Previous gouges were VERY useful in prepping for the interview, especially the HR portions. Some extra things to bring with you that weren't mentioned:
1. Letters of reccomendation
2. Scanned copies of the last 3 pages of your logbook (one email said to bring them, another didn't. Bring them!)
3. If you have your A&P, let them know and they'll make a scan of it when they scan your pilot's certificate.
4. Two pens. One for you, and one for the guy next to you who forgot his.
5. Some scratch paper for jotting down notes (like email addresses or phone numbers of people you want to keep in touch with)
Flew in standby on Tuesday night, took the hotel van to the Baymont and stayed the night. Not the worst place I've stayed in, but unfortunately the walls are paper thin, and one of the other guys interviewing the next day set his alarm clock for 4am and hit the alarm every 15 minutes until 6. But, I suppose I wouldn't have gotten much sleep either way, and I was running on adrenaline all day anyway. :) The hotel van leaves at 7 for HDQ2, you wait around for a few minutes in the Eagle lobby until 7:30, and Brad will lead you into the classroom where he reads off an introductory speech, takes your logbooks and pilot info/suppliment sheets, and starts the video. Make sure you have all your paperwork with you, obviously, and it helps to have copies of EVERYTHING.
(quick note: AE apparently sends out contradictory info in which they ask you to bring the last 3 scanned pages of your logbook with you in one email, and the next says you don't need copies of your logbook. It's best to bring copies with you, obviously. Also, if you have any letters of recommendation, bring those along as well! I didn't hear or read anything about bringing them to the interview, but Tiffany said you can include those with the rest of the paperwork.)
Once the video is finished, Tiffany will come in and hand out some paperwork for you to fill out. Everyone at Eagle was very helpful and friendly, but Tiffany is by far the friendliest. If you have any questions about anything, she can probably give you a quick answer.
Once all the paperwork is done (about 9am for us), they will start calling people in for HR and Tech. At this point they may also start calling people to take their things with them and leave. Out of nine of us that went to the interview in the morning, six made it through the whole day, and although they won't tell you why you were dismissed, it seemed the three that were asked to leave did so because of paperwork or logbook issues, not due to "failing" the HR or Tech interviews. I could be totally wrong, but that's the way it seemed to me.
From about 9am to 1pm, you'll be sitting around waiting for your name to be called. Take it easy, chat with the other guys in the room, study up if you feel so inclined. Remember that you aren't competing against each other, don't hesitate to help each other out, the other guys I interviewed with were the nicest guys in the world.
I was called in for the HR interview around 9:30. Patty took me into her office and went over some quick paperwork with me, before reading off some questions off of a sheet, straight from the gouges.
1. Why do you want to work for AE?
2. Why do you feel AE should hire you?
3. What do you feel will be the biggest challenge working at AE?
4. Name three things you beleive the FO is there for.
5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
6. How do you handle criticism?
7. Can't remember, but it was another question someone already listed before. :)
After I finished, I felt pretty releived that it had gone much easier than I expected. Unfortunately the Tech was not so easy. You'll have the tech interview with a guy named Chris. Chris is ex-military and you can definitely tell, he's very straight-forward and blunt. Not a mean guy at all, but he doesn't sweet-talk you or help you out. Brad was in the room during the tech interview as well. He DOES tend to spout off scenarios very very quickly, I had to ask him to repeat what he said about three or four times just because he was churning out too many numbers at once. Don't hesitate to ask him to slow down, or to take your time before answering a question even if he's talking a mile a minute!
1. We began with a page full of METARs. Pointed to three different metars and asked me to read off what they say. Could read it off pretty easily except for "UP" and a long string of letters and numbers near the end.
2. After the METARs, Christ started firing some questions at me. 121 Pilot duty times (8 in a day, 30 in a week (32 international), 100 in a month, 1000 in a year). What is virga? (Rain that evaporates before it hits the ground) What would we look out for if we encountered virga? (strong wind-shear and microbursts) How far around a thunderstorm would you fly? (I hesitated because I wasn't sure if it was 10, 15, or 20 miles, and said that I wasn't positive but I beleive it was 20 miles. 20 turned out to be the right answer.)
3. Pulled out a Dallas airport diagram. What is the elevation of the field? (Look in the top left corner of the diagram) Pointed at a star near the middle of the field, asked what it was (airport beacon). What is the length of this runway? What does the squiggly line down the middle of the field mean? (Look at the nearby box with the same squiggly line around it. Separates west-side traffic frequencies from east-side)
4. Looked at takeoff minimums and approach plates. Again, know RVR! I stumbled over a confusingly-worded scenario, which turned out to be a very simple question. TO minimums for the airport were 6,6,6 with CL & RCLM (centerline lights and runway centerline markings visible), RVR 16 with adequate visual reference (for the person who didn't know what it was a few pages back, here is the official definition: "Runway markings or runway lighting that provides the pilot with adequate visual reference to continuously identify the takeoff surface and maintain directional control throughout the takeoff run." So if there is a half-inch of snow on the ground and you can make out the pavement but cannot make out the runway paint, use this box), and RVR 50 for STD (anything less). Can you go if the station is reporting 8,5,8? (No) How about if it is 8,inop,8? (Yes, the note says any 2 must be reporting). We need to file a takoff alternate though, because ILS cat 1 minimums are 2400 RVR. What determines how far away the alternate can be? (1. an hour away, 2. single engine, 3. normal cruise speed, 4. in still air) He handed me an approach plate and told me to brief the approach. I took my time and read the whole thing top to bottom, not leaving out a thing. One of the other guys said that Chris drilled him on the maltese cross and where exactly the final approach is on the ILS, so study up on your approach plates. If the weather is 2600 RVR and 100' ceilings, can we shoot the approach? (Yes, visibility is ALWAYS controlling!!) Below the ILS DH are three columns: full, TDZ or CL out, ALS out. The lowest is full (all lighting), the next lowest is touchdown zone or centerline lights out, the final one is used when the approach lighting system is out.
5. Enroute chart. Pointed to a green airport and a blue airport, asked the difference between them. (Green = VFR only, Blue = instrument approach) Pointed to a blank triangle waypoint and one that was filled in. (Empty triangle = waypoint, filled in triangle = compulsory reporting point). What is a cumpulsory reporting point? (Required to give ATC a position report crossing it). What is this? (Pointed to a grid MORA. Side note: I told him it was a grid mora, and then started rattling off what a grid MORA is before I realized he only wanted the words 'grid mora', but once I started talking, he asked me to finish. I tend to talk a lot when I'm nervous and have almost gotten in trouble on more than one checkride oral for this very thing! Remember just to give him the specific answer to the specific question he asks. Grid MORA gives 1000' clearance over the tallest obstacle in the grid in non-mountainous terrain, and 2000' in mountainous terrain. Mountainous terrain is any elevation over 5000'.) What airspace is this? (Pointed to a B, C, and PART TIME D). What are the tops of class B, C, D airspace? (10k', 4k', 2.5k'. Know your airspace dimensions! I didn't even realize these would be asked beyond class B tops until one of the guys finished the tech interview and gave us a heads up.) What are the speed limits inside class B, C, D? (I hesitated, told them I wasn't sure about C or D, but I thought it was 250. Turns out to be 200, but they didn't say anything at the time. So you can still answer wrong during the tech interview about at least one thing and pass, but if you fail because of the Tech, you won't know it! Just don't give up even if you think you're doing horrible, consider it good practice. You might even be doing better than you think you are at the time.)
6. STARs and DPs. In these he will give you a scenario such as "You're approaching the XYZ VOR (whichever one starts the arrival) at 20,000 feet. Tell me your altitude and airspeed restrictions, if any, at each point inbound." Take your time and read over the notes before you begin, then walk him through your approach altitudes and airspeeds. There are a lot more notes than you might think there are on those darned things, but I beleive I got all of them. Remember to look at the top, the bottom, by each waypoint, and in all the blank spaces for any notes saying anything about altitudes or airspeeds. He'll have you do basically the same thing with a DP. Also mentioned something about lost comms altitudes as well, but didn't really understand what he meant, and briefed the departure from the given information on the chart.
That's about all I can remember from the Tech interview. Like I said, he asks this stuff pretty rapid-fire. While he's interviewing you, Brad's flipping through your logbook and making notes. Once Chris finishes, Brad will then go through your logbook with you. This was another nerve-wracking moment for me, I'm always nervous that I screwed something in my logbook up. I beleive EVERYONE who went through there had something that Brad talked with them about, so don't sweat it. In my case, I had logged all my Kingair time as both dual-received and PIC, something I was told could be done in flight school but that doesn't quite "fly" in the real world (pun intended). Even if the guy in the left seat has his MEI, that doesn't mean that you should try to get away with trying to inflate your PIC hours with dual-received, your future employers can see right through it. I also had two failed checkrides to talk with him about (blew through the localizer on my single-engine instrument approach for my MEL, and floated past limits on my power-off 180 landing for my SEL commercial).
After you finish both interviews, ask for a lunch voucher and take it easy for a while. The lunch at American is actually pretty good, but bring two or three extra bucks with you if you want to splurge on something more than just a cheeseburger and a soda.
Once you come back, Tiffany will likely hand you another stack of papers to fill out. Another handing thing to bring with you that they didn't mention is ALL OF YOUR PREVIOUS EMPLOYER'S ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, AND FAX NUMBERS! I had to do quite a bit of calling around in the training room to get all the info. Basically it's just a request of information packet that they send out to places you've worked, and if you went to a school but didn't finish with any transcripts (I attended flight safety for about five months to get my CFI, but didn't finish). If you don't finish the paperwork don't sweat, you can take it back to the hotel and finish that night. Bill will come by once everyone is closed to being finished with both interviews, and take 3 people at a time down to the new "sim lab": a frasca 142 stuck in a storage room. That's right, one of the parts of the interview process I was looking forward to most, the full motion sim, is GONE! The silver lining to this dark cloud is that most everyone has some sort of frasca/small PCATD training, so it should be more familiar than riding the big bronco. Bill will give you the complete walkthrough of the course he'll have you flying including airspeeds, altitudes, and callouts. Don't waste your time memorizing the airspeeds or even the altitudes: the only thing you need to do is fly the airplane and tell Bill when to do the checklists and when to set your VOR frequencies. DO NOT trust the trim! You need to keep both hands on that yoke and stare at that altimeter (in straight and level) and VSI (when climbing or descending) as if it were your attitude indicator. Don't bother even looking at the attitude indicator. Pitch is so wild that you're going to spend 80% of the ride trying not to bust 200' (I approached 300 at one point!). As a result, I NEARLY flew through the VOR intercept BOTH TIMES, flying to SLI and the localizer. In any other machine (or a real airplane) you could almost fly this with your eyes closed, but the pitch makes it tricky. Practice at home on flight sim in a baron, that's the plane you'll be flying in the frasca. Take off runway 25R at LAX. Rotate at 90, pitch for 10 degrees up initially, positive rate-gear up, then 110 kts. Reaching 1000, call for climb power, flaps up, climb checklist. Pitch for 135. Reaching 3000', call for cruise power, cruise checklist. At this point Bill will start vectoring you to fly inbound on the SLI VOR 265 radial. Ask him to tune and ident SLI and set 085 inbound heading to SLI. At this point he will tell you "Eagle one, advise when ready to copy." Tell Bill "You have the controls", and he will PAUSE the sim for you, supply you with a clipboard and paper, and give you holding instructions once you tell him ready to copy. Remember that since you're 085 inbound, anything from 085 to 155 is a teardrop entry (subtract 30 degrees for the initial heading crossing the fix), 155 to 335 is direct, and 335 to 085 is parallel. Bill told me to take my time and draw it out if I liked. I was told to hold north on the 010 radial (parallel), so I told him after crossing the fix we will turn left to a 010 heading outbound for one minute, then turn left back to the fix and make our ATC report. He asked me what I would turn the OBS to since I forgot to tell him, and responded 190. He then told me whenever I was ready, that I could take the controls again. He unpaused the sim and gave me vectors down to 2200' at 160 kts towards the ILS 25R approach. Call for descent power and descent checklist. One thing he had to prompt me on was to re-set power reaching 2200 feet, as I was maintaining altitude but my airspeed was dropping below 120 kts! Once the glideslope indicator comes down to 1 dot above center, lower gear, call for approach power and approach checklist, set flaps 50 percent. Approach is flown at 140 kts until you reach the glideslope, and 120 kts after you begin descending again. Hold the needles steady and you'll break out (weather is set at 300' overcast) with the runway in sight. The TV they use in there is so grainy I could barely distinguish the all-white 737 sitting on the runway from the runway markings themselves, and initiated go-around as soon as I realized what it was. Bump the throttles up all the way and pitch for ten degrees, and call out (in order!) max power, flaps up, positive rate-gear up. Bill will then pause the sim and reset you back to 1200' on the approach, just fly it down again and land. I was definitly rusty (out of instrument currency) and behind the airplane, but with no major screwups. Remember that Bill will help you out when you're in there, and there is MUCH less focus on CRM now that the sim is a single-seat frasca, but don't be fooled: Bill still wants you to use him for the tune/ident/checklists/flaps/fine-tuning power. It's up to you whether or not you want him to set your gear, turn your OBS, etc, and you still have to make the initial power lever movements yourself, but since you don't know any of the M.P. settings, you're going to be relying on him to get your airspeeds right.
If you've made it this far, it's a pretty safe bet you're in. Take the hotel van back to your room and relax! I ordered delivery pizza for dinner, which I heard was a good move from the guys who went to the chinese and mexican joints down the road. If you didn't sleep very well last night (let's face it- you didn't) you can be assured that once you finally do go to sleep tonight, you'll be zonked out until your alarm wakes you up. Catch the 7am bus to HDQ2 for your medical. There were 6 of us there and we all got done with the medical around 11. Head back to see Tiffany one last time, and she'll make sure all your paperwork is turned in before putting you on a standby flight back. I nearly didn't make it out (camped out at DFW until 6pm), so I called Tiffany around 3:30 (before she went home) and asked her about a hotel, she just gave my name to Baymont and told me to give them a call to pick me up if I didn't get on, AE would cover the hotel cost. Lucky I got stuffed on a late flight home. :) Hope you enjoyed the novel, and good luck!
P.S. As a side note, the "chair guy" mentioned a couple pages back is a good friend of mine from college, and got hired successfully that interview. He's been working for the company almost a year now and is very, very happy with things at AE. We had a good laugh about his gouge over dinner before my interview, and I definitly did NOT turn my chair around! |
