Originally Posted by
cadetdrivr
Don't sweat your scenario. Answer ALL questions HONESTLY and bring the admin letter and all supporting documents to the interview. If necessary you could also bring a letter from another member of your unit that substantiates the situation. I don't know if Airline Apps still permits an addendum but you also may be able to scan the letter and attach as a PDF document.
Because of several accidents involving pilots with poor performance history, airlines are quite sensitive to the issue. A single event, particularly caused by an admin process that is easily explained and documented, is not something that will cause any heartburn.
FWIW, the only pilot I've ever known to be fired from UAL was fired from my new hire class during indoc when UAL found out that he had answered "no" to a question that the background check returned a different result. The issue was minor but the UAL legal & HR departments would not retain a pilot that "lied" on the application. Had he answered differently the entire episode would have been a non-event.
That's good gouge Cadetdrivr, thanks for your input.
Have you or anyone else on this forum seen a mistake, issue, or adversity causing event (nothing criminal, but a lost qualification, failed checkride, accident/incident) on a record turn out to help a candidate in an interview? Nothing that indicates a trend towards poor performance or recklessness, but a one off deviation that may show strength of character in the way a candidate responded to the incident and became a better person for it? When I sent students solo, it were the ones who would screw up, recognize the mistake, apply corrective action, then plod on to a safe landing that I felt the best about endorsing. Didn't know if the same would apply to airline hiring.
I've sat on military flight training performance review boards and been impressed by students who learned from their mistakes and carried on smartly. Sort of demonstrates the "whole person" concept and gave me the feeling that their flaw might have rounded some sharp edges a bit and that he or she may practice a slightly more compassionate form leadership in the future (not a pushover over or wuss, but not a heartless automaton either).