Robert Stogsdill’s Flyblog

So yesterday my friend Mark and I went to an American Eagle job fair at the Marriott in LaGuardia, NY. My sister was nice enough to hook us up with US Airways buddy passes so that we could hop on a direct flight for fairly cheap.

The job fair was to begin at 10am with a presentation. We decided to take the 7am flight out of DCA which was schedule to arrive in LGA at 8am. I had checked the weather in LGA and the clouds where extremely low and I knew there would be some type of delays. We got our seats on the plane and buckled up for the ride. Just after take off I noticed we where doing circles when I commented to Mark that I thought we where holding. A few seconds later the pilot comes on and tells us that visibility had dropped and we where holding for 25 minutes. We then broke out of the hold and moved closer to LGA, we then where put into another hold. Mark and I both started to worry that we may not make it to the job fair in time. But in the end we arrived at around 915 and made it to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare. I realized after it all that I was glad to have that extra hour on the plane to study rather than sit in a conference room for an hour, sweating the interview to come.

We walk into the conference room and we where fairly surprised to see about 15 people already sitting down staring at the projection screen reading “American Eagle Job Fair. 10am LaGuardia.” The lady who seemed to be in charge was having trouble with the computer and quickly hustled to find someone to fix it. Mark and I sat down in the quiet room, and tried to be as unnoticeable as possible. As we blended into the group, many more applicants showed up. Almost 30 applicants had packed into the conference room which had once looked large, but now seemed to be a tight fit. 10am rolls around and the presentation begins. We find out that the people standing in front consist of 2 human resource employees Karen and Claudette, Chris the chief pilot in LaGuardia, Rob the assistant chief pilot in LaGuardia, and 2 first officers with Eagle who are based at LGA and DFW.

The presentation is what you would expect and did not provide much more information than I already knew. The went over how base selection worked, and that currently every base was open. They flat out said that they are desperate for pilots in LaGuardia, which is why they are there. They discussed what knowledge would be expected on the technical portion of the interview. Part 121 regulations, Weather, and Jepp charts. They said that if anyone planning on interviewing had not used Jepp charts before, they may want to reconsider. After the presentation it was time for questions, I asked how quickly an applicant hired out of todays job  fair could be a class. Karen answered that if you had not previously worked for an airline, after the simulator portion in Dallas, they have had people approved for class within a week. I was glad to hear about the chance to quickly begin.

After a few more questions we where told to speak with anyone of the American Eagle employees to make sure we where even able to interview today. Mark and I knew that we would have no problem as we had already been invited to Dallas for the whole process to begin with. I saw one gentlemen told that he could not be interviewed because he did not have enough multi-engine time.

After being “approved” for an interview we broke for lunch and where told to meet up at 1pm to begin the interview process. After meeting back up we walked into the conference room and noticed they had cut the room in half using a temporary wall. The amount of applicants had noticeably shrunk down to just above 20. If anyone was told to leave, it was done discreetly. They had setup 3 seperate rooms for 7 interviews to be going on at one time. It was a one on one type session.

An hour of waiting later, Marks name is finally called for the technical portion. 15 minutes later my name is called for the human resources. I was nervous, but when I was lead into the room I noticed mark was in the opposite corner. I was put at ease when I heard mark laugh a little and realized this was a relaxed atmosphere and that it was not a checkride, and that I could do this. She begins by looking over my paperwork and asks questions along the way. They where not HR questions, just little things like “Where were you born?” and just “get to know you” type questions. We then begin with the actual HR questions. These where some of my questions: Why eagle? Tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume or application? Have you interviewed with any other airlines? In one word, describe yourself… What will be most difficult about training for Eagle? What should Eagle hire you?

I stumbled on a few questions but turned it around into my favor. I was thanked for interviewing and told to go sit into the conference room and that I would be called for the technical interview. A few others had finished with their tech interviews and where sharing some of the questions asked. Hearing another applicant say “It wasnt that bad at all” really puts you at ease. Mark was back and also commented that it was not bad, and that we had studied the right material.

30 minutes later I was called for my technical interview. Interviewing me would be Rob, the assistant chief pilot in LGA. We sat down and he looks over my application and asks what I currently do. We begin the interview with a METAR and TAF. The metar and taf where basic, no curve balls, no strange symbols. It was a straight forward weather brief, which Im sure he was bored of hearing. We then moved onto questions on an airport diagram. He asks me to tell him about the runway, what type of lights and just any information I could. I immediately flipped the chart over. At this point Im sure I had passed this question, as I then read all the information from the back. He was just checking to make sure I had used Jepp charts. He then went back to the diagram and pointed at a few symbols and asked what these symbols where. Things such as the beacon and airport reference point. Rob then pulled out a random approach plate and asked if I would normally brief an approach before beginning it. I mentioned that of course I would, and it was how I was taught. He then handed me the approach plate and told me to look over it and brief him. He then asked what would happen if the glideslope where to fail while shooting the ILS. He asked how we would enter the hold at the VOR on the missed approach. He pointed to the approach minimums and gave me a visibility higher than was published, but an RVR which was lower, and asked if we could continue the approach. I asked if it was before or after the final approach fix. He said before, I said no we could not continue the approach because RVR is controlling, and it was below minimums. He said that I answered exactly as he wanted.

He then pulled out a low en route chart. He points to what I see is a change over point and asks me what it is, he then opens the chart fully and I noticed he is searching for something. I began to worry that he was looking for the one thing that nobody knows. He is then interrupted by the chief pilot who is in the other corner interviewing, they are talking about a pilot that he knows and he wanted to comment. He then apologizes and comes back to me and points to an altitude and asks me what it is. I say that it was an MEA and he then closes up the chart and mentions “yea, you know all your stuff.” He then asks me about 121 work restrictions for pilots. I then said that I was a former crew scheduler, and he instantly knew that I would know the answer. I answered anyway. He then pulled out my logbook and asked what multi engine aircraft I had most flown and when the last time I had flown it was. I mentioned the Seminole and that the last time I had flown it was last September. He asked me what type of engines the seminole have and what was my memory item for a failed engine. I then rattled off the memory item. I couldnt believe I remembered it so quickly.

He then tells me that I would be invited to Dallas for a simulator interview. I then asked a few questions about commuting to LGA, which is what I would be doing. He answers the questions and I head back to the conference room. An hour later Mark is finished with his human resources interview and we are both heading back to the airport with sim invites to Dallas. Mine is April 16th, 3 days from now. Marks is in one week.

In my opinion this job is mine to lose, and while Im not nervous right now, Im sure I will be on Wednesday morning when Im waiting for my name to be called again and its time to perform.

Wish me luck!!!

Posted by v1valarob / Airline Interview(s)