Airline Pilot Hiring

K

kentwb

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
8
Location
Littleton, CO
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Display name:
KentWB
Airline retirements are kicking in to high gear...finally! I'm a 757 F/O at United and we are hiring 50/month and retiring 300-400 pilots per year. For anyone interested, here is the retirement schedule for United / Continental:

http://www.airlinepilothiring.net/retirements.aspx

I tried researching hiring / interview gouge for my brother recently and was disgusted at the resources I found online. They were either filled with ads or charged a fee. In response, I built a website for pilots to share interview and hiring experiences and information. In the Air Force we called it the interview "gouge" book and it got lot's of use in our squadron. The website I made is the online version. It has no ads, it's free and it's built with responsive web design so it sizes automatically for iPhone, iPad, desktop, etc (the way I'd want it to be since I'm always on the road).

What it needs now is lots of word of mouth and pilots going through the process to share information by populating the database with interview experiences and gouge!!!

Also, please give me feedback so I can make it better....I'm completely open to suggestions!!! I've already added a lot from other pilots input (KCM, jumpseat access and much, much more).

The site is: http://www.airlinepilothiring.net

Please click the Facebook "Like" button while you're there!!!

Once we get some data in there, I'm sure it will be much better than the other sites I've seen out there.....
 
When I click on your first link (using my iPad), I can't see the bottom of your graph to see what the data points are.
 
Pilot Retirement Link

Thanks! I've got that page fixed so it should display fine on iPad and iPhones now.
 
According to all the "esteemed expertise" on this board United shouldn't have any problems finding pilots. Probably fill all those slots within a couple minutes.
 
Art VanDelay said:
According to all the "esteemed expertise" on this board United shouldn't have any problems finding pilots. Probably fill all those slots within a couple minutes.
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The day United cold calls me at home to offer me an interview sight unseen because they're really hurting and they heard I got TPIC from the military (I haven't got around spending the one weekend knocking out my ATP at the puppy mill, out of sheer lack of interest), then that will be the day I acknowledge a bona fide pilot shortage. Some craptastic regional outfit fretting staffing their FO welfare jobs or a couple Riddle kids getting a discounted ATP, does not a pilot shortage make...

It's fundamentally disingenuous to lump a regional FO shortage with any kind of discussion about real jobs, such as mainline airline positions. But you knew that already.
 
Many years ago, I had a friend flying Air Force Two ask me to check on his application at American Airlines. They would tell me nothing. Later I ran into a lady that used to work in pilot recruitment and she agreed to look him up and tell me his problem. She said "he doesn't have 53 points". "What does that mean?" I asked. When you fill out the application, it is scored. When a job becomes available, they get the top 10 applications and ask them in for an interview. "Where and how do you get more points?" I asked.
Experience: high performance airplanes with time commiserate with age. Front line military jets (helo times does not count) max points, C-150 least.
Rating: ATP, Comm, Inst, type ratings. Min: Com Inst.
Health: Height to weight ratio, 20/20 vision, non smoker for max
Education: Harvard. Mil Academy max, high school graduate least.
Flight Training: Max USAF or Navy, FBO least.
His problem was 1/2 his flying time was in Jolly Greens. No way to get more points.
My own experience: Got a letter from A/A one day saying "we know you are eligible to retire from the Air Force: we are hiring and you will find an application enclosed". I filled it out and got hired. I never would have gone for the interview if I had know I only had a one in ten chance of getting hired.
 
hindsight2020 said:
The day United cold calls me at home to offer me an interview sight unseen because they're really hurting and they heard I got TPIC from the military (I haven't got around spending the one weekend knocking out my ATP at the puppy mill, out of sheer lack of interest), then that will be the day I acknowledge a bona fide pilot shortage. Some craptastic regional outfit fretting staffing their FO welfare jobs or a couple Riddle kids getting a discounted ATP, does not a pilot shortage make...

It's fundamentally disingenuous to lump a regional FO shortage with any kind of discussion about real jobs, such as mainline airline positions. But you knew that already.
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That attitude is exactly why you'd never get called or make it thru an interview. Of course you're more than welcome to prove me wrong.
 
Where do I go to get on the airline pilot gravy train. Stewardesses are still hot right?
 
Art VanDelay said:
That attitude is exactly why you'd never get called or make it thru an interview. Of course you're more than welcome to prove me wrong.
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Why would I? I agree with you. I have no interest in pursuing that job in the present (and perhaps permanent) circumstances of the industry. But that's immaterial to my point, which I think you missed. You've already proven my point: A true shortage means the employer would scout me, not the other way around. The regionals are doing that (bonuses and the like). That stands to reason; they have a shortage of welfare wage FOs. But not mainline.

I have no dog in this fight. I'm just saying there is no pilot shortage.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Why would I? I agree with you. I have no interest in pursuing that job in the present (and perhaps permanent) circumstances of the industry. But that's immaterial to my point, which I think you missed. You've already proven my point: A true shortage means the employer would scout me, not the other way around. The regionals are doing that (bonuses and the like). That stands to reason; they have a shortage of welfare wage FOs. But not mainline.

I have no dog in this fight. I'm just saying there is no pilot shortage.
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I see, so where are the pilots that are going to United coming from ?
 
Everyone in the professional flying community is waiting for this "shortage" to come to head and see massive hiring. There are still hundreds of furloughs on the streets waiting the calls so I highly doubt we will see the UAL flood gates open anytime soon.
 
The lobby of the hotel in Denver would indicate that interviews for United are in full swing.
 
Inverted said:
Everyone in the professional flying community is waiting for this "shortage" to come to head and see massive hiring. There are still hundreds of furloughs on the streets waiting the calls so I highly doubt we will see the UAL flood gates open anytime soon.
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As it was explained to me by a United pilot ALL the furloughs that wanted to come back ARE back. That's not an issue for them anymore.
 
denverpilot said:
Interviews or just folks attending TK?
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Folks attending TK don't wear three piece suits. TK , wow you know some airline lingo, hey I know a couple computer science terms maybe I'm qualified to solve the problems of the tech industry ? :rolleyes:
 
Interviewing. I ran into a furloughed pilot from my airline on the bus from the airport to the hotel. I was there for recurrent sim.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Folks attending TK don't wear three piece suits. TK , wow you know some airline lingo, hey I know a couple computer science terms maybe I'm qualified to solve the problems of the tech industry ? :rolleyes:
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It was just a question. No need to be a prick. Everyone in Denver knows what TK is, it's called that by everyone.

The sim visits were more fun there when you didn't have to provide an SSN for a background check, to see one or fly it, in the so-called "post" 9/11 World... But I guess it's better than an anal probe. :) :) :)

I was last over there three Decembers ago, I think. Time flies, no pun intended.

Still weird to have it there where Stapleton was, long after United twisted the City's arm to run bankrupt Continental out of town by refusing to make them a hangar loan.

That area has changed so much. The Panda Express next door isn't much to write home about, but it was a fun lunch with good company after doing my best not to scratch the virtual paint too much. I wrote that up here somewhere I think. V1 cuts of an outboard engine in the 74 are a pretty effective way to demonstrate how much yaw the other one produces out there. I put it in the ditch of course. Knowing it was a setup I was smart enough (barely) to ask what I did wrong. "Power off. Stand on the brakes sooner. Just STOP it." Heh. Fun.

Even stranger, is that Stapleton and the UA/CO rivalry is now long ago and far away, and now they're the same company. Heh.

Pushing MD-80s off the gate and blocking United in was great fun, back in the day. Nobody thought either airline would ever suffer from anything that either one eventually did, and making sure a United flight took a ding in on- time performance coming off the gate, was always a hoot. Heh.

Plus driving Paymovers is wicked cool. I laughed my ass off when Top Gear did their Airport Vehicles race. Everything other than a supervisor's pickup truck is an ungainly, pain in the butt to drive, set of wheels on an airport.

Stapleton was way too crowded there at the end but it was all in good fun. The United guys would rib us on the crew bus to the parking lot on the way in or out and we'd rib back.

Shove the bags in the bird, shove it off the gate. Rain or shine. Covered in deicing fluid or not. (We deiced at the gate most of the time on non-wide body stuff. And it's a freakish mess to work in, I guarantee it. Nowadays DEN has drive pads. What I wouldn't have given not have to go home at 3AM after stripping off the only cold weather jumpsuit I could afford and shoving it in the washing machine every night it snowed. I usually had a 9AM college class the next morning.)

So yeah. TK. That's what it is to hundreds of thousands of people. Damn interesting history there too.

Three piece suit would definitely give it away. That sucks. I worked from home today and was thinking honestly that my wardrobe should have been just a touch more JP Morgan and a touch less Hugh Hefner.

I had to get dressed eventually to take the dog outside. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
I worked from home today and was thinking honestly that my wardrobe should have been just a touch more JP Morgan and a touch less Hugh Hefner.

I had to get dressed eventually to take the dog outside. ;)
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I didn't work at all today. Yesterday either, I've got ten days in a row off and then it's off to Prague :D
 
Art VanDelay said:
I didn't work at all today. Yesterday either, I've got ten days in a row off and then it's off to Prague :D
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I do envy you guys that can hold real lines like that. That's cool.

It's partially the travel I miss (which I know gets old, but seeing the world on someone else's dime is always a better way to do it than your own, sleep deprivation and other things are the trade-offs...), and partially the larger blocks of time off.

I like to do projects and getting interrupted every four hours from projects by "hey, can you fix XYZ it's down again" type stuff gets annoying.

I kinda want to build a barn. Not have someone else do it, but build it myself. No way that's happening with the current schedule.

Been thinking about going contract. Big project, bust butt for a while, finish, take some time off, repeat. I'm a big chicken and won't pull the trigger.

With a week off every once in a while, one could get chunks of stuff done and sneak the planning and ordering in during work. Heh. Evenings, I meant. Evenings. Ha. ;)

Prague is one place I'd like to see.

Also want to get sloshed with rowdy Germans during Oktoberfest someday.

And eat paella on a beach somewhere in Spain just once.

Have fun in Prague!
 
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