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Silver Airways Pilot Interview Profiles

» Home » Pilot Interviews » Non-Jet Airlines » Silver Airways
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Date Interviewed: March 2015
Summary of Qualifications: 940TT; 340ME; ATP Written; Military Helicopter Pilot; ERAU Bachelor of Science
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
I drove down from Orlando the day before and stayed at The Forum hotel with my wife and daughter. The hotel is an old hospital converted to a Christian hotel. No drinking or smoking and a little strange being an old hospital but nice people and good price at $89.

The interview was at 1130 and I arrived at 1115. The interview took place at American Flyers flight school. I was greeted by an American Flyers rep and introduced to the Silver Airways team. It consisted of the IAD based Chief Pilot, a union rep, HR rep (Mary- very nice and helpful), and the sim evaluator. There was another applicant there already taking the written portion and they gave me the 40 question, multiple choice test to start whenever I was ready.

The written test consisted of basic instrument and VFR question like max speed below 10,000, if two planes are converging and you see a green light on the aircraft who has the right away? Where does the MSA center on the approach plate. All in all it was pretty simple. I scored a 98 missing one question cause I had a brain fart.

Next was the panel interview. They reviewed my logbooks, resume and certificates and asked me about my background. They were all very easy to talk to and we spent most the time laughing about flying stories. The main goal for them in this part is to see if they can sit in a cockpit with you for a couple hours and get along. Be nice, be honest and have a few stories in mind that show good decision making. That lasted about 30 minutes.

Finally I had the sim eval. It was done in one of the American Flyers Frasca Baron sims. The evaluator showed me the basic controls I needed to get the thing off the ground and let me fly it around for a bit to get a feel for it. After I was comfortable he put me back on the ground and the sim ride began. I took off, climbed out in IMC to 2000 and tracked a VOR radial outbound. After he was happy with that he gave me vectors for the ILS 9L which I shot to minimums, broke out and landed. That was it. It lasted about 15 minutes.

They gave me a conditional offer of employment on the spot and I drove down to Fort Lauderdale for a drug test and fingerprinting.
Date Interviewed: April 2013
Summary of Qualifications: ATP Mins, ATP Written done, 1900TT, 103ME
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Interviews seem to be separated by 30 minutes, so not everyone will show up at the exact same time. I rented a car, so I can't speak for the shuttle services. Stayed at the Hilton (subpar, and overpriced). As of now, go to the Springhill Suites, and ask for the Silver Airways discount. Anyways, interview for me was at 9am, but got there around 8:50. When you turn in the parking lot off of Griffin Rd, you have to walk under the building overpass, and you'll see the Silver Airways door on the left. Walk in, sit down, and you'll sign in.

For the record... NO MORE 2-YEAR CONTRACT.

HR Portion: The guys that I talked to were extremely nice, and very forthcoming and honest. HR lasted about 15-20 minutes, and was your run of the mill HR questions. 95% of the conversation was based off my resume'. "Why Silver", "Why did you leave XYZ airline", any convictions or misdemeanors, traffic violations, checkride failures and explain, and for the next 10 minutes after that it was them telling me about the company, their backgrounds, etc... After that it was most likely what plane I'll be on for now, bases available, and what's your base preference (if you know).

Written: First time it was a 50 question written on Part 61, 91, and 121 along with AIM. You need an 80% to pass, and I had gotten a 78% on the first test. However, in the next 2 days after they changed the written test, took out the trick questions, reduced it to 40 questions, and called me to come back, retake the test and do the sim and paperwork. So, a week later I went back, got a 98%, and went onto the sim.

SIM: Old Frasca simulator setup like a King Air / B1900. If you can fly a 6-pack and 2 vor plane with an HSI, you can fly this just fine. Sim does randomly turn a little to the left with the yoke neutral, and the rudders are super sensitive. As for the flight: Takeoff east out of KFLL, fly rwy heading to 2000ft, turn around and fly direct to the a VOR (was about 250 radial TO), then asked 3 different holding instructions (of which all were parallel funny enough). After that, vectors for an old approach (I believe it was the ILS 27R into KFLL). After you land, that's it. Power settings, pitch attitudes, course corrections, etc all called out by your sim eval guy. So, don't worry if you have never flown a t-prop like me. Just do your thing, call for the checklist, and your sim guy will set everything. I called for cruise checklist, and he did just that. I just flew the plane.

After the sim portion, I went over the SheltAir, and on the 2nd floor is their HR department. You'll get a stack of literally about 37 pages to fill out. I got them at 1:45pm, and had to try and turn them in before 4pm. Well, I somehow got them all done by 4:30pm. Reason I had to be done by 4pm is so you can do your drug test, which I didn't get to do in FLL. However, paperwork, and fingerprints got done. If you don't do your pee test there, they can give you a list of places near your home to get it done.

Overall the guys were super nice, and everyone there was very helpful. Good luck!
Date Interviewed: February 2013
Summary of Qualifications: Comm ASMEL 2800TT, 850ME. CFI. ATP written
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Arrived at Silver's Training Center in Ft. Lauderdale. I drove in to town so not sure about hotels/transportation. Interview was scheduled for early afternoon, process is around 2-3 hours, not an all day thing like a lot of airlines. Sat down in waiting room, was a few minutes early but was soon greeted by a gentleman who gave me some basic paperwork to fill out. There's kind of a one way mirror looking into the waiting room I was wondering about, but its the room where the sim is on the other side.
Sit down face to face interview was first with two Silver pilot/instructors. Everyone is very nice, laid back, it was very easy to feel at ease.
Handed over certificates/logbooks for inspection.
Was asked to tell them about myself.
Any trouble with FAA etc?
That really was pretty much it. They told me the next step was to go take a 50 question computerized multiple choice test. They really want you to pass this test, they stressed that there is NO time limit, please read the questions and answers carefully before answering. You can go back through all the questions before you submit, but as soon as you hit the red button at the end, it grades it and thats it.
3 answer choices, just like FAA. Some questions look familiar from FAA test bank, others don't. Need an 80% to pass. Know your part 91 regs and some of the basic 121 regs. There's a Jepp approach chart that is referenced for some of the questions. Also some basic weather theory.
After that was the sim. The computer test and sim were with the original gentleman that greeted me.
It's a 2 place Frasca representing a King Air or maybe 1900. If you don't know turboprops it won't be an issue, he helps with power settings. He also tells you the plan for the sim ride before you start, there's time to ask questions, etc. I flew right seat.
Takeoff from KFLL, maintain runway heading, climb maintain 2000. Level off & cruise. Told to turn around and fly direct to the VOR, given a few holding instructions, how would you enter? Then vectors for the ILS. Transfer controls to evaluator so you can brief approach, when you're ready take the controls again, continue vectors and fly the ILS to landing. Thats it. Like any Frasca, its pitch sensitive, but not too bad.

After that did some more paperwork, finger prints, then they drove me to another building (HR building?) where they do the drug tests.
That was it. Said they will be in touch, and see me in ground school.
Date Interviewed: June 2012
Summary of Qualifications: ATP; DHC-8; 10,000 hrs
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Just finished the interview process for Silver Airways. Very laid back and straight forward. No mind games. Everyone was very pleasant and helpful. Interview was first, with a review of logbooks and resume. A few general questions like "did you ever have any violations", "did you fail any check rides", etc. Asked what I knew about Silver. They made it clear that they are no longer anything like the old Gulfsream days. A holding question and that was it. They need pilots in the 1900 and asked how soon i could start. They were looking for July 2 and July 9 start dates for the 1900, with nothing concrete after that. Got fingerprinted and then went to the training center for written (computer based) and sim eval. Written is more instrument questions than ATP stuff. But if you're actively flying and didn't just graduate from private pilot school, you should have no problem. 50 questions and no time limit, so take your time. Be sure to RTFQ!! Watch out for the MSL vs AGL choices and stuff like that. The sim is a Frasca type and basically set up like a King Air/1900. A little touchy on pitch, but not that bad. Take off, fly RH to 2000. Direct to VOR and given holding instructions. Describe the entry and if you're correct, get vectors for ILS. Basic ILS with 0-wind down to a landing. Sim evaluator will set the power an d configure the aircraft on your command, so don't sweat it. If you pass through all this, you're sent for the drug test and that's it. They said they'd call in a day or two, but basically told me I had an unofficial offer.
Date Interviewed: December 2011
Summary of Qualifications: Comm SEL MEL Instrument Airplane, ATP written. Working for a 121 carrier as Customer Service.
Were you offered the job? Don't Know
Pilot Interview Profile:
First of all you are called by an outside hiring agency, the gentleman gives you some dates and times to interview. Selected my date and times and was told that I had to get to FLL and where to meet.

The Interview is at Sheltair one of FLLs FBOs, they have some office suites and it looks like the company is moving their offices there as they looked new. Dont take a cab, sheltair has a shuttle call them and they will pick you up at the terminal.

I got there to the interview about 30 mins early, which the nice admin lady there gave me paper work to get started, looked like a stack of 30 pages. Got started on the paper work while I waited.

The gentleman who was one of the chief pilots came to get me and took me upstairs to a conference room. There we met with another captain who was there to also represent the union.

Interview:

-Tell us about your work and education history.
-Where did you do your flight training?
-Any FAA violations, Checkride failures and please explain.
-Tell us 3 attributes that make a good captain.
-Are you ok with making about $1500 a month
-Would you be ok relocating to BIL or PA or at least commuting?
-They have a training contract, they dont charge you for anything as long as you stay with them for 2 years, after that you are free of any obligation. The contract is pro-rated, so $1000/month is take off the contract from your hire date. No reset of the contract for upgrades or transition into the Saab.

No technical questions for the panel interview, from the questions I asked they are ramping up hiring as they are going to be in need of captains soon as attrition takes over. Overall they seem to be growing and not the same gulfstream of before. They are changing company names soon, they didnt say the name, but the rumors are "silver airways". They are receiving a new saab almost every 21 days, first one to be in revenue service in Feb.

Was invited to continue the hiring process to take the written and a sim eval.

After the interview was done I completed my paper work and was finger printed. Afterward I was shuttled to their training center in another building about 5 mins away. The building is the remnants of the Gulfstream Academy. The written was done by computer 50 questions off the ATP, Comm and Instrument questions. Average scores are in the 70s according to Lilly in the training center.

The sim ride was a standard Beech type FTD, very aged. You could barely see the monitor in front of you as they had a plastic cover on it that gave you coke bottle vision. The instructor there was a nice gentleman, but his accent is very heavy when he gives you instructions. Had to ask various times to verify what he said. The sim is very fidgety, a little trim goes a long way. Very hard to keep altitude and you had to accept oscillations of pitch up or down.

Sim profile was take off from 9L in FLL to the east, careful on the T/O run the rudder pedals are not very responsive. The instructor works as your FO, call for Gear up and climb profile. Gives you instructions to the FLL VOR for a hold on the 360R. What kind of entry into the hold. He will work your clock. After a circuit around the hold vectors to the ILS 9L. half a dot up call for landing configuration and he will lower you gear and flaps. Keeping the localizer was easy just keeping the sim at steady descent rate was complicated with the jumpy pitch. Overall pretty good ride despite the technical downfalls of the sim. If you have a doubt about a vector ask!

Overall I think theyre doing a pretty good job trying to re-structure their company. Ground training will be in house to prepare to go to MCO for the full motion sim ride and actual airplane ride. They were filling for the Jan 2012 class.

You can make your own impression, but I think it would be a decent place to work, just have to ride with the changes coming along.

Now to wait for the call.
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