AWAC will positive space you on US Airways to Norfolk, and if you need to connect, like I did, it'll probably be either Charlotte, or Philly. The interview was at Chesapeake Regional, which is definitely out of the beaten path, in the sticks, sorta. All the hotels they send in the packet do not drive you there, so you'll need to rent a car, unless you're a local. They give you the corporate discount, and it's a pretty drive depending which way you go.
Interview started at 0800 local at Horizon Flight Center (the main building), and went until about 1400 local. I drove there the day before my interview to make sure I knew how to get there, and wouldn't be late. There was 5 of us total with varying backgrounds. Flight instructor, cargo pilot, etc...You meet with 3 recruiters; line captain, chief pilot, and HR lady (or guy) depending who does the HR part.
You start off with filling out a form for fingerprints, which are manual prints, then once everyone is done you have the 3 amigos give you a very nice speech about the company, background, future plans, etc... You have a packet on the company right in front of you. Then, they turn the floor over to you to ask questions for about 30 minutes. Then, all 3 walk out, and give the interviewee's a 10 question multiple choice written test. Questions were something like what does a rectifier do, if the approach requires RVR16, but RVR is inop whats the required vis, moderate icing will be most prevalent at what temperature (+5ºc), what do you look for when doing a VOT check, etc... After that is collected, they hand you a profile sheet for the sim, NOT to be memorized. After that, all the interviewees pile into the pilot lounge, and they have you group into groups of 2; one does sim eval while the other does HR/Tech.
HR: Simple questions. HR representative reads off a piece of paper - what makes a good team? Why AWAC? What can you bring to AWAC? What's your 5-10 year goals and plans? etc... Simultaneously, the chief pilot will look at your logbook, and ask you questions based off flights that are in there, and will ask you resume' questions. Why did you leave XYZ, why do you want to leave your current employer, ever failed a checkride, ever been fired, or asked to resign from an employer? etc...
Tech: Chief pilot will ask you whether you want Jepp or Gov't charts for the approach plates to brief. He will open up to about 4-5 different approaches, and ask random questions off each one. How do you know how to go missed on this ILS? You're doing the ILS with glideslope inop, how do you go missed? (it's a LOC only, so time and/or dme). What's the significance of the "A" in VOR/DME-A approach? What's the highest obstacle on this chart? Is the tower opened 24/7? That's about 3/4 of those. Then, he moved onto airport signs and markings. Runway hold short line, ILS critical hold short line and when does that come into effect (800ft cig, 2sm or directed by atc), etc... That was it! Literally NOTHING tricky here at all.
Sim: Done in a RedBird simulator. Everyone that typed a review here said the sim was "sensitive". It's not. It rolls at 1 degree per hour so it seems. It doesn't turn for crap, so you have you reeeeally put in a lot of input to get it to move anywhere. Pitch is a little better, but not a lot. The person in the simulator does a great job of explaining to you to not worry about memorizing the profile, and s/he will do literally everything except bring the gear up and fly for you. They're just checking to see if they put you in a $2,000/hr simulator at FlightSafety, will you know how to fly or not... Everything I saw is nothing more than BAI (basic attitude instrument) flying. Private pilots w/instrument ratings that are current could pass the sim no problem. Setup like a Dutchess. Takeoff rwy 6 at GRB, fly runway heading, rotate around 75, pos. rate, gear up, climb to 3,000ft, intercept 100º radial off GRB VOR (which he already put in for me before takeoff), climb to 5,000ft and left turn to around 330 (BAI - climbing turn, like I said before, nothing hard), descend to 3,000 and left turn heading 290'ish (BAI descending turn), fly direct GRB VOR and he'll say to hold as published (on your profile sheet), cross the VOR, do your entry, once you cross the VOR inbound he'll ask which way would you turn for the hold, get it right and he'll just give you vectors for ILS 6 into GRB. Landing isn't graded, but make it pretty. After this, you're done! Good luck to all that apply! Once done, verify w/HR lady, but you should be good to go home, and they'll be in touch with you in a few days. Good luck! |
