Everyone was very nice and easy going. Great experience for sure

Home Everyone was very nice and easy going. Great experience for sure

admin@readysettakeoff.com

, , CJO Not Offered, United Airlines Ride Reports, 0
Which Airline did you interview with? United
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability? 2 months from invite to interview. 6 months from invite to availability.
Did you receive a job offer? Waiting to hear back
If you did not receive the CJO why do you think you weren’t chosen to continue in the process? N/A
What is your experience? Military
Total Flight Time 3,000-4,000
Total Turbine PIC Time 1,000-2,000
General Overview of Experience I arrived at 1:45 to be in trailer at 2:00 for 2:30 interview. I went to where I was told security was from a friend a few weeks before, but they moved again due to construction. Wandered around a bit looking lost and someone was nice enough to point me in right direction. Security is now in F building (main glass building with United sign in front), but had to enter from right side entrance (from looking toward building). Security guys were nice, but in no hurry to give me a badge with me feeling late due to my wander time. I gave my license and they printed a badge. I went toward the trailers and thought I knew which one, but wandered again and asked and was told trailer 5 (there is a sign that says pilot interviews, but you can’t see it until very close).
I was the only interviewee for the afternoon session on 4 Apr. At first I thought I missed something. It was nice so I just talked to Doris and AmyLyn and another lady in the office about things. I missed initialing 2 pages of my printed app, but AmyLyn pointed them out. No changes to my app or hours.
Everyone was very nice and easy going. Great experience for sure.
How long did you have your application in before you received an invite? 6-12 months
Did you attend a job fair? Yes
Did you do anything special that triggered the interview invitation? Attended the Friday session of the United open house on Veteran’s Day in San Fransisco.
How many internal recs did you have? 3-4
How long was it from the time of your invite to the actual interview? 4 weeks
Did you have any issues with logbooks, application or paperwork? I was missing a fair credit report act signature page (not sure if it was sent to me or if I just missed it, but Doris gave me one and I signed no problem.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? Read through Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot, M3: The Mach, The Mile, The Minute, The Turbine Pilot’s Flight Manual by Gregory Brown & Mark Holt, and Airline Pilot Technical Interviews: A Study Guide by Ronald McElroy.
I studied the RST 15 Day Checklist study plan.
Finally, I went to a Technical Skills Class at Flight Training International (FTI) in Denver to help prepare me for the Line Oriented Interview (LOI).
Technical Test Questions LOI was with an Airbus captain from SFO. I didn’t realize the LOI pilot would be different than the HR panel pilot. He showed me basic operation of Jepp Pro and Wx/NOTAM app.
Profile was LAX to SFO. Given wx and departing gate and simple flight plan with SID and STAR ID (had to deduce names and transitions from flight plan codes). I studied NOTAMS/WX, gate/ramp, checked for standard taxi instructions, guessed at expected taxi route (evaluator later told me inner taxiways for departure and outer for arrivals), checked hot spots, studied SID, then gave my pre-departure brief. Evaluator asked a couple simple questions from SID like how far was it from airfield to the first NAVAID on SID (route was vectors to first point) and the distance was specified in a note on SID. Then he brought up takeoff profile and I briefed as PF and included PM steps.
Then got to choose from 4 malfunctions – got a Right Pack Shutoff and transferred control and got in QRH. I read the checklist up to the 4 dots (which means end of checklist) – pretty simple.
Then set up for STAR and visual backed up with ILS. Gave my arrival brief. Evaluator asked a couple simple questions on STAR like if you are descending via and given a vector off, what do you descend to and I replied that STAR is cancelled unless given expect to resume so I would query for level off altitude.
Then briefed the approach and missed approach profiles. He brought me on final instead of starting from enroute descent, which threw me off a bit since I memorized saying from enroute descent. I had to figure out how to jump into brief so I started at flaps 1, speed 190 then flaps 5, speed 170. In hindsight, I think the evaluator said we already did the approach checklist but I wish I would have made the 7 NM from FAF and 5 NM from FAF calls for flaps.
Then a plane landed hard and shutdown the landing airport for the next 2 hrs and we had 15 min of fuel. I asked the FO to get holding and we held as published on the missed approach procedure. I transferred control and asked dispatch for divert options with weather and services. Got 3 and one was right at 15 min away and had United service and other 2 were 5 min away but no United service – one we would be #5 for landing and the other had no delays. I told FO I didn’t like the one 15 min away with only 15 min fuel and asked him what he thought about the other 2. He gave me his opinion and we chose that and I asked for a vector direct to the alternate. The evaluator mentioned we could run approach checklist in holding since we had a little time and to not get balled up heading to the alternate right away. I asked dispatch to let the airport know we were coming and to coordinate fuel and get us a flight plan with ATC and work passenger rebooking. Then we informed the flight crew and passengers.
Finally, got to choose from 1 of 4 CRM videos. Mine was on approach and subsequent missed approach. Captain wasn’t referring to Checklist, didn’t get gear or flaps on go, said gear was up when it wasn’t. FO was making calls, but didn’t verify steps were completed. Evaluator asked what would I do if Captain wasn’t accomplishing steps I called out and I said repeat or accomplish myself and debrief.
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? Hardest part is developing a solid pre-departure and arrival brief since I am military and have no Part 121 experience – we mission plan and brief very differently than the airlines. Once I developed the briefs, the LOI was very simple. See “Additional Information” below for the briefings I used.
Cog Test N/A
Cog Math Questions N/A
HR Questions HR Panel interview was with a 787 captain from Houston and a HR Rep
They have a playbook and take notes for each story. Each page has columns for situation, task/action, result and they prebrief you on the STAR method so make sure to use it.
They both introduced themselves and I asked them some questions about themselves just to get conversation going.
HR Questions:
– Walk us through your resume and how you got interested in flying.
– TMAA stressful flight.
– Tell me about a time you encountered a hostile coworker and how did you handle it.
– TMAAT you had an inflight emergency and how did you direct actions.
– TMAA challenge you faced that you didn’t think you could accomplish and what did you do.
– TMAAT you made a quick decision that your later regretted.
– Tell me about a quality you possess that will benefit United operations and tell me about a situation where you used that quality productively.
– Why do you want to fly for United?
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview? About 3 months of solid prep including a people review, self-assessment, and story development, and finally categorizing stories into categories (see “Additional Information” below).
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help? I had resume/application review by Career Takeoff in Dallas.
I read through as many current Trip Reports that I could find and developed a long list of HR questions for practice. I videotaped my stories (painful), and had my wife ask me questions each night for a couple weeks.
I read through “Checklist For Success: A Pilot’s Guide to the Successful Airline Interview” by Cheryl Cage” and did the recommended People Review and Self-Assessment Checklist – this was difficult, but VERY helpful.
I did an initial HR consult with Cage Consulting via web meeting, did a 1 hour interview prep session in person with Cage in Denver, and then did a 1 hour top off with Cage the day prior to my Interview. I highly recommend using Cage and I went to the in person session about 3 weeks prior to my interview and helped me get a feeling for the layout and helped ease some nerves. I stayed at the Doubletree right across from the United Training Center where the interviews are conducted and did the exact same thing for the actual interview.
Any additional information you would like to add. I highly suggest developing your stories into categories so you can translate the questions instead of trying to develop a story for every possible question. Below is what I used:
– CONFLICT: FROM ABOVE (policy issue you disagreed with and how you dealt with that)
– CONFLICT: CAPTAIN (in-flight disagreement and how you handled it)
– CONFLICT: AT A PEER LEVEL (pilot to pilot)
– CRM (Teamwork/Leadership… this is designed to show your interpersonal skills)
– TEAMWORK (Team orientation, team building, communication skills)
– CUSTOMER SERVICE (TMAAT you went above and beyond with regard to customer service or selfless leadership. How you took care of your troops)
– POLICIES (Which have you disagreed with and what did you do about it)
– LEADERSHIP (Planned and Unexpected times)
– MENTORSHIP (how you helped/inspired/motivated a subordinate/peer)
– DECISIONS (Good ones and bad ones)
– CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM (How you deal with taking criticism)
– STRESS (how you deal with stress)
– STRENGTHS (highlight your best)
– WEAKNESSES (explain how you mitigate them or work to improve)
Below are the Pre-departure and Arrival Briefs I used for the LOI:
Pre-departure Brief:
GP DN
General
– PF/PM duties
– Pilots – fit to fly/IMSAFE
– CRM:
– airspeed/altitude/routing/traffic
– off 100’/10kts
– CUS: concerned, uncomfortable, unsafe
– Transfer of A/C Control
– iPads/Plates/Manuals – Current
– Cell Phone/PEDs – Off
– Maintenance Status/Release Form
– NOTAMS
– Taxi Considerations
– Evacuation
– PF get aircraft stopped
– PM call tower, roll trucks as precaution
– PM read checklist in QRH/shutdown
– Notify passengers/flight attendants deploy ramps
– Headcount once evacuated
Performance
– RWY/Flaps
– HW/TW/Slope corrections
– Bleeds/Packs
– TO Limit Weight
– ZFW/TOGW
– ATEMP/TEMP/De-rate
– N1 Crosscheck
– V1 / VR / V2
Departure/Navigation
– PDC/ATC Clearance in FMC
– FD Pitch & Roll Modes (VNAV/LNAV)
– Rejected Takeoff
– up to 80 KIAS (100 AB): stop for anything
– up to V1: reject for fire/failure/windshear, uninhibited EICAM (engine indicating crew alerting message)
– PF idle, brakes, speed brake, thrust reversers
– PF notify passengers/flight attendants and remain seated
– PM back up procedures, note airspeed
– PM call tower, roll trucks if needed
– After V1: airborne emergency
– PF flies
– PM obstacles, gear/flaps, climb out routing
– PM declare emergency, ask for block/hold/visual approach/vectors to approach
– PF flies/radios
– PM checklist, dispatch/MX, Inform crew & get inputs, inform passengers
– Landing: heavy weight/hot brakes
– PWS Response/Windshear Recovery
– Max Thrust; avoid overboost unless contact ground
– Rotate before 2000’ remaining to get airborne
– 15 degrees pitch; more up to stick shaker to avoid ground
– maintain configuration
– notify ATC when able
– Engine Failure Profile
– Gear up right away
– V2 by end of runway at 35’
– Maintain V2 to 400’ AGL
– Accelerate to Vfs (best climb clean single engine)
– Clean up aircraft
– Accelerate to Venr (normal climb) at 1500’ AGL
– Brief SID
– Terrain/Obstacles
Arrival Briefing:
TAGR
Transfer of AC Control
– PF/PM duties
– CRM:
– airspeed/altitude/routing/traffic
– off 100’/10kts
– CUS: concerned, uncomfortable, unsafe
– Transfer of AC Control
Arrival/Approach
– ATIS/NOTAMS/MEL
– FMC loaded Arrival/Approach
– FD Pitch & Roll Modes (VNAV/LNAV)
– Brief STAR
– Flap Setting
– Target Speed
– Autobrakes/Braking Action
– Brief Approach
– Terrain/Obstacles
– Non-Normal Response
– PF files
– PM vector to holding
– PF flies/ATC
– PM checklist in QRH
Go Around/Rejected Landing
– Go Around Plan
– Anything on Runway
– Unsafe/Unstabilized Approach
– PWS Response/Windshear Recovery
– Max Thrust; avoid overboost unless contact ground
– 15 degrees pitch; more up to stick shaker to avoid ground
– maintain configuration
– notify ATC when able
– MA NAVAIDS/FMC
– FD Pitch & Roll Modes (Normal/Heading)
– Missed Approach
– PF flies
– PM get vectors to 2nd app/divert
Runway/Exit Plan
– Direction
– Expected Initial Taxi
– Taxi Considerations
– Runway Incursion/Hot Spots
– Crossing Runways
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? I felt like I prepared as much as I could. I deliberately wanted to over-prepare and got out my stress and anxiety in the weeks leading up to the interview, which allowed me to relax and be myself and have confidence that I did all I could do.
Related Articles
 

©2024 Ready Set Takeoff

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?