adlatham

Hi guys and gals.
New to here but thought I might share my experience with my recent interview with Air Wisconsin. I’m a new CFI with ~ 260 hours.

I applied for the Airman Trainee Position and I was greeted with a quick response, then sent an email with instructions for the interview.
The email was a bit confusing as it looks as it was sent to the FO candidates as well as the airman trainee applicants. I was set up with their pass bureau to standby travel to Chicago for 2 days to complete the interview. They suggested some hotels to lodge in but the closest one was booked full but there was another a few minutes away. I had to pay for my hotel. As for the interview:


In total it lasted about five hours. We all met downstairs at around 7:30 before going up to the office, there were about 16 of us. The interview started at 8 AM. They collected all of the paperwork we were required to show, (they are pretty lenient about the paperwork and they will help you out if you mess something up) and while they checked it over we did some introductions. We had some employees then chat about the company, benefits, structure of the process for both the airman trainee and first officers, company values etc. It was pretty informative.

After that, we took the written test. The Airman trainee test consisted of 10 questions while the FO test was 25. The questions consisted of reading TDZE from an approach chart, CG questions on how it affected performance, TAF questions, hold short lines, and max speed in a bravo. It was pretty easy and nothing to sweat about.

We then broke off and ate some pizza, while they pulled people in for the HR and Technical Interview.
Both sections were pretty easy. For the technical interview just know all of the numbers from the study guide they give you. See a number, memorize it. I did it in 20 minutes of studying. Also, don’t worry about the profile as I think that is for the FO applicants.

The HR portion of the interview was pretty standard and not hard at all. Phrased like a conversation and asked questions like "what are some qualities of a professional pilot you would have". There isn’t a right or wrong answer to these.

After that was all done, we got called in again individually to say we got the job, then we got fingerprinted and waited awhile for the drug test. After that we were able to part ways and I hopped on a flight home.

They do their background checks through Accurate, and it takes about 2 months to complete (apparently they have a backlog of applicants, and I expect it to be done late july-ish). After the drug test and background test come back okay they will fly me out and put me in a hotel to sign more paperwork and give more details on the benefits / duties of the job. (orientation)

Overall it was a really positive experience and I’m looking forward to continuing and I will update this as more happens!

Let me know if you have any questions and hopefully this helps

IFLYACRJ

Welcome aboard


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salhnl

thanks for the detail info. Air Wisconsin has been in the back of my mind... when you applied you were already a CFI or did you apply while getting your CFI, anyone you were with working on their CFI? By any chance did anyone ask about which are their current junior bases? And how long reserve looks like? IAD or CAE?

RabidW0mbat

New hires have held all 4 bases out of training on the last couple vacancies. Will depends more on seniority within your specific training class. (Seniority at ZW in class goes by age, not SSN.)

adlatham

What Rabid Said. Chicago looks to be the most senior and I believe that its only a couple months on reserve out of training. Not a terrible outlook. I applied while I was getting my CFI. Like I said there was a diverse group, I think I was the only one without my CFI. (Some didnt but had turbine experience)

tonsterboy5

Chicago is the most senior for now followed by IAD, MKE, then CAE. CAE and MKE go back and forth. Only reason the last bid had some go to ord and IAD was due to the huge size of “new hires” the last bid had new hires from 3 months worth’s of classes.

dmspilot

If a new F/O doesn't get IAD out of training, how long might it take to get it? Are we talking a couple months or a year or more?

tonsterboy5

Reserve can be had with in 2-3 months at current rate. Not that long of a wait. Line holder will be a while, maybe a year.

justindw199

Is there any contract that says once you take the Airman Trainee Position that you have to work for Air Wisconsin for "x" number of years?

RabidW0mbat

No, however if you use the flight benefits, you’ll have imputed tax to pay, but I’ve already seen folks withdraw from the AT program.