Overall the experience was consistent with the recent ride reports

Home Overall the experience was consistent with the recent ride reports

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, , CJO Offered, Delta Ride Reports, 0
Which Airline did you interview with? Delta Air Lines
How many days between invite, interview, and listed availability?
Did you receive a job offer? Yes
If you did not receive the CJO why do you think you weren’t chosen to continue in the process?
What is your experience? 121 only
Total Flight Time 5,000-8,000
Total Turbine PIC Time < 1,000
General Overview of Experience Overall the experience was consistent with the recent ride reports. I arrived to the guard shack (hotel shuttle from the Double Tree) at 7:15am, the staff there issued me an ID sticker then directed me to the 1020 building. Once inside the 1020 building I sat in the staging area (directly outside of the Pilot Recruitment offices) until Mrs. Shantay opend up the doors to let us in at around 7:30. Once inside we were issued small water bottles and placed the ID sticker from the guard shack on the bottle, and were issued temporary visitor pass ID badges. DO NOT LOSE THIS WATER BOTTLE (I helped a few of the candidates dig through the recycle bin to retrieve their bottle). Keep it until you are off the campus then recycle it. Also, refill this water bottle from the filtered water dispenser, Delta is a green company and they want you to do your part.
At around 8:00am Captain Arnie Kraby (DAL Pilot Selection Manager) came out to greet the 14 of us and gave us our schedule and a little tour of the facility. This lasted for about 30 minutes and he did a great job of helping to ease the pressure. He told us that DAL wants to hire us, and that is why we were there. He went on to say that this process was about getting to know YOU and they do not want canned answers to questions. After that we went back to the staging area and divided into two groups, one group did the HR interview, the other group did the computer testing.
How long did you have your application in before you received an invite? 12 months +
Did you attend a job fair? No
Did you do anything special that triggered the interview invitation? I hired Cage Consulting to go over my Airline App and implemented the changes that they suggested. This service (alone is $100) was worth EVERY penny and really made my app look great. I also updated my flight times about one to two times per week (for the last 6 years). From what I understand, internal recommendations also triggered an automatic review of my application.
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? Cage found many errors with my application and I’m very glad they found them prior to the interview. There was one thing that slipped through the cracks (my fault) which had to do with my employment history dates. I kept track of my dates of employment by month/year and there was a conflict with when I left the flight school. I got the impression that a few minor corrections with paperwork are normal, and it is by no means anything to stress over DURING the interview. However; the fewer the corrections, the better. Tab your logbooks (checkrides etc…), make their job as easy as possible. The email inviting me to the interview said to come prepared to discuss my attendance, so I made a sheet that had a log of my sick time and holidays that I worked, which they seemed to really appreciate.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? To prepare for the JKT / COG test I studied A LOT. I went through all of the gouge that is floating around on the internet making sure to study the subject areas, not just memorizing answers. I had plenty of time to study, about nine weeks, because of schedule conflicts, which gave me enough time to prepare and gave me confidence going into the interview. Don’t rush yourself to get to the interview if you need the time to study. If you fail the JKT or COG portion (something that you have full control over prepping for), you will have six months to a year to prep IF you get invited back; pushing back your interview date to prep adequately might actually be the fastest way to DAL. The big areas on the JKT test were: Aerodynamics (L/D max in particular), Navigation, Airport Markings / lighting, and turbine engines. Know these areas in particular. The Navy book “Fundamentals Of Aerodynamics” was a very good resource for all of the Aerodynamics questions and is much easier to read that Aero For Naval Aviatiors. You can download that book for free. AFMAN 11-217 Instrument Flight Procedures Chapter 6 was a great resource for all of the aviation math. This book broke down the formulas into an easy to understand format with good explanations. The Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge was really helpful with definitions (TAS, EAS, True Altitude, Density Altitude etc….). I read the AIM Chapter 2 a few times which was very helpful for airport lighting, signs etc. I almost exclusively used the resources at RST to study for the Turbine Engine Section. After studying all of the gouge I reviewed every subject area on the RST website, then took the practice tests to see where I needed further review. To prepare for the Cog test I did Lumosity and RST. The RST cog trainer was worth it’s weight in gold. That was by far the best prep possible.
Technical Test Questions -Heading to fly to get from the 090 radial 20 dme to the 190 radial 60 dme. Only one of the answers was even remotely close.
-What componenet of a turbine engine converts low pressure / high velocity air into high pressure / low velocity air? (diffusor)
-Very simple 3 to 1 descent planning (FL350 to F190 how far out to start descent)
-What causes a hung start?
-What kind of obstacle protection does a PAPI give you? 4NM within 10 Degrees of center-line
-Circling radius protected area (1.3, 1.5, 1.7, 2.3, 4.5)
-Wake turbulence avoidance technique (land before the point of rotation of departing traffic)
-How do you know when you have 2,000′ of runway remaining? (amber runway edge lights)
-Line up and wait, crossing traffic, Takeoff Hold Lights will be red until the crossing traffic is clear of the runway.
-What does EPR measure?
-Setting power for takeoff EPR indicates good but N1 only indicates 80% What would you do? 80% is likely a normal reduced power setting for T/O so if EPR is normal this is a normal takeoff scenario.
-If you maintain L/D max during climb to altitude, what happens to your IAS and AOA?
-What has better glide performance, an aircraft with higher or lower aspect ratio?
-You are holding at 6,000′ what is your airspeed?
-Wind 340 @ 28 for runway 1, what is your crosswind component?
-How long does it take to turn from 360 to 045 at half standard rate?
-When is a turbine engine most efficient?
-How can you tell if your oil cooler not working properly?
-During descent your static port blocks up, what are the indications?
I posted these questions so you can see which areas to study. Memorizing these will not help you because the test questions and answers change. All of these areas of study are outlined in the email you receive from DAL.
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? -What componenet of a turbine engine converts low pressure / high velocity air into high pressure / low velocity air? (diffusor)
Cog Test Almost exactly like RST cog math prep. Also, as far as the bunnies / chickens question goes, youtube it. There is a really good video explaining how to easily get the answer. If the question asks the age of people look for the answer that has the correct sequence of ages rather than doing the math. I found that there was more time to answer than the RST trainer. Also, you do not have scratch paper for the cog test.
Cog Math Questions -500 students went to high school, x% graduated. Of the graduates x% finished college. How many college grads?
HR Questions -Tell me about you from HS to now. This was the only question that I had prepared for that they asked. Keep this answer under 5 minutes.
-The rest of the questions were what would you do questions. The important thing here is to SHOW YOUR WORK. Think out loud. Practice how you will answer these so you can develop a logical method of showing your though process. If you happen to have a story that answers the question, ASK your interviewer if they want your answer to remain theoretical or if they want you to answer with your applicable story. My interviewers preferred me to answer with my stories.
-Dispatch notifies you of a bomb threat wwyd?
-On approach, the two airplanes in front of you went around due to windshear. Conditions are improving and the captain insists on landing wwyd?
-Line of thunderstorms between you and your destination. Aircraft in front of you have reported moderate turbulence. You have the gas to go around the wx (and alternates are available), but there might be some misconnects wwyd?
-Conflict between CA and Lead Flight Attendant WWYD?
-What is your leadership style?
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview? Several weeks.
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help? Cage Consulting
Any additional information you would like to add. Remember this is a cumulative process. If you feel like you failed one portion PUT IT BEHIND YOU. Do not dwell on any perceived failures, focus on the task ahead of you. The staging area is monitored, they can see and hear you, THIS IS PART OF THE INTERVEW. Do your best to answer their questions based on your own though process. They care more about your thought process and decision making than they do about the decision you made (assuming it is reasonable). SHOW YOUR WORK. Utilize the resources available to you, which should include some of the 80,000 experts that work for DAL.
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? No.
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