That was by far the most difficult part of the day

Home That was by far the most difficult part of the day

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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? N/A
What is your experience? 121 only
Total Flight Time 5,000-8,000
Total Turbine PIC Time 1,000-2,000
General Overview of Experience Overall it was a great experience outside of the fact that a couple in our group did not make it through day 1. That was by far the most difficult part of the day. You grow fairly close as a group in a short amount of time and you really hate to see it when someone doesn’t get the job. Luckily, they did tell us they ultimately want them at Delta and it was the test scores that brought them down, so they did receive the 6 month call back.
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? No job fairs and no internal recommendations prior to receiving the invite. I was a Line Check Airman at my current airline, and I made a few updates to my application sporadically, but as far as I can tell it’s a lottery system and it happened to be my lucky day. I did notice when reviewing my application that I had left my high school GPA blank, and as soon as I put that in there I received the invite to interview about 3 days later. Never did receive a fix it email prior to this.
How many internal recs did you have? 1-2
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 concerned that I had added 2 speeding tickets to my application after my invite to interview, but the issue never did come up. The tickets were 16 years ago, and I did not add them because I had no idea how to initially. After receiving the invite, I spoke with a consultant and they informed me to just put dates estimated and specific details unknown. They did not bring up anything on my application until the end of the interview where my date of availability had changed. They just asked me to confirm it, circled it, and had me initial it and that was it.
How did you prepare for the JKT/COG portion of the interview? The JKT portion was difficult, and to be honest I don’t know how well the questions are represented on RST because I did not go through them very much during my prep. I tried to read Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators, and gave up fairly quickly. The T-34 guide was very helpful though, and much easier to read. The COG portion is spot on with RST, although the tests are out of order and as mentioned previously, the speeds are different. I was very confident that I did well on the COG, minus the math portion. Your nerves will get the best of you during this I’m sure. On RST I would usually get through about 5-6 math problems. During the actual test, I maybe got 3-4. The math portion came immediately after the symbol recall, so it was difficult to focus on the math question when you’re repeating the symbol recall in your head. Basically go through the Cog test on RST probably at least once a day, and then focus on the resource section and read. Everything explained for the professional pilot is a great resource as many have said before.
Technical Test Questions I wish I could be more help here, but I honestly don’t know how anybody remembers these things. The first day is very LONG, and by the end of it my brain was completely fried. This was a difficult test, and all of us in the group felt pretty bad walking out of that. We were all convinced that it was 50/50 on whether or not we passed. Unfortunately a couple of guys were flagged for the testing, and were invited back to try again in 6 months. That was by far the most difficult part of the entire process. You get to know everyone and want more than anything for everyone to succeed so it’s very hard to see when guys don’t make the cut. I would recommend studying the resource material more than just going through questions on RST from what other guys in my group were saying.
What was the hardest technical question or content you experienced during the job knowledge test? Most of them were pretty difficult, and unfortunately I can’t remember specifics. The most difficult question I had was similar to an ATP written flight plan question. Gives you a ton of variables and basically asks you how long you can hold before diverting. I immediately wrote that question down and skipped it. Came back at the end to try to solve it after I had answered everything else, and still couldn’t get it in time. Ended up guessing, and found out afterward that at least 3 of us had the same question. We all guessed the same answer too, so at least it looked like an educated guess.
Cog Test Straight from RST with some minor cadence changes. I only received the symbol recall once during my test, and it appears most everyone else in the group did as well. The symbol recall definitely affected the rest of the test though because it made it difficult to focus on the questions/task at hand while you are repeating that in your head. Just make sure you don’t forget it, as I’m pretty sure that is a deal breaker for the test.
Cog Math Questions Fairly simple ones actually, but I can’t remember the specifics. Had I only gotten the ones I did during the RST practice tests, I would have flown through it. With the nerves during the actual interview, I was much slower.
HR Questions Started out with introductions from HR, retired captain, and current captain, followed by tell us about yourself from high school. I did an internship at American Airlines, so they did ask me why I am not trying to go there. I don’t think I got a single TMAAT question during the entire portion, but I was able to insert a story into another question. The actual HR interview was what I was most nervous about, but I think it actually went pretty well. WWYD questions I remember were. A flight attendant calling up and saying that another FA is not pulling her weight. Also got the Muslim cleric question passengers are uncomfortable. Would you ever take the controls from the CA? Honestly can’t remember much more about the day 1 interview. It was very short. I think I was in and out of that in 30 minutes. Day 2 interview with the psychologist was more of the HR questions I was anticipating the first day. Tell me about the most stressful time in the cockpit/outside of the cockpit? Conflict with crew member question. Ever in trouble with the law? Overall day 2 was less stressful, but don’t let your guard down. The psychologist was very friendly, and it feels like they are just trying to get to know you, but from what I’ve read that’s almost the most dangerous technique from a candidates standpoint. Don’t get too comfortable. Make sure to keep the answers professional. and try not to get too relaxed on the second day.
How long prior to the interview did you prepare for the HR portion of the interview? Approximately 1 month
Which HR Prep service did you use and did it help? Cage Consulting used for the HR portion. Definitely helped with discovering my stories to tell, as well as formulating them. Did 2 video interview prep sessions. One about 2 weeks before interview, and 1 follow up about 5 days prior.
Any additional information you would like to add. They want to get to know you, so don’t come with scripted answers. I elected not to remove the jacked and the current captain joked about how I just received plus 1000 points and the last guy lost 1000. Removing the jacket probably has absolutely no affect on the outcome. I just left it on to psychologically keep myself from getting relaxed. I think it helped keep my mind focused on not getting too comfortable and slipping up. Make sure to keep a scan going during the interview as you will have an HR rep directly in front, and the 2 captains on either side. Keep your head on a swivel and try to address all of them during each answer. Always maintain eye contact.
Is their anything you wish you could have done different to prepare you for this process? Would have studied more for the JKT, but it was difficult to get much studying done while at home with everything else going on. Outside of that, I prepared more for this interview than anything else in my life so I told myself no matter what happens, I could not be more prepared than I am right now.
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