Originally Posted by CAirBear

I interviewed April 2013 and from what I gather nothing has changed. CP - Matt Hintz and Jeff Griffen (both ORF pilots) will more than likely be your interviewers along with Scott Swanson (HR). Everynow and again a DC Chief Pilot will fill in, but it's usually Matt. They are all great guys and make you feel at home. Matt and Scott do the actual interview and Jeff is doing sim evals.

You WILL NOT be doing a sim ride if you are 135/121 current. The only exception to this is if you were to do poorly in your interview, especially tech, they will probably ask you to do it. I know this because it happened to my friend. He was 135 current, but was nervous and didn't do well on tech (which honestly is not hard at all so kinda surprising), but he killed the sim and was offered a class.

I was coming from Cape Air and it was an awesome feeling knowing I didn't have to fly the sim. They use a Redbird which I guess isn't as ghetto as most sims, but at the end of the day it's still a sim. Anytime I can avoid one I will not complain. Had a bad sim experience at Skywest (blessing in disguise now).

The interview is standard HR questions (maybe only 6-7 of them) and then the tech is basic IAP stuff like "What is the DH?" "How would you shoot this approach/fly the missed/enter the hold?". Not hard stuff at all unless you are way far removed from it. Finally it finishes up with a couple scenarios. "What do you do if you see the CA drinking?" Etc.

They are way more interested in knowing who you are and if they would find you pleasant enought to want to work with and spend 4 days on the road with. The training program washes out enough people that won't cut it so I guess this is why the interview process is very laid back and easy.

As for training. Ugh. I have very mixed emotions. This was my first 121 program and all I will say is there is definite room for improvement. The only good thing is this. I (and any others who've gone through) won't ever sweat showing up for class at your legacy job. This is the hardest program in the regionals and from what I've gathered from guys who've moved on, even harder than a majors program. So that aspect is cool I suppose, but it makes for a way to stressful/BS filled 2+ months.

Ground school is up in Appleton. You have your own hotel room at the Ramada. It's definitely not a bad place to live for a month. Free pizza and beer Thursday nights.

You will do 2 weeks of Indoc and 2 weeks of Systems. Be prepared to have no life. You have 2 test for Indoc each at the end if the first two weeks on Friday. Need an 80%. Systems test is probably one of the hardest test I've ever taken. They make this thing tough! I got an 87% and was more than thrilled.

You will have a packet (a syllabus of sorts) given to you on day 1. It has required reading for the night followed by homework questions. The next morning you start the day off going over the homework and correcting any wrong answers together as a class.

The Indoc tests questions are (for the most part) based off the homework questions. Indoc isn't nearly as hard because if you study your homework questions (assuming you made sure you have the right answers) you won't have any issues with Indoc. It's Systems that gets stupid.

After Indoc, on the 2nd Friday, you get a nice 45 page packet of homework questions for Systems (not joking) to take home with you for the weekend. My advice is take advantage of the weekend off (relax for 1 day and drink some beer) and get at least 1 to 2 days ahead in your homework. If you show up on Monday of systems having Wednesdays or even Thursdays homework done you will have way more time to actually be able to read all of the assigned reading and not feel nearly as stressed and behind.

I had a number of days (especially first week) in Systems where I got back from class at 4 (relaxed for half n hour) and was reading and doing homework until midnight. Then I had to get up around 630 for class the next day. The 2nd week I got a day ahead in my homework and it made a huge difference.

The Systems test is tough because it's a mixed bag from where the questions come from. It's not like Indoc where over 90% were straight from homework questions. You are responsible for more of the material in Systems and that's what makes it so god damn stressful because there are tons of lectures and power points and online IBT modules it just makes your head hurt. If I had to guess the homework questions comprise maybe 50-60% of the Systems test. The problem is they are worded very tricky and you really have to think about it. There are very little limitations questions which are cut and dry and not hard.

The test is on the last Friday in the afternoon. 100 questions and unlimited amount of time to take it. You have to get 80%. If you fail you will (assuming it wasn't a fail like you got 40% or something seriously bad) get to tak another test when you show up for CPT/Sim that is comprised of only the material you missed on which is nice. You have to get an 85% on the retake.

Alright Well I'm beat. I'm on a trip right now and need to get to bed. I'll finish and write from CPT/Sim thru IOE tomorrow sometime. Hopefully this posts is helpful for others.