| My qualifications: 14-year USAF; 3100 TT, 3100 ME, 3100 Turbine, 1400
Turboprop, 1700 Jet, 1800 PIC, 200 Instructor. Aircraft: B-52, C-130, T-37.
B.S. Electrical Engineering. M.S. Aeronautical Science.
08/10/99: AE received my resume
08/13/99: I received their application
09/23/99: I sent in my application.
10/10/99: I received a interview invite letter (no call).
11/17/99: Flew to DFW on an AE ERJ-145.
11/18/99: Interview.
11/19/99: Phone call with conditional offer.
Try to get on an AE Regional Jet (RJ) flight and chat with the pilots. It
will psyche you up for the interview. The RJ is a sweet jet. If you get to
DFW early, go to the C.R. Smith Museum at the American Airlines Flight
Academy (where you take the sim check). It's a great way to learn about AA's
history.
I stayed with an AA buddy of mine who lives near the airport so I don't have
advice on where to stay. Arrived for sign-in at Centreport IV at 0715.
There were at least a dozen other people there but it turned out only 7 of us
were pilot candidates. All of us were males. I was the only military guy.
Five of us were white, one asian, and one hispanic. One guy was on his THIRD
interview attempt. Not sure why.
We were finally escorted to a classroom waiting area just before 0800. An RJ
captain, Tom Vache, briefed us on the day's events, some company history,
current status, and future plans. Claudette Carroll came in to brief us on
some company info and our paperwork requirements. She said AE expects to
hire 600 people in 2000 (60-80/mo starting in Mar 2000). She said they've
had "good" attrition where many of their people are going on to fly for the
majors. She said AE is a good stepping stone to the majors. Bottom line,
these people aren't stupid. They know many of us wish to use AE as a
stepping stone to the majors but they also hope and believe that some of us
will make AE a career. They do a fairly good job across the board of keeping
you at ease. They dress surprisingly casual and I think that helps, too.
They told us up front to expect no feedback at any phase of the interview
day. They largely stuck to that promise.
By 0915 most of us were done with our paperwork. The civilians had more
paperwork due to the PRIA request documentation. Military applicants don't
need to worry about PRIA, yet. AE will send you a list of documents to
bring. They also asked us for our social security cards when we got there.
USAF guys only need: your AF Form 942 (Record of Evaluation) from your FEF;
your AFORMS Flying History Report (hours summary); and some proof/statement
of when you took your ATP check. Civilians: they'll want to see all your
checkride dates written in the front of at least one of your logbooks.
You may be selected for the HR or the tech interview first. The tech
interview is one-on-one with an AE captain. There were three AE captains
that day: Mark Stewart, Paul Cox, and Vic Pollitte. Captain Pollitte called
me out of the classroom at about 0915. In the interview room he invited me
to remove my jacket. I did. He asked me when I took my ATP checkride. I
pointed out to him that I had included the date in a signed explanation of
the content of my flight records. He said OK. He didn't say another word
about my flight record/hours. He told me a little bit about himself then
asked me to tell me about my aviation experience. I told him how I got
interested in flying as a boy. Just as I reached the part in the story of
where I joined the Air Force he stopped me. I hadn't even told him about my
flying career at that point but he seemed satisfied with where I was going
and moved on. He then asked me why I wanted to fly for AE. He then started
asking tech questions, checking off each subject area on a copy of a list in
front of him as we went along. Here they are as I remember them:
1) He pulled out a Jeppesen approach plate for Albany, NY. I think it was
the VOR/ILS to Rwy 19. It threw me a little bit, the approach plate didn't
have the new briefing strip across the top.
a) He asked me to brief the approach. While doing so I defined MSA. He
asked me if the highest obstruction on the plate was MSL or AGL. (It's MSL.)
b) The weather is 1200 RVR. Can you fly the approach? No.
c) Where is the final approach fix? No maltese cross so it's when
you're established inbound.
d) What kind of lights could you expect to see approaching the runway?
Just check the airfield diagram info for the lighting configuration.
Fortunately, he didn't ask me to draw or describe the lighting for him.
2) When can you go below minimums on approach? What do you need to see to
continue to land? When you go below mins to 100 feet, is that 100 feet above
TDZE or below DH? (100 above TDZE)
3) When do you need an alternate?
4) When do you need a takeoff alternate?
5) Jeppesen Low Enroute chart (for South Florida). Identify and define an
MEA, MOCA, grid MORA? What's the difference between the blue and green
airfield symbols?
6) Read an actual METAR strip from O'Hare (ORD). If you know the standard
symbols, you'll do fine. No strange ones here.
7) On the same page, read an actual TAF from ORD. Asked me what the weather
would be at a specific time--had to interpret a BCMG group.
8) What are the C-130's flap speed limits?
9) What is Vmo for the C-130? I told him this varied with altitude but was
around 325. Okay, he said, what is it at 18,000 ft? I told him I'd have to
have the chart in front of me since it wasn't linear. That satisfied him.
Next was the human resources (HR) interview. It followed within an hour of
my tech interview. An ATR captain did my HR interview. I didn't catch his
name but I thought it odd that a pilot, and not an HR person, would do an HR
interview. Oh well. He read these questions verbatim from a form and made
notes on my responses on the several blank lines following each printed
question:
1) Why do you want to work for AE?
2) What can you offer AE that other people can't?
3) Where are your two most desired AE domiciles?
4) What 3 things do you look for in a company/job?
5) What would you like us to know about you that isn't on your resume?
6) Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I told them "flying for AA".
7) What was your biggest disappointment? How did you handle it? What did
you learn from it?
Here are some that were asked of others but not me:
8) What would your former employers say about you?
9) Have you ever had a conflict with a co-worker? How was it resolved?
10) Why did you choose to leave the military/previous job?
That's all the HR stuff I remember. He shocked me when he told me right
there in the interview that I was going onto the sim that afternoon. Later,
I found out I was the only guy who was told that at the close of the second
interview. Not sure why. Not to worry, though, because ultimately 6 of the
7 of us went to the sim phase. The one guy got called out after his second
(HR) interview and was sent home. He indicated that his first (tech)
interview went okay when he thanked me for the verbal gouge I gave him
moments before he got called in.
Four of the 6 of us remaining were complete by noon. After I prompted Ms.
Carrol and one of the captains, they released us for lunch at 1230 and told
us to return by 1330 if we weren't complete, 1400 if we were. Their
cafeteria is excellent and convenient. We were all complete with interviews
by 1415 and headed outside for the 1430 shuttle to the American Airlines
flight academy just across the airport property. Follow the building map
they give you and you'll still get lost. We were the only "suits" in the
building, everyone dresses casual in training, so someone noticed we were
lost and told us where to find the 707 sim. I didn't buy 707 prep time
anywhere. It was only available in 2-hour blocks so it was too pricey for
me. If you fly and are proficient in a round dial aircraft with an RMI and
CDI then you'll do fine. I bought a $100 hour of sim time from AIR Inc
(after my interview prep). They've got a no-motion twin prop sim. I only
did it because I've been flying a glass cockpit now and haven't flown round
dials in a few years. Turned out not to be a problem anyway but I'm glad I
did it as a confidence builder.
We were briefed and evaluated by Joe Emerson, a friendly but somewhat cocky
AE captain, who said he "took time out of his day" to be there. He tried his
best to assure us he wasn't looking to hire a 707 pilot but wanted to see if
we had a decent crosscheck characterized by us recognizing and continually
correcting deviations. He also wanted to see good CRM skills. You will be
given no emergencies. He gave us all speeds and power settings and a poor
xerox copy of the LAX 24R approach. I had just 10 minutes to review the
information. During that time I wrote all the checklist calls, airspeeds,
and power settings in the margin of the approach plate. (Big hint: with
each power or configuration change, there is generally a new checklist to
run.) I went first because I had a 5:40 pm flight. Got in the sim at 3:35
pm. He showed me how to adjust the seat and pointed out a few key features.
He gave me a moment to get my bearings and then we started the scenario with
no wind, 300-2, engines running on LAX runway 24R. He'll set the radios when
you tell him but you make ALL of the calls. You also have to call for all
checklists and navaid changes. He also will give you certain standard
callouts. Before takeoff I briefed him on takeoff/abort procedures and any
calls I wanted to hear from him. Didn't seem like a critical brief to him.
He appeared to want to just takeoff asap. I pushed the throttles up and told
him to set takeoff EPR (1.8). During the climb to 5,000 feet, he gave me two
left hand turns that ultimately lined me up to intercept the 250R off of Seal
Beach VOR. After a few seconds on the second heading, I asked him which of
the two RMI needles pointed to the VOR. He said, "Neither. It's not dialed
in yet." Woops, I forgot to tell him to change it earlier. He dialed it in
for me and gave me a hint not to turn too early to intercept or we'd
parallel. Ended up being good advice. I intercepted course and he gave me a
descent to 2,500 MSL. I established the descent, gave him the aircraft, and
quickly briefed the approach. I didn't read the whole plate, just the high
points. He maintained control of the aircraft and gave me ATC directions to
"hold northeast of the Seal Beach VOR on the 040R, EFC at 40 past the hour".
I carefully drew the entry (a parallel entry) on the approach plate and then
stared at it for 10 seconds to double check it. I then showed it to my
"first officer" and asked him if he agreed. He agreed and we skipped
holding. He prebriefed us that we would not hold if we were verbally clear
on how we'd do it. He asked me what course I'd set in the CDI for the hold.
I told him 040. I took the plane and followed his left vector (330) to final
and descent call to 2200 MSL. Enroute I called for approach flaps (14) and
checklist and had him TIM the localizer navaid. I intercepted course okay.
Called for the gear, flaps (25), and landing checklist at glideslope
intercept. I went above glideslope and verbally noted that. He said "look
at your airspeed". I was 20 knots fast and yanked off the power. I vertical
S'ed once down the glideslope as I corrected to 140 KIAS but never went more
than on dot width above or below. Not pretty but I broke out just after I
stabilized and landed. He took it shortly after touchdown and brought it to
a quick stop. We hopped out and all he had to say is "good luck". No other
feedback was offered.
I interviewed on 18 Nov 99, a Thursday. The captains board meets every
Friday with conditional hire calls made on Friday pm and Monday. I got a
call at 3:30 pm Friday, 19 Nov, with a conditional offer. Haven't had the
physical yet. Since I'm not available until mid-February, they told me
returning for my physical in January 2000 should still give me time to
qualify for a February 2000 class.
My opinion is that you arrive at this interview a new hire. It is yours to
screw up from that point. The good news is that they need pilots badly and I
truly believe they want to hire everyone who gets invited.
Nutshell gouge: Study this trip report; Jeppesen airways manual introduction
and plates/charts; AIR Inc's "Questions, Questions" book; FAR/AIM (mostly FAR
weather stuff); and METAR/TAF. Fly lots of instrument work with the
autopilot off.
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