Hired!!!! (original title, eh?)

[Alchemy]

I interviewed today with Expressjet at IAH and was offered conditional employment as FO on the ERJ!!!! (condition is me successfully passing the checkride at the end of training)

There were 20 of us in the interview session and only 4 of us made it through, although about 3 guys were still doing the last round of interviews when I left to go get fingerprinted and drug tested.

I'm extermely nervous about the training and plan to do everything within my power to make sure I survivce the training. I have no turine experience so the leap to the ERJ may be a big one, but I'm eager to take it on.

All in all it was a Loooooong day, had to show up at AUS at 4:05 AM for a 6:05 flight to IAH; got back home around 7:00 PM.

The technical interview was straightforward, questions about Jepps and systems of the twins I've flown. The HR interview was by far the most difficult: "you've only been flying pistons, what makes you think you can fly an ERJ?"

"Do you know anything at all about turbine aircraft systems? How does an FMS work? What about a pressurization system?"

etc. etc. Almost like they were trying to get me angry and see how I would react. I honestly thought that the interviewers were upset at me for some reason...but I kept a cool head and made some good arguments in my favor. As soon as we walked out of the HR interview room the interviewers turned to all smiles, told me I did a great job and offered me the position.

Great experience and I'm still in disbelief that I made it through! The competition was tough but I think XJT is looking for guys that will stay with the company long term, not someone trying to hop over to the majors in a year. For instance we had a 10,000 hour A320 Capt./Cheif Pilot for a pakistani airline interviewing with us, more than half had previous 121 experience and over 2000 hours, but the 4 of use that got hired were all CFI's under 1200 hrs. Wow. Moral of the story is send out resumes and apply, apply, apply. I never thought I'd be flying 121 after 6 months of instructing, but it happened.

Thanks to the JC crew for all the good advice and encouragement over the past 3 years!!!!!!

[kellwolf]

Sweet! You guys train at IAH, right? We might have to hook up since I'm gonna be in and outta there for training myself over the next month or so.

[Seggy]

AWESOME NEWS!!!!!!!! A BIG CONGRATS!!! Keep us informed of the training and best of luck!

[jtrain609]

Very sweet dude, congrats!

[FlyChicaga]

Congrats! Welcome!

[mtsu_av8er]

Good job, man!!!

[BayAreaPilot]

Congrats!!
So what did you say when they said what makes you think you can fly an ERJ after only flying pistons??
I guess you convinced them whatever it was.
Good job!!

[Alchemy]

I argued with them this way:

I've flown the Baron quite a bit. It cruises at 185-190 knots. Your ERJ's can fly at triple that, however, below 10,000 they're still limited to 250 knots. That's where all the critical phases of flight occur, and it's only 20-25% faster than the twins I've been flying.

I also emphsized the fact that I make a point of staying 3-4 steps ahead of the game when flying under IFR. I develop a plan and let ATC know what I'm doing rather than waiting for them to assign me something in situations where I'm approaching my clearance limit. I shoot approaches down to minimums (simulated) with a safety pilot whenever possible.

They asked if I'd ever taken an apporach all the way to mins in actual. I said the closest I've come is 300-400 AGL in a skyhawk, and I talked about that experience.

I talked about the books I'd read in trying to obtain a basic understanding of turbine systems (Turbine Pilot's flight manual, ATP written exam guide). I tried to convey my enthusiasm for airline flying and used my relative inexperience as a strength. Since I'm still pretty fresh off my CFI/commercial training, plus I'm still college, I'm used to absorbing gobs of new information and applying it in short periods of time.

[BayAreaPilot]

Well it sounds as though that was a winner. I have heard that is a popular question on interviews and was curious how you responed, thanks.

[E_Dawg]

Good job, nice answer. What was your tt when hired? 750?

[Alchemy]

850 total, 150 multi. Mins right now are 600 total, 100 multi, 20 actual. I was not the lowest time guy at the interview. Not sure if any of the lower time guys got hired.

[RPM]

good answers Alchemy and congrats!...did they say anything about you not having your degree completed yet? I have a buddy who recently applied with some college but no degree yet, he hasn't gotten a call so far.

[ready2fly]

OUTSTANDING, Alchemy!!

Go knock the bottom out of that interview!!!

Best of luck! Keep us posted!!

R2F

[stuckingfk]

[ QUOTE ]
850 total, 150 multi. Mins right now are 600 total, 100 multi, 20 actual. I was not the lowest time guy at the interview. Not sure if any of the lower time guys got hired.

[/ QUOTE ]

Alchemy,

Do you know the names of the others hired? I know two people that are interviewing with ExpressJet this week and I am wondering if they were with you? (Both are from UND)

[Alchemy]

Unfortunately no.

There were 22 of us in the morning interview batch, not sure if they had more coming in the afternoon or not.

There were only 4 of us offered the job before I had to leave for fingerprinting, but I know at least one other guy who was farther down in the interview order got hired as well.

Of the 4 who were hired with me, there was a guy from newark, a black guy (not sure where he was from) and a dutch guy, all young, early-mid 20's. The other guy hired later was an ATP instructor from texas.

[Kristie]

Awesome news Eric!!! Congrats!!

[EatSleepFly]

Congrats, Alchemy!

[moxiepilot]

[ QUOTE ]
Of the 4 who were hired with me, there was a guy from newark, a black guy (not sure where he was from) and a dutch guy, all young, early-mid 20's.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like the begginning to a bar joke...So, 4 guys walked into a bar: a black guy, a dutchman, a dude from newark and me. The guy from newark turns to the blackguy and says....


anyway, congrats. good job & keep us posted on the IOE.

-mox

[Alchemy]

Thanks again.

I'm already trying to dig as deep as I can into the flows. I've got the first 4 memorized pretty well and am working on the takeoff brief. I wish they had given me a single FMS cockpit poster though, it's a little tricky remembering all the diffs between the dual fms/single fms.

I figure if I memorize 2 flows a day then hit the profiles and limitations, reviewing the flows at least twice daily I'll be okay. I just hope I don't teach myself the wrong way on any of this stuff....

[IFLYRJS]

Nice job. Get ready for info overload but don't worry everyone feels that way and gets through it. Do they pay you and for your hotel during training?

[kellwolf]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm already trying to dig as deep as I can into the flows. I've got the first 4 memorized pretty well and am working on the takeoff brief. I wish they had given me a single FMS cockpit poster though, it's a little tricky remembering all the diffs between the dual fms/single fms.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I saw the "training manual" when I was filling out paperwork today. My fingers started getting itchy.

[Alchemy]

Yeah, they pay for the hotel and give us something like a $1400 dollar allowance for the training.

[pilot602]

Grats!

[FL270]

Congrats Eric!!! I'm thrilled for you. Let me know when you'll be in IAH and I'll take you out for a little Tex-Mex on one of my days off.

Kell, are you going to be a CO ramper at MEM now? Whenever you're down here you'd better give me a ring too!!!

Russ

[mrivc211]

Congrats!