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United Airlines Pilot Interview Profiles

» Home » Pilot Interviews » Major Airlines » United Airlines
Date Interviewed: February 2008
Summary of Qualifications: all mil attack a/c 2k-ish hrs
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
Previous gouge is a good start
Recommend practicing the CAL profile at either the CPT or HPA joint. Do the interview prep w/ Judy Tarver at HPA.

very straitforward and they want you to succeed. Surprised at NO technical questions in the panel interview. Very CRM and Logistics (ie "how are you gonna make it on 30 bucks an hour year one/ sans medical insurance...") heavy. Not from a heavy (damn thats twice) background, so they put me in my present jet and asked scenario questions based on that. All three on the panel were good folks and consisted of 2 line captains and a retired captain. Got the sexual harrassment and what do you do about it question. Overall impression is that you prove your crosscheck abilities and basic airmanship in the sim, interview for getting to know person but thats just one dude, one interview. Not an overly artificial stress inducing pitsweat-fest like some others.

Sim was as advertised. Plan on flying the 73-300 with the (something w/ a 17 in it) autopilot. The FO evaluator is on the autopilot so don't sweat it to much. Tell him what you want and it'll probably already be done. Both sim evaluators were super-cool and hooked me up with pitch and power techniques before the sim. One in the briefing room, another in the cockpit waiting for it to start. You will handfly everything but the flight director will be full-up. Practice the CAL callouts and do a bit of charflying. When the holding thing came around, I got a PARALELL entry setup after doing the hand-oragami thing to figure it out They WILL NOT LET YOU PASS CONTROL OF THE A/C so you can draw it out/ QC your solution. Ask "do you concur" and they may throw you a bone. I briefed the holding gameplan and got to the VOR on speed and then they just gave me a vector to final w/out having to hold. Did the ILS F/S. Uneventful.

the HPA had only a 73-200 available with different autopilot. Good practice with about 20 minutes extra time. It is harder to fly than the CAL sim and pitch/power setting were slightly different. Did a sim with another dude and the operator let us swap controls to nail down the holding from different aspects. THEY DONT LET YOU DO THAT IN THE SIM EVAL so if you practice, think and fly at the same time.

take a walk around the building and talk to folks while your waiting....ongoing new hire classes were going on and provided good last-minute gouge. eat breakfast!
Date Interviewed: February 2008
Summary of Qualifications: 3500 hours in military fighters
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
Not an interview yet, but I wanted to give a heads up to United's new hiring process. They're now requiring applicants to complete a psych evaluation. The eval is accomplished on-line and is called the Hogan Personality Inventory.
It was 206 true/false questions and took me 15 - 20 minutes to accomplish.
No technical or knowledge questions. Only touchy-feely questions like; I sleep well at night, I often have indigestion, or I'm not comfortable in large crowds. Unless you were a psychology major in school, I'm thinking you probably can't study for this one.
Date Interviewed: January 2008
Summary of Qualifications: 5000+
1500+ Turbine PIC
121 Turbo-prop
no recs - job fair
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Everyone was super nice. SUPER NICE!

The sim profile was the same as the sim prep you can get at Crew Pilot Training.

TMAAT Q's
When you gave good customer service.
Decision you regreted.
Made a good decision.

Other Q's
Tell us about yourself.
How did you get to this point?
What can you bring to CAL?
Why this degree?
You have a bunch of tickets.
How do you mentor a low time F.O.
Gold seal CFI?
Do you instruct still?
Biggest challenge being a Captain?
Question you prepard for and did not get to answer?
Question for us?

I was told 737 EWR, hiring 400 +/- 2008.
Date Interviewed: December 2007
Summary of Qualifications: ATP, Military, 3100 TT, 1450 PIC Turbine, No 121 Exeperience
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
Interview Experience.
I flew into Houston the night before my interview. I chose to stay at the Double Tree hotel because they provide a free shuttle to the Continental training center. Remember, you will be going to the simulator building to do the simulator ride and the panel interview (if you haven’t already completed it in EWR or CVE). About a week prior to doing my simulator ride and panel interview, I chose to get some simulator training at Crew Pilot Training in Dallas. I highly recommend doing this as the simulator instructors will ask if you have done this training. Ray and his crew out there in Dallas do a fantastic job and it is well worth the money. My simulator interview was the exact profile that I received in Dallas. I got to the training center about 15 minutes early and met with Hans the simulator instructor (really nice fellow). I proceeded to the briefing room and found out that the 737-300 simulator was broke and that we would be conducting the simulator portion in the 737-800 simulator instead. It was a little bit different but it wasn’t a big deal considering I have never flown either aircraft before. You are given a brief sheet which is very, very similar to the one that Ray hooks you up with. No surprises there! Know the call-outs such as level change, set top bug, flaps 1 etc. We got into the simulator and Hans makes you feel very relaxed. My co-pilot was Nick (also a very nice fellow) who put me right at ease. I chose the left seat and just in previous gouge they want to see you pick the left seat. They are hiring captains, not first officers. We took off on runway 26L and climbed to 4000ft runway heading. Passing 3000ft we accelerated to 250kts up to level off. Once reaching 4000ft, I received a right turn to 360, then a left turn to 090. Once I started my left turn to 090 I given instruction to descend to 3000ft. I did this at 250 kts. I was told to proceed to Humble VOR and Nick copied the holding instructions. What they want you to do is get the airplane pointed direct to the VOR first and then slow down to 200kts and flaps 1. I was on a 145 heading to the fix and given the following holding instructions: Hold East on the 090 radial, left hand turns. I analyzed it and I was aligned for a teardrop heading. Nothing confusing, and it was not on the 70/110 line. I told them that I would turn left on a 120 heading for a minute, then I would turn back to the fix. Nick asked which way I would turn and I told him to the left and they seemed satisfied. I was told to cancel the holding and vectored on a base leg. Make sure that you get all of your appropriate checks done, i.e. Approach checks. I was then vectored to final and we broke out about 500ft. I made the landing and that was it. They never told me if I passed or failed, but either way they were very friendly. Hans walked me back to the HR office where I waited for the panel interview to start. Christi will ask you what your availability is and you take care of any last paperwork matters. As far as the panel goes, it was very relaxed. I had three on my panel, two captains from the training department and one line captain. Most of the questions were TMAAT. How did you get here today. TMAAT when you had made a mistake when you were flying. TMAAT you didn’t agree with the captain. TMAAT you had an angry customer and how did you handle it. Why Continental. Where are our Pilot bases. They asked me what the speed is below a class B airspace and what is required to enter class B airspace. What is a Grid Mora? That’s it for the technical questions. They asked me if I had anything I wanted to tell them ( I was assuming they were talking about a failed checkride that I had), so we discussed how I failed a checkride and what I learned from that. They thanked me and asked if I had any questions for them, which I didn’t. Overall, a very relaxed and professional environment. If you get the interview chances are very good that you will get the job. Prepare and you will have no problem. I also did the telephone interview prep with Air Inc, I recommend that as well. A few days later, I was called by a captain in the training department offering me the job. Good Luck!!
Date Interviewed: November 2007
Summary of Qualifications: ATP, 6000 hours total, 4200 turbine, Part 121.
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:

First off, these folks are very supportive and truly want you to succeed. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and put me at ease from the beginning. The first part of my interview was the simulator evaluation, which took place in the 737 simulator. Older model sim, "steam gauges", no glass. I STRONGLY recommend getting some simulator prep before your interview, especially if you've never flown a 737 sim before. I went to crewpilottraining.com at DFW airport for mine. Top notch facility, retired Continental guys who really know their stuff and show you exactly what to expect in the eval. The gouge is right on the money regarding the sim evaluation: they just want to see if you have basic instrument flying skills. Standard takeoff, climbout, basic flying while you get used to the sim. Turns, climbs, descents, and a level off at 4000 feet. They then tell you to proceed direct to the VOR and issue holding instructions when you're about 13 miles away from the VOR, so it happens pretty fast. Be sure to brief the holding entry and you probably won't have to hold. But even if you do, don't sweat it -- just do what you'd do in real life. After the hold, they'll vector you for an ILS approach back into IAH. Be sure to allow time to get configured and slow down. Normal ILS approach down to about 500 foot ceiling and 5 miles visibility. No abnormals introduced during the ride. All in all, pretty laid back and low-stress -- IF you've prepared, that is. Be sure to do your homework and learn the basic Continental callouts: "heading select," "level change, set top bug, flaps 1" etc. They want you to conform to Continental callouts as much as possible. Between the simulator evaluation and your panel interview, you'll go back to the airport to be fingerprinted for your background check and go to the Continental clinic in the basement for your DOT drug test. After that, it was on to the IAH chief pilot's office for the panel interview. The panel consisted of the chief pilot, a line captain, and a retired pilot. All were very friendly and put me at ease. They offered me a glass of water which I gladly accepted. They basically just want to get to know you. Not someone who has canned answers, but the REAL you. One of them will go over your logbooks while the others ask questions, but he might ask a question or two himself as well. Lots of situational questions, TMAAT etc. Be sure to do your homework and reflect on your flying career for interesting stories that illustrate the kind of pilot you are. Important: make SURE the stories are true, and reflect your own personal experiences. They will see through it if you lie or tell someone else's story that you got off the internet. Pick stories that show you're a team player, a leader, and emphasize safety, customer service, reliability, and taking care of your co-workers as well as the passengers. A few technical questions were asked (define VDP, when can you go below minimums, what do you do if the weather goes below minimums while you're on the approach, etc.), but the majority of the questions are designed to find out what kind of pilot you are and how well you will fit into the Continental corporate culture. At the end of the panel interview, they gave me the opportunity to ask any questions I had for them. They also asked which question I had prepared for that they had NOT asked me. They then thanked me, we all shook hands, and that was it. I got the call the following morning, offering me a class date. Continental is poised for significant growth over the next few years, so now is a great time to get on with them.
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