I'm intrigued, and I don't doubt the story, just intrigued by it. But years and years ago (maybe in the mid 80s) was there a guy hired by Delta who decided to go elsewhere and told his (squadron?) buddy just to go in his place. So the guy shows up out of nowhere for indoc and was never interviewed. But they needed pilots and let him continue and then sent him off for a quick interview and hired him.

Urban legend?