American Eagle interview

RPM · January 11th, 2007, 15:04

American Eagle flew me out to Dallas the day before the interview 1st class on American. Arrived in Dallas, shuttle to Baymont Hotel ($45 a night, Eagle rate) Eagle pays for the hotel on the second night if you pass interview day 1.

Day 1- shuttle to American headquarters at 7AM. There were 7 of us in the beginning. Arrived at headquarters....headquarters are 1st rate, second to none, huge facilities, extremely large and easy to get lost in. Extremely nice full service cafeteria for lunch/breakfast etc...

First thing- company presentation by one of the Captains, very pleasant...he puts you at ease, tells some jokes to break thge ice, overview of what the interview process would be like, then a video about Eagle. There are 4 stages to day 1. 1) ATP written. 2) Technical interview. 3) HR interview. 4)Sim eval.

Everyone goes through stage 1-3....then if you didn't pass on of those you will NOT be sent to the sim eval, no exceptions. They don't want to waste $500 bucks on you in the full motion sim if they aren't going to hire you.

Next- ATP 50 question written exam, 80% required to pass.... pretty much out of the ATP Gleim book, there were a few questions I havn't seen before that were not out of the book(no figures or refer to questions) We all got a different version of the test so no cheating. My test had questions from all over...GPS, 121 regs, holding, weather, jet stream, IFR equip, RNAV, aerodynamics, turbine stuff...compresser stalls etc. etc...
STUDY the ATP book and you will be fine, I was confident on the test... a couple others did not do well because they didn't prepare. Eagle does not care if you have 8,000 hours turbine PIC and an ATP rating, if you fail the written your gone. Happened to 2 experienced people from my group.

Next- Tech interview.
Covered RVR, RVR, RVR! Know it WELL! Know adequate visual req. with CL/RCLM etc... / Given weather conditions, RVR range in San Diego...asked if we could depart, if we could depart what was required, what did we need to know. What if RVR was 6-6-5? Could we still go and why/why not? What if 6-Missing-6? 8-8-5 RVR could we go? and various other scenarios. Know it all. READ the airport chart...most of the info is right in front of you...Study JEPP intro about RVR if you are not familiar with it, I had never used RVR before. DO we need take-off alternate? What are alternate req.? Landing alternate req? Various 121 alternate questions. Given departure out of San .... I believe (pebble 3) but could be wrong. Finger fly departure...READ ALL NOTES so you don't miss anything. Enroute chart questions, lost comm, Arrival questions, Airport Diagram at LAX...know what EVERYTHING is, know all symbology. Basically, be able to go from start to finish on an IFR flight with bad weather and lost comms and talk through the entire thing. Some people got Dallas charts, Some got San Diego, some Boston...so don't focus on any particular airport. Above mins outside Final app. fix, cross final app. fix...weather drops to below mins, can you continue, why/why not? What do you need to look for, runway covered in snow, rnwy remaining-signs,lights?

We then chatted for a while, talked about Eagle, talked about long upgrade time. Everyone seems to say the same thing about the upgrade times coming down. Eagle has about 60 Saab 340's parked in the desert that they own and are paid for. They are trying to bring them back into service on short routes but don't have the ability to staff them right now. Also the 400 flowbacks from American are leaving...If they refuse to leave they will be FORCED to give up their senority and move into an F/O spot with F/O pay at Eagle...not many people willing to do that so they will pretty much all be leaving.

Stage 3- HR
Basic HR questions...Why Eagle, Why you, What are your bad qualities, Change in lifestyle, how will you handle it? Qualities you would look for in a f/o? Asked about 8-10 questions...few backround questions.... talked for a little while...talked about how some of the applicants don't come prepared and how Eagle will not lower their standards no matter how desperate they get for pilots.

At this point, 2 of the applicants were removed from the group and told to gather their things.

stage 4-
The remaining 5 of us were sent to the Sim. We used the Saab 340 full motion sim. Bill was our sim instructor and gave an EXCELLENT briefing on the flight...probably lasted an hour for the briefing. Bill is an AMAZING guy...couldn't ask for a better guy to do the Sim ride with. The sim was intimidating as hell for me...I had never used anything other than microsoft flight sim before and this was a HUGE step up. Profile was- Takeoff LAX 24L, 80 knots Bill hands over the controls, call out V1, 120, rotate, gear up...500ft- yaw damper on, climb- 2,000 rnwy heading, climb checklist/climb power set, left turn, bug ALL heading changes, level off, cruise checklist/ set cruise power 200kts. ATC says expect hold, climb 3,000, Cleared direct SLI VOR/ asked if ready to copy hold instructions/ hand over controls to Bill, copy hold instructions, brief hold with correct entry, may or may not do hold, I did not have to, given a vector, expect ILS 24L LAX, decend and maintain 2,000- reduce speed 160kts. Decent checklist, power back to flight idle, flaps 15, set power 160, brief ILS 24L, Use flight director for 1st ILS approach, vector to intercept localizer, case break-gear down, 1 dot out flaps 25, speed 130kts, landing checklist. Bill calls out 1000ft, 500ft, minimums...go visual, maintain glideslope. There was an aircraft rolling onto the runway on mine, it was night IMC and very difficult to see the airplane, went missed, Max climb power set, gear up...sim was paused and reset to ILS 24 again, this time no flight director, land, landing not graded...thankfully, I bounced the crap out of it.

The sim is amazing...it is amazingly real! You cannot tell you are not in the real airplane...the controls are heavy but I thought it was very stable compared to that piece of crap microsoft sim...use BOTH hands, USE Bill as your non flying pilot, he will do whatever you tell him, but you HAVE to tell him if you want his help. He will fine tune power settings, do checklists, tune and ID, bug headings for you but you HAVE to tell him what to do, He will NOT just do it for you. Sim ride was a great exp... We all had a great time!!

Day 1 ended at 8:30 PM for me...very long day!!!

If you pass the sim, on to MEDICAL exam the next day. 5 in the group passed. Eagle took us back to the hotel and paid for the room for the night...everyones room was nicer than the first night.

Medical- 7AM again
Start fasting at 8pm the night before for blood work. Extensive medical, drug testing, paperwork, 2 pee tests, 3 viles of blood, fingerprinting, blood pressure sitting standing, laying down, hearing booth, ear pressurization, vision, eye puffer tests, probably a few things i'm forgetting....they sent us to Breakfast after the blood work. Lots of waiting around, finally full physical exam by Eagle Dr., EKG tests, more questions,more paperwork...took about 6-7 hours for the medical.

We were given a conditional offer of employment at that point. Then 1st class flight home.

You still have to Pass a Captains review board which meets on Friday's for the final approval.

Recieved Captains review board approval Friday afternoon, and given a class date in a couple weeks!!!

Looking forward to it! Everyone in my interview group was great, and I look forward to training with them! The Interview was GREAT compared to what I experienced before at another place. Eagle was very professional, and the Captains and HR people do their best to make you at ease. Overall it was a LONG process, about 19 hours at American headquarters, but everyone was great.

dbrault17 · January 11th, 2007, 16:34

Awsome write up! Couple of questions-what is your experience, TT, Multi., was eagle your first choice, and what consited of the captains review board?

RPM · January 11th, 2007, 17:35

Just over 1,000 total time... about 300 multi.

I'm not exactly sure what the captains review board consists of because we are not present for it. I think they review all of your scores for the different stages of the interview, HR recomendations, personal recs, and discuss if they want to hire you or not.

crashmbern · January 11th, 2007, 19:40

congrats and welcome to eagle!!!!

Maximillian_Jenius · January 11th, 2007, 23:20

Wow,that sounds like a really difficult interview process!

PGT · January 11th, 2007, 23:51

Yep.

When do they tell you which A/C your flying?

stillageek · January 12th, 2007, 07:07

American Eagle doesn't assign aircraft until the first day of class. That is the most un-nerving part of the whole process. Will it be DFW? LAX? or the dreaded SJU? I am hoping being 30 will help me out when I apply later this year.

RPM · January 12th, 2007, 09:38

yup, First day there is a list of all aircraft and domiciles available put on the board...Oldest to youngest is the order of the pick.

This was the last class breakdown:
8 LGA EMJ
10 ORD EMJ
3 LAX SF3
3 MIA ATR
3 SJU ATR

WestIndian425 · January 12th, 2007, 12:54

Congratulations, man!

subpilot · January 12th, 2007, 13:06

Welcome to Eagle. The big push right now is the EMJ in ORD. Being 30yo, you stand a very good shot at getting what you want.

LoadMasterC141 · January 12th, 2007, 13:26

Sweet writeup. Probably the best written and organized I have read yet. Thanks!

I never thought about it, but me being a relative "old fart" by the time I interview for the regionals may actually have one benefit

alexk1980 · January 12th, 2007, 14:54

A buddy of mine jsut received an UNSAT on the sim portion of his training with eagle, what does this mean??

Also what should a VFR CFI study for the interview?? Seems like a lot of stuff, havent done IFR for about 1.5 years.

ComplexHiAv8r · January 12th, 2007, 15:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

I never thought about it, but me being a relative "old fart" by the time I interview for the regionals may actually have one benefit

One good thing for waiting so long to try and do this!

RPM · January 12th, 2007, 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpar80

A buddy of mine jsut received an UNSAT on the sim portion of his training with eagle, what does this mean??

Also what should a VFR CFI study for the interview?? Seems like a lot of stuff, havent done IFR for about 1.5 years.

Not sure about the Unsat...you would have to ask someone who has already been through training.

What to study? Jepps (KNOW THEM!!!), RVR, IFR 121 regs (all the questions in the Eagle interview are based on flying a jet pt. 121, so be aware of that, they don't care about pt. 91 rules), Arrival/Departure procedures, Enroute Charts, Lost comms IFR, Holding, speed limits etc... Hit the ATP written book hard. Don't worry about the "refer to" or "performance chart" questions.

They basically said you NEED to be up to speed on IFR procedures before you get there...they don't have time to teach you that stuff, they are just going to teach you the aircraft (#1 reason for training washouts- not IFR current, lack of committment)....if you go in not 100% IFR current the Sim will eat you for breakfast! For the interview they want you to be able to walk them through a flight from point A to point B in bad weather, 121 environment, and know all the rules about doing the flight...that is basically what they are looking for.

I would DEFINATELY go out and get IFR current before interviewing...you will NEED it to pass the interview SIM ride....not to mention training.

flyTotheSky · January 12th, 2007, 20:53

RPM,

Congrats on the job...

I was just wondering why AMR Corp. still has such an extensive medical exam? It seems a bit outdated to me.

I guess the main reason I ask this is my best corrected distant acuity in my left eye is 20/25 and I have a slight red/green color deficiency (LOL, sometimes I ask why I chose this profression!

...I honestly don't have any problems flying, and I'm at the CFI level).

What sort of color vision testing do they do? I can't make out the last couple Ishihara color plates but have taken an alternate FAA test and have no restrictions for that matter. I have a first class with a waiver for the acuity, but I know for some airlines that won't cut it. Do you think Eagle would be one of these airlines? Other airlines that I know of off the top of my head that have additional medical requirements (i.e. - doesn't just say "First Class Medical) are obviously mainline AA, ASA, and Alaska (Horizon surprisingly will accept just a 1st class).

Congrats again...have fun with the new job

RPM · January 12th, 2007, 23:30

Umm... I'm not sure about the vision thing for you, maybe contact the recruiters for a definate answer because I have no idea.

If your medical says wear glasses...bring them, If you wear contacts, you will have to take them out for portions of the exam so be prepared for that with contact solution or whatever it is you need...one person in my group had problems with that.

On the vision tests all I can remember them testing was: read the bottom line letters, each eye, near, distant, depth perception (pick out which number sticks out-really hard on some of them I thought), what point does the line cross the musical notes, color blindness- what is the number inside the colored circles, some kinda flashing red light, and periferal vision...Oh, and that machine that puffs air into your eye...I hate that thing...she told me what it was for but I can't remember.

I think the reason for the extensive physical is to try and catch any problems you may have...I know for a fact that most people get a first class medical without "actually" getting checked on all the required items.

Everytime myself or anyone I know has gotten a first class it has just been in and out in about 5 minutes or less...nothing more than a quick blood pressure/vision test and take a deep breath or 2 and your outa there with a first class. Now I'm sure all Doctors aren't like this but 90% of the pilots i've talked to have had the same exp. with lots of different Dr.'s. The first class medical is kinda a joke if you ask me. There is a big list of items and most Dr's don't bother to check them. AMR checks everything.

They get back to you in about 4-5 days with the medical results and let you know if you are a go or a no-go.

alexk1980 · January 13th, 2007, 08:51

Where would be the best and most affordable way to do this IFR brush up training?

subpilot · January 13th, 2007, 11:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpar80

Where would be the best and most affordable way to do this IFR brush up training?

Just use a PC program and practice approaches. Have another instrument rated pilot watch you fly and critique you. That's the best and cheapest way.

flyTotheSky · January 13th, 2007, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPM

Umm... I'm not sure about the vision thing for you, maybe contact the recruiters for a definate answer because I have no idea.

If your medical says wear glasses...bring them, If you wear contacts, you will have to take them out for portions of the exam so be prepared for that with contact solution or whatever it is you need...one person in my group had problems with that.

On the vision tests all I can remember them testing was: read the bottom line letters, each eye, near, distant, depth perception (pick out which number sticks out-really hard on some of them I thought), what point does the line cross the musical notes, color blindness- what is the number inside the colored circles, some kinda flashing red light, and periferal vision...Oh, and that machine that puffs air into your eye...I hate that thing...she told me what it was for but I can't remember.

I think the reason for the extensive physical is to try and catch any problems you may have...I know for a fact that most people get a first class medical without "actually" getting checked on all the required items.

Everytime myself or anyone I know has gotten a first class it has just been in and out in about 5 minutes or less...nothing more than a quick blood pressure/vision test and take a deep breath or 2 and your outa there with a first class. Now I'm sure all Doctors aren't like this but 90% of the pilots i've talked to have had the same exp. with lots of different Dr.'s. The first class medical is kinda a joke if you ask me. There is a big list of items and most Dr's don't bother to check them. AMR checks everything.

They get back to you in about 4-5 days with the medical results and let you know if you are a go or a no-go.

Yeah the puff test is testing the pressure in your eyeball...tests for glaucoma

I understand your point about the laxness at times of 1st class medical exams. I just feel that if your are certified by the FAA to be a PIC then you should certified by the airlines. Do you have any contact info for a recruiter? I would like to get some more information.

subpilot · January 13th, 2007, 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyTotheSky

Do you have any contact info for a recruiter? I would like to get some more information.

You can call Tiffany at 817-967-6113. She is the recruitment administrator and can either answer your question or direct you to the correct person.

AAJetMech · January 13th, 2007, 15:24

Welcome to the AMR family. It sounds like your initial experience was positive.

airhog · January 14th, 2007, 13:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpar80

A buddy of mine jsut received an UNSAT on the sim portion of his training with eagle, what does this mean??

Also what should a VFR CFI study for the interview?? Seems like a lot of stuff, havent done IFR for about 1.5 years.

American Eagle has a " three strike and your out " rule. Basically, fail a written and that is stike one. Get an unsatisfactory in a sim and that is strike two. At this point you need to make a decision as to whether or not you wish to continue training. Your choices are continue or resign. If you continue and fail any other portion of training you will be terminated.

surreal1221 · January 15th, 2007, 02:55

Very nice write up!

Thanks!

fly8slep · March 3rd, 2007, 23:08

Wow after getting through all that you'd kind of expect you'd be flying a space shuttle rather than a Saab. Quite a big difference from Colgan interviews where they just check your pulse. Seriously why does AE do this kind of 2 day all day interview, it just seems unnecessary.

mojo6911 · March 4th, 2007, 03:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by fly8slep

Wow after getting through all that you'd kind of expect you'd be flying a space shuttle rather than a Saab. Quite a big difference from Colgan interviews where they just check your pulse. Seriously why does AE do this kind of 2 day all day interview, it just seems unnecessary.

Maybe because they want to uphold a certain amount of quality.