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LAN Pilot Interview Profiles

Date Interviewed: January 2011
Summary of Qualifications: 1400 TT/ 500 ME/TURB. CFI/II PART 135 EXP/ TURBOPROP/ B.S
Were you offered the job? No
Pilot Interview Profile:
Very lenghty process, overall a bad experience, however it is a nice company to work for.
First of all if you interview is with LAN Airlines you are not interviewing for all the openings in their subsidiaries (LAN Peru, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador, etc) you are only taken into consideration for LAN Airlines in Chile or LAN Cargo. I spent almost six years working with LAN Cargo in Miami,and I got a word from inside that they were triying to hire people to create some kind of base here in Miami. This motivated me to apply, especially because five years ago they started hiring like crazy and kids were getting hired off the street to fly the 767F with only 200 hours (I'm not kidding). I saw this nice oportunity to fly a 76 out of Miami and give it a try.
You are required to pay for your travel expenses during the interview (no stby ticket, no hotel, no nothing) you just get the notification that you were selected to participate and you are expected to show up in Santiago when your interview is due. I know that this only works like this for LAN Chile and LAN Cargo, the rest of the subsidiaries actually pay for your expenses (all).
They won't give you any directions to get to the interview site, just a map attached to the email and a date. It takes about a week to complete the entire process. One day for each phase of the interview. Thanks to my friends in Santiago I was able to move around because the different phases of the interview are held in different parts of the city.
First day: Written, held at the HQ, Merino Benitez Airport, kind of complicated to get there using public transportation so plan to be there with plenty of time. ATP 50 Questions, Instrument Rating 50 Questions. The images used in the Intrument Rating exam are terrible, sometimes you just have to guess, really bad. I finally passed to the second phase. (If you don't pass you are going home)
Second day: H.R and technical, this went really well, very nice HR lady, with a 777 captain and check airman. No technical questions, just a nice talk taking a cup of coffee. Just trying to know more about you I, it was the best phase of the interview.
Third day: Psicological evaluation. This is the worst part, its not just the typical cognitive test, it is way more than that, a very lenghty process involving some extremely personal questions, some of which will never be asked by an employer here in the US. I really think that this gentelman will face serious legal issues here in the US if he tries this interview format here. About four hours total, finished really tired, there's no way to study for this.
Final day: Sim evaluation, 737 FTD, not very good, but you get helped by the other guy. Takeoff from SCEL rwy heading complete a full departure procedure (ESLAR 1 VTN Transition, they send you the Jepp plates by email, you are supposed to take them to the interview) DME arc to complete an ILS, go around and hold as published, get vectors for a full ILS and land, the landing is not evaluated.Overall very well, the guy was nice, a retired 767 capt. with another active A340 guy.
After two months of waiting got the email, thanking me for participating in the process, and telling me that I have not been selected to continue. Very dissapointing overall, several guys with less experience got hired (actually a couple of 200 hour guys got hired off the school) the impression is that they allow foreigners to participate but they will give priority to nationals.
Date Interviewed: March 2007
Summary of Qualifications: FAA comm 1400+ TT 600 Multi Current IFR, turb experience
Were you offered the job? No
Pilot Interview Profile:

The interview takes at least 1 month, first the english test based on the toefl, about 3 hrs long including an interview to check for conversational lvl, a week after that the FAA ATP 50 questions and IFR 50 questions, not difficult but few people passed the test. If you pass the English and written tests you go next week for the Psicological exam which is an 1 hr 45 min interview with a Psicologist, all kinds of questions, even some of them may seem discriminatory in a way at least in the US they will not ask you those things. 2 or 3 days after that you go for a Psico-technical Test which is a series of timed math test combined with logical things, but the time kills you because is very short and stressful. I must say that you have to pass every test, if you fail any of those test you will be eliminated. Then you have to wait for the results of the Psicologycal part wich takes up to 2 or 3 weeks, then if you pass you will go to the sim check usually a comp sim (flite school style) no emergencies but you will go normal T/O climb 4 or 5k intercept a radial, dme arc intercept another radial to the vor and hold then outbound on a given radial and vectors for ILS missed appch (of course) and vectors for a vor or ndb appch, total time good 3 hrs including brief and debrief time, no surprises but some questions like holding speeds and altitude, MSA, airport min, they like to know your SAW after that you'll wait few days, and they call you for an interview with CP,Ops mang, HR people, normal questions why us, what will you bring to our company, any problems working weekends, where do you want to be in 5 years, after that they let you go if you get the call in few days most likely you are in otherwise letter. If Hired probably A320 or B767. nice company. the interview is not bad, is very lengthy process but straight forward except for the Psicologyst. I did not pass that one, I guess I was not fitting their profile. Good luck for the applicants

Date Interviewed: March 2006
Summary of Qualifications: Commercial, 1400hrs, 1200 PIC
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:

I arrived in Quito, Ecuador the 26th of March; my interview was on the 29th at the Dann Carlton Hotel. Very nice. I arrived at 1pm for my scheduled 2 o'clock engagement. At exactly 1:55, the Chief Pilot, who also happens to be the Chief of Operations for the Airline walked up and introduced himself to me. He must have figured out that I was supposed to interview because I must have looked nervous....I don't know. After telling me who he was he told me to meet him at upstairs for the interview. So I did. I walked in and there sat him, the director of human resources and the psychologist. Apparently, LAN does their interview in stages. And potential pilots keep getting disqualified from one stage to the next, based on deferent criteria. The 'fun' part is that they don't tell you right then! You have to wait to get either a call or an e-mail with the good or bad news. The questions were pretty standard really, as far as the HR stuff is concerned, and a few questions from the psychologist. Nothing too deep. And then came the questions from the chief pilot. He asked me everything from part 121 regulations, to Instrument operations, to ETOPs, to aircraft systems, operation of ILS, service volume of LOC, G/S, H,T&L VORs, Wx, Wx reports, some aerodynamics, Single engine Ops on a twin and FMS stuff, etc. It was good because it felt more like a conversation between him and me than an interview. Very relaxed but VERY professional. After about an hour and 45, he told me to fill out an airline issued sheet with all my information and to leave it at the front desk, and they'd contact me if I passed to the next stage. Two days later I was instructed to go back to the hotel and present myself for the Technical evaluations. These were comprised of two 150 question tests. One straight from the ATP book and the other was a mix of questions from the Instrument, commercial and Chilean issued airline transport pilot books....the Chilean stuff was obviously in Spanish....so speaking the language does help. Well, it was one of those were if you studied, you're fine. So after that you cross your fingers and hope you pass to the next stage....which is an English examination. I was contacted the following day, and was told that it wasn't going to be necessary for me to take this exam and to just present myself for the psychological examination and for the psyco-technical exams. Now, in my opinion, this was the hardest part of the interview process. I arrived the day of my interview, which was April 5(my b-day), at 9 am. I knocked on the door and was greeted by the psychologist and started with the interview. Now, the key here is TRUTHFULNESS. These guys are trained to analyze people. So just be yourself....BUT obviously, make sure you pass anything you're going to say through the filter before it comes out of your mouth. Just think twice before you speak. The questions were basic. What are your strengths, weaknesses, what makes you happy, what makes you angry, how do you cope with stress, what was your childhood like, how were you growing up....etc

Then, he pulls out these inkblot cards, ten of them, and asks you what do the inkblots look like to you....and then asks you to show him what you mean on the card, and then asks you why you said that. Well, the whole interview lasted 3 hours. Afterwards I was told to be back at 3 pm, for the psycho-technical exams. Well these exams are made up of 10 timed tests with everything from math to letter, figures and number sequences, to word similarities and differences, to basic physics and mechanics, etc. Everything is timed and you have some ridiculous number of questions and are only given say, 5 minutes to finish them all....now it's evident that you're not going to be able to finish everything in the time allotted, they just want to see how you handle yourself in high stress situations....and then you have fill-in-the-blank personality tests. Well by the time you finish everything...you feel mentally exhausted!!! And then comes the waiting period. The psychologist has to go back to Chile, and come up with the results and meet with a panel of psychologists down there to see who's fit and who's not. Apparently, LAN looks for a specific psychological profile for their pilots....and THIS is the catalyst. This stage is the one that always eliminates the most people.

Well, after that and after finally receiving the good news, you're told to present yourself to a simulator evaluation. This is done in the B737. No flight director and no A/T. It includes an instrument departure, radar vectors to the IAF for a non-precision, published missed to the published hold, vectors to the IAF again and an ILS. Man, compared to that psychologist...this was actually easy. Just go through your scan and procedures. After this, comes a medical exam and if everything goes well, a final interview with the Chief again who officially welcomes you on board and gives you a class date. The whole process took close to a month and is definitely one of the hardest things I have ever done. But it certainly is paying off. I was offered a position as a F/O on the B767, and I couldn't be happier.

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