or two pilot? 2 pilot, so asked about CRM training from current employer. One thing your wife would say you could change about yourself. Best characteristic or trait gained from father? mother? Domicile preference? Any questions for us?

Went back to break room, waited about 20 minutes. Stephanie, from HR, came and got me. Also, very friendly. Big eyes, nice smile (seems very interested in you). Asked questions from a sheet (~15 or so). Asked: Why should Horizon choose you? Definition of professionalism. Describe a recent conflict, and how resolved. What would your current supervisor say about you? Last thing a passenger should remember after they get off the airplane? Why did you choose Horizon? What part does a pilot play in customer service? Difference between a good pilot and a great pilot. What is your current work attendance like? What type of student are you? Would any shift be a problem (night, weekends, holidays?) That’s about all I can remember. Low stress, be yourself (as I’m sure you’ve heard before). Wants answers from the person (you), not an “answering” machine. Back to the break room. About another 20 minute wait. Kim, then, brought us all into Chief Pilots’ office. All were invited to the sim session. We were introduced to the sim instructor (Aaron, F28 F.O.) – very nice, there to help you, not looking to fail anybody. We had lunch (provided by Horizon) and talked with Aaron. He gave us the sim settings and the basic profile, then we just went around the room saying a few words about ourselves. We all started on the written after lunch, and Aaron took one person into the sim (in whatever order, so people can make their flight home, or should want to go first or last). Written test was just ATC’s. Study from different gouge and you should have no problem scoring a 90% or better.

Sim ride: same as ATC teaches you. Depart EUG runway 16, intercept the 140? radial, climb to 3000’, to the 7 DME and arc west (wind was from the East, but not very much). As heard, Horizon’s sim is much easier to fly than ATC’s; much more stable, but still configured just the same. After arcing (maybe 30? or so), he froze my position. Gave me holding instructions, with current position SSW of NDB: Hold north of FRAKK on the 180? TO the station, maintain 3000’, EFC ….. Asked for my entry (parallel); but gives you plenty of time think about it and to get ready. Start entry with some wind correction (still from the East). He (as A.T.C.) asked if I was established in the hold. I said no, still in the entry (“Good”). After passing NDB the second time (now in the hold), I made my call. Froze me again. From the same position as before the hold, he cleared me for full procedure NDB 16 approach. Flew that down to MDA, and went missed after my time expired (try to set off the MM, although he didn’t say anything about it, I’ve heard other instructors might expect you to set it off??), then started the published missed approach. After crossing the NDB and was going to start another hold, he gave a heading and altitude to maintain to check straight/level flight (I’m not sure why, though, at this point). Frozen again. Repositioned me. Cleared me for a vectored ILS. I was released fairly close to the OM, so don’t delay in getting configured (speed, flaps, etc.) There was some more turbulence on this part, but don’t give the turbulence a second thought, just fly the approach with the necessary corrections because you’re done after that. I landed (I mean slammed) the sim onto the runway, but he said beforehand he wasn’t grading the takeoff or landing.

That was it! I was sent back downstairs to the Chief Pilot’s office and spoke to Lamar and Terry about my performance. They said they were very impressed with my interviews and my sim was one of the better ones they had seen in a while. I didn’t think I did anything spectacular, but it was graded as a 96%. I was offered either the Dash 8 or the F-28. I’m not sure who else got hired that day.

The money spent at ATC was well worth it. If you take your punishing at ATC before your interview, the Horizon sim will seem like a piece of cake. I think my current flying in the Metroliner was good preparation (probably enough to pass), but my training at ATC gave me that extra confidence to go into the ride and pass easily.

Arrived early morning at the Horizon Air Flight Operations department, across the field from the main terminal. Signed in and then waited about 15 minutes for a personnel representative to come into the lounge area. Myself and one other applicant had arrived early - there would be four of us participating in the interview process this day. The personnel rep interviewed me first. Very bried, about 15 - 20 minutes, with some very basic and general questions: why do you want to work for Horizon?; if there were three pilots, all possessing equal qualities (you're one of them) why should Horizon hire you over the other two?; just basic stuff. He then explained some things about the company, and where they were headed. Remember this!! They are very big on customer service/customer satisfaction!!! Went back out to the waiting lounge and the next applicant went in while I awaited my interview with the two chief pilots, Dash 8 ops. By now another applicant had arrived, a female, who had interview the previous week with SkyWest, been offered a job on the spot, and was putting them on hold because she wanted to work for Horizon. Actually, the other applicant, a retired Navy pilot had also interviewed with SkyWest and been offered a position with SkyWest on the spot, and also was delaying his acceptance based on the Horizon outcome. (The main reason they were holding off was two fold: first, they both wanted to work for Horizon more than with SkyWest; second, your on your own at SkyWest during initial, ie., food, lodging, etc, which can get very expensive over the course of a couple of months, whereas Horizon puts you on the payroll the first day of class, and picks up your room during training). Back to my next interview, with the chief pilots: very informal, basically a get to know you type interview. Nothing technical at all. I really believe that their selection process for the interviews is quite thorough, ie, when you get called in to interview they know you can fly - they're looking for people who SINCERELY want to not just fly for Horizon, but who want to work for this excellent company and retire with them. It seemed to me that if you got through the interviews that they would most likely offer you a position, contingent of course on an acceptable written and sim test score. Again, this interview with the two chief pilots was very relaxed and comfortable to say the least. They really made you feel welcoome - they were glad you were there. They looked over my log book, asked some general questions on a form which they were checking off as they progressed through the questions, and then asked me if I had any. Everything had been covered adequately, so we all shook hands and I went back out to the lobby to await word if I would continue on to the afternoon session - written test and sim ride. By this time all six applicants were in the building, each awaiting his/her turn in the interview process. I was done, so simply waited until the others finished. By the time we were all done it was close to 1:00pm, at which time the personnel rep and the two chief pilots came out and informed everyone that we would all be going on with the afternoon session. Shortly thereafter, the sim instructor came in, introduced himself, and we all headed across the field to Flightcraft where the Frasca 142 sim is located. Horizon provided a box lunch for each of us (a very adequate lunch indeed) while the sim instructor brief us on the sim session we would participate in. Pretty basic sim ride: normal takeoff, fly a 5 or 7mile dme arc; flight direct to the NDB and hold (he asked you which entry you would use before you get to the NDB); shoot the full NDB out of the hold to a missed approach (he wants to know where the wind in coming from); vectors for a full ILS full stop landing. Absolutely nothing too difficult about this sim ride - the instructor has briefed it thoroughly so there are no surprises at all. Simply take your time, get set up correctly, know what you're going to do down the road, and do it. While one person was in the sim the others were waiting their turn in the classroom upstairs doing the written test. A very basic 50 question, MC test right out of the ATP test prep booklet, with the exception of about 4 or 5 company oriented questions: who's the CEO, what's the FO starting salary, who founded Horizon Air, what year was Horizon Air founded, etc. When it was my turn to do the sim ride I took my written test answer sheet with me, the instructor graded it while I was getting seated in the sim, told me that I had passed the written (doesn't tell you the score, at least he didn't tell me mine), and then we proceeded on with the sim check. After the sim check the instructor thanks you for coming and offers you the best of luck. He doesn't, and can't, say a word about your sim ride. He simply conducts it and takes the scored printout to the chief pilots for their review of it and the wirtten test. They give you a number to call back the following morning relatively to your status. That's what's great about the process - they don't keep you waiting - you know something in a little over 12 hours after you've completed the process. Fortunately, I was offered a job. I think out of the six of us two didn't make, probably due to the sim ride. But as I understand it you can reapply after 3 months. All in all it was a fantastic experience. I believe the statistics show that of all the people they interview probably 75 - 80% are successfull in the process and are offered jobs. Of all the interviews that I have ever done in my flying career this was the most enjoyable and pleasant one. These Horizon people are a cut above. They're just outstanding people, and the place where I want to retire from. It's really a great company.