Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. Nice to be here and to meet all of you!
Just really quick: I've read this thread in its entirety. I've been a United Airlines ramp agent for the last 10 years. Actually, I started with Continental back in '06, was a lead for a few years during the merger and then went back to a regular agent so I could get better schedule flexibility. I got my Private in 2008, Instrument in 2009, Commercial in 2013. I recently went to a CFI crash course and it was crazy because the kid who gave my spin endorsement took his first lesson as a student pilot
after I had already got my commercial ticket! It's been a long road and definitely a grind at times, but I've had a lot of fun at CO/UA and seen much of the rest of the world.. at the expense of my knees and lower back!
I have a friend who is a Skywest CA and he had given a BTQ guy a jumpseat (I believe) and he was the one who told me about your company. After reading the thread I can see the Boutique pilot group is pretty tightly knit and there's been a lot of helpful information given out to those who have been interested, even the window shoppers. Of course there will always be people who are negative about everything, but that's just everywhere and especially in the airline industry. It all boils down to upbringing and your life experiences. As someone earlier in the thread mentioned, if you've worked your share of crappy jobs in the past.. you likely learned something from all of them. You can't go to school for that.
Anyway I will get to the point. I don't have the TT to be competitive for a flying job there with you yet but I wanted to reach out to you guys to see what advice you might have to make me a good candidate for SIC, that could help me get hired sometime early or mid-next year 2017. Any suggestions are welcome. At this time I hold a Commercial Single only with an Advanced Ground Instructor certificate. I didn't get to finish the CFI course, but I intend on finishing it here in Texas. I plan on instructing and grinding out a few hundred hours but I'll keep my resume in the system at Boutique and network as much as I can during that time. I really like the Pilatus and I don't really care for flying a twin at this point in my career. Boutique is my first choice and I will be as persistent as I can at getting a job there.
Some questions if I may --
- What bases are in most need of pilots at present?
- What values do you and your company look for in a fellow pilot? (company culture)
- Any "gotcha" type questions during the phone interview?
- What did you use to study for before day 1 of training?
- What books did you hit up regularly before even applying?
- Did anyone have a PC12 flightsim profile set-up to prepare?
- Which legs/approaches/wx/ops would you find the most challenging in your everyday flying?
Also if there are any DFW pilots here that would like some BBQ and a beer on my dime, please PM me and I can come out there and annoy you with my questions
I live in Houston. I can also answer any questions for someone interested in United's hiring process formula or any questions about Mesa or Skywest for those wanting to get into the 121 world. Those of you who have offered a receive PM's I will definitely be contacting you after I get a few more posts under my belt.
Thanks for everything! It's been quite a read.
scorpius