Well I can't really do much to pay it forward yet, except give a little interview experience here as I see there hasn't been one for Colgan in quite some time.
I e-mailed my resume to Chuck Colgan and Cathy. I got an e-mail the very next day with a number to call. I spoke with Cathy the first time and then Chuck Colgan Jr. called me later in the day. I completed the online application at
www.airlineapps.com and was then offered an interview for today, the 15th. All in all from the first e-mail to the interview was about a week. So if you apply they will probably contact you quickly as I hear they are in need of pilots.
My interview was in LaGuardia (LGA), and was offered to be flown there or I could drive. Its an 1.30minute drive, so I told them it wasn't worth the trouble of flying up there. I arrived last night and stayed at the LaGuardia Marriott. Awesome hotel, but rooms are like $600 a night. My Mom travels a ton with her business and got me a free room. What a huge help that was. So this morning I was very well rested, which was a big plus because the day is somewhat long and you need to be at your best.
I arrived at Flight Safety and was immediately handed a 50 question written test. Just like folks have said before, its very straight forward ATP/Instrument/Weather. Most of the questions were instrument and weather. Also some questions on reading Metars and TAF's as well as a Jepp approach plate and a low enroute chart. Easy stuff if you're IFR current. Some weather questions are tricky, but its not rocket science. If you could pass an Instrument written today, I'd say you would do very well. I can't remember any questions, so I apologize! It took me like 20 minutes to complete.
After the written I was called in to interview with two Captains. Paul and Rich I believe were their names. Both guys were really cool, very nice, professional and they seemed very happy to be working at Colgan. We did a quick intro followed by some questions like
What was the most challenging part of instructing?
What's the most complex aircraft I've flown?
And I also got asked some questions from my resume.
Then we went into talking about my most recent aircraft flown, the Seminole. What is a critical engine?
Does the Seminole have one?
Describe the engines on the Seminole?
Describe the landing gear on the Seminole?
And a few other systems and situation questions that I'm drawing a blank on right now.
Overall it was very straight forward. I knew the Seminole inside and out and once they saw I was right on with things, they kept moving along. Next I was given an approach plate. This part was pretty funny because it was for an approach I had flown many many times at Charlottesvile airport. I brief the approach and then he asked me whether radar service was provided? What was the minimum altitude I could be at at the outter marker, what were the minimums? Simple IFR questions. Just like with the written, if you know your IFR stuff, you will be fine.
One thing is for sure - the simulator is the biggest part of the interview. It doesn't matter how well you do on any other part. If you don't pass the sim ride, they won't hire you. I flew the Beech 1900C simulator. It was a full motion simulator that was awesome! I mean really, this thing is a blast to fly! They give you the profile when you arrive, so make sure you study it very well whenever you have down time. I would HIGHLY recommend flying some sim time prior to the interview. I flew a little over 5 hours in a Frasca 142 courtesy of my buddies at ATP. This helped out tremendously.
So 3 of us head back to the sim. I'm not going to comment on how the other guys did, its not my place. But my turn came up and I hopped in the left seat and strapped in for the ride! The sim instructor was a nice guy, very thorough and he explained everything. Engines already running, set take-off power of 3500lbs, released brakes and start rolling. I had my co-pilot (another applicant) giving me airspeed callouts. Hit 110, "V1, Rotate" and started a
smooth rotation and the aircraft lifted off at about 125-130kts. Climb out at 10deg nose up and fly the departure procedure. For us it was White Plains and the DP was climb to 800' then climbing right turn to 320 and up to 3000. Again I think the key here is being very very
smooth. No more then 20deg of bank, had a nice climbout. Honestly I thought the sim flew wonderful. I was trained to fly airplanes in a smooth but deliberate manner and for me it works. It worked great in the sim too. Climbed up to 3000 and again a nice smooth level off. Got configured for cruise and then instructed to hold at the CMK VOR as published. No big deal, I set my bugs and determined a teardrop entry and briefed how I was going to enter the hold. Make sure you are briefing this correct, because another guy had trouble. You're briefing should be similar to this:
" Its going to be a teardrop entry, after crossing the fix, intial turn will be to the right heading 047, set inbound course, start time, then a right turn after 1 minute"
Make sure you tell him what direction you will turn and to what heading. If you don't sound too sure, he will start questioning you and you need to have some good situational awareness. I briefed the hold correctly and didn't have to fly it, got direct to the Hester OM for the ILS 16 into White Plains. Very simple, track the ADF and then vectors for the approach. The profile is Localizer alive, flaps 17, airspeed below 160. When GS comes alive, before landing checklist. On GS, flaps 35. The thing balloons like crazy when you put in flaps, so get the nose down about 5deg at the same time you drop those flaps. I liked the manual trim wheel the best. I could "feel" the trim and it was faster then the electric trim. On the approach, maintain 140kts and keep everything centered. Break out at mins, transition to the visual and then thats it.
The sim is definitely the hardest part in my opinion. I think a lot of guys didn't get hired because of their sim performance. You just have to remember that this thing is like a giant piston twin on steroids. It flies like any other twin. I thought it was very similar to the Seminole in the sense that you need to fly smooth. I can not stress that enough. If you over control or white knuckle the heck out of the thing, it gets ugly - just like the Seminole. If you stay ahead of the airplane and be smooth, it really flies nice. You also need to have a very fast scan and be very sharp on your instrument procedures. It sounds simple, fly a DP, do a hold, shoot an approach - but believe me when you fly it in this airplane which is a whole new environment - those simple tasks become difficult. So being current and proficient will allow you to just focus on flying the airplane.
Overall I thought it was a very good, very thorough interview process. Colgan needs to hire a lot more pilots and according to the pilots that were there, it is a great time to be getting on with Colgan. Everyone was very nice and I really think the pilots I met today would be awesome guys to fly with. One of the most important things though about the interview, is to just be happy to be there. I was excited as anything to be able to interview for this job. It was hard for me not to smile thinking about the possibilities. This was my first Airline interview and I was just so excited that it was hard to hold back. But I think my attitude really played a big part because I seem to hit it off with a lot of the pilots there and that is a good thing. I flew the sim well and got offered the job on the spot by Chuck. Training starts on the 22nd, which is next Thursday. The gouges on airlineinterviews.com are spot on for what the process is. So definitely read those gouges and study, but the day before just relax. Seggy kept telling me to relax, grab a beer, eat a good meal and get a good night sleep. Well I listened to everything except get a good night sleep, because I was waking up every hour!!
But Seggy's advice was right, just relax the day before and enjoy it. I had a great time and the best part was without a doubt the sim! Any questions feel free to ask!