| Received 2 lor from skywest capts, flew to SLC on Skywest positive space ticket and stayed at Comfort inn.
Arrived Monday morning at 7:20 for 8:00 interview time. We were met by lady who appeared to be a janitor or other such maintainance person and escorted to conference room. First time I've ever been greeted by the maintainance crew for an airline interview, but whatever works I guess.
Once we got to the conference room we waited for the other candidates to arrive. They all did by about 7:45. Then one of the guys running the interview process came in and explained a bit about skywest, who they are, where they came from and where they are going. The normal we are great and we want you on our team pep talk. If you've done this before you probably know the routine.
He showed us a video which took about 1/2 an hour I think. Again all the great stuff about skywest and how you will become an invaluable asset to us. yada yada yada.
Then after the video this guy came back and handed out a test, 50 of the questions were from the ATP written, no nav or calculation type questions, just the knowledge stuff. What operations is a 7 month old Class 1 valid for? (class 2 operations). If your past the FAF and wx goes to poo poo can you continue? (yes, your past the FAF). The normal stuff. I would say it was a moderately challenging test if you havn't reviewed it. I strongly suggest you grab the gleim book or the gleim software (or whoever you prefer) and study the ATP written before you go. I didn't, but I somehow skated by on that part. I was told later that I did pass it, although I had wondered.
There was also a 20 question mechanical aptitude test, not sure where to study for this one, I think others have mentioned some prep books on the subject. It has been a long time since I took a physics class and I had to think about some of the questions. One in particular was a truck pulling a rope that ran thru 3 pulleys and then to a box. If the truck goes 20 feet how far up will the box go. You'd think 20 feet (unless your really up on this stuff I think), but 20 feet is not an option. Obviously I missed something there. You don't know if the pulleys swing or if they are fixed (I think that makes a difference, doesnt it?) Anyway I did my best SWAG and who knows if I got that right. Another one was a 2 sided spindle that had a rope on it. On the left side the cylinder was 2 inches, and the other was 1 inch. There was only 1 rope and it was connected to each cylinder side. ( one on the 2 inch side and one on the 1 inch side). This rope then looped to an object below. The rope hung like a big U to the below object. The question, should you decide to accept it (versus walking out saying obscene gestures to yourself), is as you turn the handle and both the 2 inch and the 1 inch cylinder turn, how much will the rope go up on each side and how will the object rise. OK, I figured each turn is going to correspond to its cylinder size and the object should be leaning to right as it comes up(left side is going up faster since it had the bigger cylinder). I think the question was worded something like how much will the left side of the rope go up for each revolution versus the right side. IE: you are suppose to be able to figure that with 5 revolutions, the left side should be twice as elevated as the right side since it's sucking up twice as much of the rope. If there's something more to this theory, I don't know it, and I doubt many other pilots do either.
As we started these tests, they randomly called us in for various phases of testing. There was the Simulator, The Technical interview, The Human Resources interview and the CRM scenario. The Technical and Human resources interview were combined for us that day.
I was the first one called in for the sim ride. Oh joy, At this point I can't remember for sure what approach I had. It seems to me it was an LA area approach, and I remember it being familiar to me, but I can't swear to that now. It was to an ILS and land.
The sim was the ATC 810. Altimiter is funky as the 1000 foot indicator is a mechanically digital display (meaning it has numbers on a card that show 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 etc) for the 1000 foot indications and a standard hand for the 100 foot indications. Still wonder who ever thought this idea was a good one. That didn't trip me up since I have seen it before on sims (never in an airplane). Just thought you might want to know.
The radios are single frequency, no stand by frequencies allowed here. Like thats realistic either. A C152 has flip flop radios now days. Never mind the mutiple frequency storage systems of airline radios. Oh well, thats what they tested us all on, so I guess the playing field is leveled. The reason I bring this over explained issue up is something you will see when I describe the sim flight I was given below.
They also do not have checklists in the cockpit. You are supposed to call out the checklists you desire. Yea, thats great for a guy who's been flying alone in IMC in a cessna caravan, lots of crew interaction in my background. ha. I use checklists, but I dont talk to anybody about it. Needless to say, I was used to setting up, grabbing checklist, and putting it away. Having to stop and think..is it complete would take me a few flights to get used too, hence the training concept. Oh well, I did my best but I missed a few.
OK, here's the sim ride. Can't remember what airport they used. Cleared to so and so airport, Via, RW hdg, RV to So and so vor, ILS approach into airport. Climb and maintain 3000 feet, dep freq something the sim likes and squak 1200 (trying to stay realistic I guess :)
I took off and was vectored to a southbound heading, then enroute was given direct to so and so vor. It would have been nice to have flip flop radios so I could have used the RMI to go direct and not have to fumble for the LOC freq when I got inbound. But like I said before, they didn't. Flew direct to VOR, then tracked outbound on designated radial, crossed loc, did direct entry procedure turn outbound for one minuted, then turned back in, tracked loc inbound, intercepted glide slope, dropped gear (Caravan pilot had to think about that one) and flew to mins and landed. I think the problem with the RMI was this, it only read off Nav1, so if you wanted to use the RMI to go direct to vor, you had to put vor freq in no 1, it would not read it from nav2. In real life, no not a big deal, but when you do a sim ride for a job you wanna keep it simple so you can ace the thing. Apparently I did fine, since I wasn't asked to leave. I went back to the conference room and waited for next torturous event to occur.
I was called in for the technical interview. This was a combo of tech and HR interview. I was first asked about my background, why skywest, what have I done to prepare. Why do I want to leave current position (easy since I didn't have a current position,think that was a bad response). Have you ever been scared in an airplane (im never sure what to say to that...guess I need to recall some instruction moments). What areas do you think you need to improve upon? What is your biggest weakness? (Another how do you answer that, I keep forgetting to put down the wheels?...prob not a good one huh, NO I didn't say that). Have you ever been fired or asked to resign from a position? Honesty is not always the best policy on this subject I found. Report what you need to, but keep it slated in your favor, you last employer will slant in in theirs. They don't want a lawsuit.
After the HR came the technical portion. He had me describe one of my former airplens fuel system. Pretty easy. Then he drew a thundercloud on a paper and asked me which way it was travelling (goes towars the anvil point). He asked how do we avoid it. (20 miles away and on the non anvil pointy side). He asked what the three stages of a T storm are. For some reason I drew a blank on the first term. I said, updraft, mature and dissipating. I should have said Cumulous, Mature and dissipating. Apparently this was a big deal, since he quickly corrected me. He said you mean Cumulous stage. I said, Thats correct, I should have said Cumulous. I could tell he felt I should have known this, I say, be real, I know it goes up and gets all puffy and will kill you, then it gets worse in the mature stage since it has both up and down drafts. I'm not sure why this was that significant. I even explained how to interpret radar returns and the shadows cumulous clounds can create and trick pilots into devistating situations. He asked me a lot of quesitons about that, almost seemed that he didn't understand this. It could be that since I was flying freight in garbage weather at low altitudes it may have been something I was honestly more familiar with since I have this desire to see my 6-year-old daughter again. I think his flying an RJ at 30,000 feet did not give him the need to master the stay alive skill of the radar. Just my guess, but not sure that hurt me, just something I noticed.
After that, I was told to go back to the conference room and await the CRM scenario. They took 3 of us and put us in CPT (Cockpit Procedures Trainer) and then set a 7 minute timer and said, you are enroute from SLC to Oakland. The weather has just gotten worse. You have a line of T storms ahead and you can't seem to find a way to penetrate them safely. We had to find a way to safely do this. While the 3 of us are totally lost, the Flight Attendant calls us and says a passenger has fallen and bumped his head and his bleeding somewhat profusely. We ended up diverting to Reno and that was the end of it. I played the jumpseater and the other two were the pilots. We have no idea if we did well or not on that. That was the end of the day and we were sent home. They told us we would receive a letter in 5-10 days.
I left the skywest office, and decided to get out of my suit. I changed in the airport bathroom. Now I was down to T shirt and levis. Not sure if that was good or bad. I ended up on the 5pm flight back to Ontario in my casual attire. I say this because as I was sitting there waiting to depart, the same cap't who interviewed me boarded the flight. He was still in his interview garb. OMG, I'm thinking great I look like a bum and who knows what he is going to think. Maybe he wont recognize me. I just sat quietly as he passed. He stopped right at my seat to put his stuff in the overhead compartment. Then he looked at me and said, "How are you doing?" I said great..how are you? He said, "Were you in the interview group today". Dang..wondered if I should have lied and said I was a contractor on my way to a job or something. NO, I told the truth. Said, yes...and he said, good to see you again. I'm thinking yea right. He was just confirming it was me. He sat in the seat behind me, but he was window and I was aisle, so he had a good view of me all the way home. The flight was delayed an hour while they fixed the lavatory, which they never got fixed and then departed for an hour and a half flight with no lav. People were not happy. I kept my mouth shut and didn't say anything. The guy next to me starting badmouthing skywest talking about how lousy this airline was for not even providing a bathroom for us. He asked me, do you fly on this (human fecal matter) bag airline often. I'm thinking this has got to be a test right. The guy I interviewed with is sitting right there and I have to make sure I don't unimpress him on this flight home. I just wanted to go to another seat and not talk to this guy next to me. I figured I better say something, and I said, I like skywest, and made up some BS about how things happen, but they are great at fixing them. I'm thinking this is BS. Felt like turning to the interviewer and saying...you deal with this..im going to sleep.
Anyway, we landed in ONT..and I was never so relived to see a terminal building in my life. I got in and headed out the front door and away from any more skywest supervision.
In review, I got the letter about 9 days after the interview. It said the typical, thank you for your interest stuff. We all know what that means, you wont be working for us. I don't know where I blew it. I'm told that if you fail a portion of the interview, you are asked to leave then. So that would imply that I passed everything. The decision to not hire me must have been based on something else.
It was either one of two things that come to mind. First was the fact that my last job "fired" me. Although when Unemployment contacted them they told unemployment I was layed off. Would have been nice to know this when I interviewed. Sure is alot easier to say I was layed off rather than I was fired, but it's not my fault. As if they ever belive that.
The other thing that it could be is this, and I base this upon other gouge I read in here. I came from a former Police Background. If you read about skywest, you see that they have a reputation of not welcoming former military guys. Weather or not this is true I don't know, but I know others have written that skywest does not respond well to the military reference. When I was asked what I bring, or why they should hire me, I referenced my time with a major california police agency for a significant number of years. I explained that in this position I had learned and utilized the quasi-military training and procdures on a daily basis and would be bringing that type of structured discipline to the company. That may have been a negative if they truly don't like anything that sounds military.
Then again, it could just be the guy didn't like my silver and blue tie. I will probably never know. Oh well, there are other jobs out there.
Good luck on your interview, If you say the right things you can probably do well with them. I doubt I will ever re apply, hard to justify fighting for 19,000 a year. I'm hoping for a charter position in the near future. We shall see what the furture holds.
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