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ASA Pilot Interview Profiles

» Home » Pilot Interviews » National Airlines » ASA
Date Interviewed: January 2007
Summary of Qualifications: 1258 Total Time, 112 Multi, CFII, ATP Written
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Day One - One on One interview and written test. Everyone meets in a room on the third floor of the ASA building where you are introduced to the company and all of the interviewers. Then the 30 question written. (Stuff like NOTAMS, clouds, fogs, descent rate and mileage questions, basic CG questions and some on how CG changes Vmc) You are then taken to a room to review your resume and paper work and to check ID. The interview questions: Why ASA? What do you like and dislike about your previous or current employer? What would your previous or current manager say about you if I were to call them? List some good and bad qualities you believe you have. What do you think of management at your previous job? Where do you see yourself in 5 and 10 years? Your Captain has been drinking, what will you do about it? Your Captain wants to takeoff with an overweight aircraft, what are you going to do? Given scenario and shown approach plate and Airport diagram (Jepp). With the given RVR and ceiling, will you be able to takeoff as a 121 carrier? If so, will you need a departure alternate? Know how to read Takeoff minimums and the RVR values and apply them to this question. What are the requirements for the departure alternate? Given flight plan on low en route chart and asked what is correct altitude to fly. What will you do if you go lost comms at a certain point along the route. Know airspeeds for the air spaces and what the vertical limits are and where to find them on the chart. Where do you change VORs on a victor airway and if there is no COP or DME, how will you tell? What does services does the VOR offer? (Read the info in the VOR box on the chart) On an ILS (shown a Jepp plate) you are cleared for the approach, intercept the glide slope and begin descending. Can you continue with the approach if visibility goes under the minimums required? (Remember glide slope intercept is your FAF for an ILS) Know the BASIC systems of your most rescent Multi A/C. These guys are very nice and do there best to keep you calm during the interview. They know you're nervous! If you know the answer is correct, stick with it and don't let them talk to you into anything you know is wrong. (like flying too heavy) It's no more than 30 to 40 minutes with the interviewer and part of that is reviewing your resume. Relax and take it easy! Oh, don't forget the fingerprints and drug screen.

Day Two - SIM at Flight Safety You meet at the flight safety building and you're given about a 45 minute intro to the CRJ along power settings and pitch angles for each faze of flight. Be as smooth and relaxed as you can and use small control movements. The SIM is a blast to fly and I got out with a smile on my face. I didn't do everything perfect, but that's not what they're looking for. Review hold entries and be able to determine the entry and the first heading as fast as you can. It helps to ease the nerves if you have holds down pat. Do your best and have as much fun as your nerves will let you. It feels so real! GOOD LUCK!

Date Interviewed: January 2007
Summary of Qualifications: CFI/CFII 2300TT
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:

First, this is a great site, and many thanks to all those who've submitted their experiences. Most of the information here is pretty right on. I was really nervous since this was my first airline interview and I also did a prep with www.mypilotcareer.com which I thought really helped. On day one, they sit you down and give you a short briefing on the company's history, where it's going, benefits, that kind of thing. Everyone was very nice. I thought the written test was pretty easy, seemed like a lot of questions were taken from the ATP written. If you study the Gleim for this part you'll be ok. They wanted a written paragraph on a topic of your choosing, I chose to write about working through trouble-spots with students and I guess they liked it. The one-on-one interview was pretty intense. There were a number of situational/CRM type questions. Since I've never operated in an airline environment before, this is where I felt like the interview prep I did really helped. How would you deal with a drunk captain? How would you deal with a captain that wanted to depart overweight? What would you do if the captain wanted to shoot an approach that was below minimums? What if you were established on the approach and he wanted to continue? Can he legally continue? Then the interviewer pulled out an ATL approach chart and asked me to brief it. We talked about what vis. is required for landing, DH vs. MDA, MAP, lots of sybology questions. We covered a low enroute chart very thoroghly. Make sure you know your Jepps! Then the drug test and fingerprints and day one was over. Day two was the sim, same profile as in previous gouge. The sim is VERY sensitive. Make sure you try to use target pitch setting and trim trim trim. All and all seems like a really good company with good people. I'm looking forward to starting.

Date Interviewed: October 2005
Summary of Qualifications: over 100hrs in glass cockpit, and type rated.
Were you offered the job? No
Pilot Interview Profile:
Day 1: report time was 2pm at flight safety. There we went over log books and have a 30 min introduction of the CRJ 200. They took two at a time, 30 mins a person. The profile was normal takeoff, 10 degree pitch attitude at 90% N1, to 6000 feet. Some turns direct to a VOR, and track a radial outbound. Constant airspeed climb to 8000 ft, steep turns (30 degrees of bank) left and right. Then slow to 200 knots. I then got direct to a VOR, which was on a 360 heading, and a hold on its 350 radial. That seemed to be what the others received as well, a north heading direct with a tear-drop or parallel entry, right turns. I didn't even finish the entry when they had me break it off, and do a constant airspeed decent to 2700 feet, and brief the ILS 9R into ATL. They tell you when to put in flaps and drop the gear. Some things that I found were handy: when you first get into the SIM, don't adjust your seat until they go over every lever. Also, on the ILS look at your instruments until about 100 AGL, so you don't do s-turns all the way down. About 7:30 pm they will have the recording made, and you just call the number and listen for the last 4-digits of your social security number.

Day 2: report time was 9am at ASA, which is right behind Flight Safety. We first had our fingerprints taken, and had an introduction to ASA, normally they would have shown a video, but it wasn't up to date with the SkyWest trade. Also during that they had another logbook review. After that was drug screening and the interview. The interview questions were: Why choose ASA? What can you bring to ASA? How did you prepare for this interview? What are you best traits? What is the role of a First Officer? Role of a Captain? What do you think will be the hardest part of adjusting to ASA and flying the line? What is CRM? Why is it important? Name a system on your most recent A/C and explain it. What is its GTOW, Max LNG weight, and fuel capacity? What types of weather reports and charts would you look up before a flight, and where can you find this information? What type of information can you find in a weather depiction chart? What is a PIREP, and what kind of information can you find in it? What are the different types of NOTAMs and give an example of each. Then they pulled out some JEPP plates for Jackson Hole, Wy. An ILS, airport diagram, and 2 departures. Then he asked me to use these charts and brief the approach. Where is the tallest obstacle? What is the radius if the MSA in the corner? What is the take-off mins? What does adequate visual reference men? Who is the controlling agency for the approach and do they have radar? What is the width of the runway? What is V2? What is V1? How does temp affect V1? How does CG affect Vmc? What would you do if you went lost comm?
After those questions it was then off to the Written, they had 30 multiple choice questions.
A nose forward CG does what to Vmc, increases, decreases or nothing?
What type of cloud produces the most turbulence, TCU, CB or alto stratus?
What type of NOTAM would give info on a nav aid out of service, L, D, or FDC?
What type of NOTAM is regulatory in nature, L D, or FDC?
If you are traveling at 210knots, with a 30 knot tailwind, and was just given a clearance to decent from FL210 to 11,000 feet at 1000 fpm, how much distance will you cross during the decent, 40, 45, 50nm?
FAR part 121 is for: commercial, flag, and supplemental carriers; airmen certification, medical qualifications?
What is the most appropriate altitude for a heading of 120; FL300, FL360, FL370?
What is the highest altitude you can fly without giving the passengers O2; 14000, 15000, FL180?
If landing behind a 757, you want to land; before the 757, after 757, doesn't matter?
I don't remember the numbers, but they give you a heading to a VOR, and a hold instruction, and you have to decide which entry to use.
Date Interviewed: August 2005
Summary of Qualifications: CFII, AMEL, 650 TT, 101 ME, 16 turbine
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Day one - This was the simulator evaluation. Show time was 14:00 and I ended up sitting around for about an hour before there was a simulator open. Clay Britton was the evaluator and he took us into the office and went through our logbooks and asked us about our flying background. Then he went through the CRJ cockpit and told us the basics on how to fly it. The atmosphere was very relaxed and he was open to any questions that we had. He gave us both a copy of the approach plate (ILS 04 @ ABY) that we were going to use in the simulator and then we had about another 45 minutes of waiting for a sim. This gave us an opportunity to review the approach and also a chance to brief what each of us wanted the other to do as pilot not flying. Then came the sim. We got the CRJ 700 which seemed to be pretty much the same as the 200 except for the FADEC. If you get the 200 they want you to set T/O thrust to 90% N1. If you get the 700 with FADEC then you just push the throttles up until the second click (or third, I can't remember). Pretty easy. The simulator is very high fidelity and it feels just like you're flying the thing. My partner went first and I was PNF in the left seat. PNF takes care of the radio calls and sets the courses and bugs. Cleared for take off runway 04, runway heading to 5000 and catch 250 kts in the climb. They said in the briefing that it takes about 60 - 65% N1 to hold level at 250 with no flaps. I think that it was a lot easier and more effective to set throttles to cancel out the trend vector on the ASI than it was to fish for that perfect throttle setting by looking at the N1 gauge. My partner did the latter and seemed to have a some trouble holding airspeed. Then we were cleared direct to the VOR with a constant airspeed climb to 8000. Leveled off and tracked outbound on the 240, Did steep turns then cleared back to the VOR for a hold at 200 kts. He gives you about 3 minutes notice on the hold so you have plenty of time to figure out what you're going to do. The steep turns (30 degrees of bank) were pretty easy but took a little extra pitch and power. Again, I set the power using the trend vector on the ASI (the trend vector shows you what your airspeed will be in 10 seconds, so if you don't see it, then you're doing good and you are maintaining a constant airspeed). We did the holding entry only and then it was vectors to the final approach course for the ILS 04. He put in 10 knots of direct crosswind and it took about 5 degrees of correction to hold course. He tells you when to put in flaps and gear, so you don't have to worry about that. Remember to leave the correction in and keep flying the needles after you bust out of the clouds (at about 500 FT). My partner got a little distracted by the visuals of the runway environment and took out his cross-wind correction and ended up having to go missed. The best advice that I can give you is to avoid the distraction by flying the needles basically all the way in to the threshold. When the audible altitude calls "one hundred", start to gradually pull the throttles to idle, put in your crosswind slip, and start the flare. The audible altitude calls 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, and the rate at which it does lets you know how much rate of pitch you need in the flare. Then you just wait for the bump of the runway catching the gear. It lands smoothly and you can really feel it when you slip it on the crosswind landing. It was pretty sweet. Clay told us both right there that we made to the second day and this was only because we both had made it and there were only two of us interviewing that day. Normally, you have to call a phone number and listen for the last four digits of your SSN.

Day Two - Met at ASA HQ at 09:00 and were given a company overview and watched a video. Then we went upstairs and did the drug test and then back downstairs for the one-on-one interview. I interviewed with Paul Frederick who was a seven year ASA pilot and a 4 year ATR captain. We went over my application packet that I had sent in a couple of weeks earlier and made sure everything was correct. He looked over my logbook and asked me to tell him about the fuel system on one of the airplanes that I had recently been flying. Asked me about a difficult situation that I had while flight instructing and how I handled it. Asked some personal questions like what I thought my worst trait was and why I liked flight instructing and why they should hire me. Then we went over Jepp plates and he asked me a couple of ATP 121 questions. He pulled out a SID from Jackson Hole, Wyoming and he asked me what adequate visual reference meant under the take-off minimums section on the departure plate. That was pretty much it. I got a letter in the mail about 10 days later that said I had made it into the hiring pool as long as nothing showed up during my background check.

Date Interviewed: June 2005
Summary of Qualifications: 1300total,130multi,4 yr degree,Level D sim experience
Were you offered the job? Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:

I recommend getting some CRJ experience Level 5/ 6 or D just something. Small price to pay. After all how much have you paid to get this far?

Day one, Sim Ride in the CRJ level D Flight Safety. Nice Aircraft. They check logbooks so make sure you're up to date. Everyone was friendly. 600 overcast 2 miles in the clouds the whole time and handfly. To power 90% N1 VR 140kts, Climb to 5000' rwy hdg 250kt , track a radial to the vor then climb to 8000' 30 degree turns left and right, direct to vor and hold 200 kts, then vectors for ILS. Everything is configured while you're flying on downwind so watch for the pitch moments and retrim, brief the approach and fly the ILS. Weather is 600 overcast and 2 miles 10kt x - wind break out and land. Power settings are between 55% and 68% that is the range. You have to feel it out. ILS works well about 63-65 % hold works well about 61-63% (be sure to slow down )climb about 68%. Power idle for descent. Work with your sim partner and have him set hdg, alt, speed bugs. Ils is about 900 ft / min descent rate for the GS. Get any CRJ sim experience you can it really helps. You're going to be nervous enough.

Day 2 9 AM at company HQ. Start off with a video, Logbook audit goes on while watching video so make sure you're up to date with the ole logbook. Drug test, HR interview (about 20-30 min) 30 question written, fingerprint then done.
HR questions: Why ASA?, Why hire you?, One thing you would re-do? What are you most proud of? What are your goals?
Technical questions: Jepp Plates know em! T/O alternate? Vis required for T/O? MSA? FAF ILS? Loose GS ILS WWYD? Current A/C systems electrical, hydrolic, factors of VMC ?, Redline , Blueline, V1, V2. Radar contact and terrain who is responsible?
Study ATP written for the 30 question test and you're going to do fine. If you're currently teaching/ thinking about this stuff, I wouldn't sweat it too much.
Thanks to all who posted! See you on the line!

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