Tricky interview questions...
 

I was looking at some of XJT questions and came across a couple of tricky interview questions.
The ones about the "captain going below mins" are fairly straightforward since you always want to be on the safe and legal side.

But what if its christmas eve at an outstation and a single nav light is out....and the captain wants to go anyway. What do you do? Lets be honest, a single burnt nav is not exactly a big safety issue, is it?:rolleyes:

Are they looking for someone totally by the book who will oppose the captain's decision? Or someone who is honest about it and says that a navlight is probably not a safety issue?

Honestly, I see it hard to believe they would want to hear anything BUT "I would remind the captain that it's illegal to T/O w/out all 3 navs". But what if the captain insisted in wanting to go? How far should you go defending a position which you know is not critical to flight safety?


The "best" answer I can think of is that you would refuse to go because you don't want to risk losing your license in case there's an FAA inspector. Pretty lame excuse, I know. Especially if in the scenario they say you're somewhere like in La Paz, Mexico. Or you could simply say it's illegal and you don't want to knowingly do anything that's illegal.


Any input? Anyone had this or a similar type of question asked before? (eg. something that's illegal but doesn't pose a significant safety hazard)

Single nav light is out? No problem. The aircraft is equipped with two nav lights on each wing. We call maintenance, write up an MEL entry, and off we go.

I agree with that, however, for an interview question I would answer that we would not leave until the aircraft is in compliance with all FAA regs and the Aircraft MEL.

Of course, but if you "amend" the question to fit your needs it shows that you're thinking beyond the interview.

99% of transport category aircraft have two nav lights for a reason.

Every time that I've heard of this question, the interviewer has never specified the type of aircraft... They leave the question "open-ended" for a reason to see your line of thought. (All of these types questions are like that...)

Question: It's christmas eve, your at an outstation with no maintenance and notice that a nav light is burnt out. What do you do?

Before you answer the question think things through: Is it dark? (Christmas eve is all day long!) Is there more than one bulb for each nav light position? (No problem! Defer if with MX over the phone and lets go!). Is it already MELed? (No problem, lets go!).

See my point?

Personally, I say find some speed tape, duct tape your maglight to the wing and get the heck outta there!

Here's my favorite gotcha from a few years back:

You and your crew have checked into the hotel and decide to change then meet in the lobby for dinner. Upon coming back down, you see that the captain is wearing a pink dress and high heels. What do you do?

try and score some dessert ????

I was given the scenario, this is the honest truth... "You are a new captain here at XYZ, on taxi out someone on company frequency transmits "another empty kitchen" in response to your female F/O's radio call. She is visibly upset. What do you do/say?" I was so shocked by the question that I think she (the interviewer) took that I was personally offended by the scenario. I just wanted to get out of the interview without laughing.

The priorities when it comes to any issue is as follows

Safety - By exercising good sound judgement, you. your crew, and your passengers will be safe.

Company Procedures - By following the company's procedures and policies will keep you within the guidelines of all of their operations manual.

FARs - By following company procedures and and being safe, you will always be in compliance with the FARs

The bonus??? You get to keep your job.

Good luck.

You never know when big brother is watching, and guess what... The airline is grounded immediately with due dispatch, you are out of a job to which you have the option of resigning from, and you will never get a job with an airline that is in compliance with the PRIA.

On some aircraft where only one light is standard from the manufcturer required an engineering order inorder to be issued in order to have the second nav light installed in their aircraft.

Happy flying, and keep it legal.

Be thankful that you're flying with a female Captain that actually pull-off wearing a pink dress and high heels. ;)

It depends: is she cute, how long is our overnight, and will I have to see her again? ;)

FlyerJohn, silly me! I forgot about the dual lights. I liked your other answers as well (day/night, MEL, ect). However I was under the impression this type of question was asked to test mainly your integrity/safety attitude/conflict management, not so much systems knowledge (I might be wrong though). Don't get me wrong, I think you brought up some good points, and I would probably answer in your same way if asked that type of question. I'm sure asking questions like yours shows critical thinking and proactive problem-solving, but what if they were interested in knowing how you would handle the conflict with your captain?
If that is the case, they will answer all your questions saying that BOTH navs are out, it is night, it can't be repaired that night, it can't be MEL, ect. In other words they put you in a situation where you either break the FARs and go with what the captain says, or stand up to the captain and tell him its a no-go.
Obviously, you don't want to break FARs, or admit you would at an interview....:D

How would you handle the conflict with the captain if he was completely motivated to go? What if you cannot convince him be talking to him?
What do you do? Refuse to board the aircraft? Call company ops and denounce the matter?

I know this is a far-fetched scenaro...but reading some gouges it lookes like they are not that uncommon.

thanks to all that replied!

Most of those questions are looking for either conflict resolution, or outside thinking. (Sometimes both).

In my experience with the nav light question, I've never heard of anybody pressing the issue, but ALWAYS go with the reg/safety. We all know that in real life, we'd do a CB reset and "ops would check good" right up until we got out of the block, then fly home and write it up.

How about this one - it's pretty common:

Captain is flying an ILS approach to minimums. You're making the required call outs.

you: "200"
CA: "check"
you: "100"
CA: "check"
"Minimums - nothing in sight - go around"

The captain does not respond and continues to fly the approach. What do you do?

Say "I have control", and take over because the captain is incapacitated. Answer the questions how HR wants to hear.

Not for an interview, but on a flawless PC oral my grandfather was asked what the RPM of the beacon was for the DC-9. Its 49RPM.

You would take over the controls at 200' AGL at the snap of the hat? (especially after only one callout?) Are you sure that's what HR (and other line pilots sitting on the panel) want to hear?

I don't think fighting for the controls is the thing to do in the 121 world...Remind the CA again - "sir, we need to go around." If nothing, I would tell ATC we don't have the runway environment in sight and are excuting a go around.

Of course, I know nothing and am often reminded of that fact by my wife , daughter, and mom...


_LAFF

IMHO, this is the BEST answer out there that I've heard so far. Why? Because it doesn't require wrestling for control at low altitude, and puts the CA in a position where he MUST go around or risk having to explain the situation to the FAA. (Since you have reported over the radio "nothing in sight").

When we asked this question, we didn't just stop at minimums. Instead, we would count down while the question is asked... "minimums"... "minimums minus 50"... "minus 100".... "minus 150"

We did have one or two folks that just didn't say/do anything and presumably hit the runway.

IMHO, this is the BEST answer out there that I've heard so far. Why? Because it doesn't require wrestling for control at low altitude, and puts the CA in a position where he MUST go around or risk having to explain the situation to the FAA. (Since you have reported over the radio "nothing in sight").

When we asked this question, we didn't just stop at minimums. Instead, we would count down while the question is asked... "minimums"... "minimums minus 50"... "minus 100".... "minus 150"

We did have one or two folks that just didn't say/do anything and presumably hit the runway...


There are plenty of other questions as well... Drunk captain in hotel lobby after a long overnight, what do you do?

Tell the captain he has two choices here... Either he calls in sick right then and there to get off the trip and sleep it off, or the FO goes directly to the company. Never let the intoxicated crew get in the cockpit.

K

And what do you do if he refuses? Who do you call and how do you go about doing it? There's really no wrong answer here (other than to let him fly), but how you answer this question can provide some good insight to an interviewer about your personality...

I'm astounded you would let him fly intoxicated... unless maybe I misread your post. If the captain doesn't call sick, you tell him you're calling the company right then and there and advise them of the entire situation. And you, as FO, absolutely refuse to fly with him under any circumstances.

Maybe the answer is different at another airline, but I did a year's worth of interviews with AA and that was one of our questions we'd ask among a few others posted here on this thread.

I'm simply telling you what AA wanted you to do. I have a hard time thinking it would be any different for any other US carrier.

K

Where exactly did I say let him fly?

I'm saying, that you can learn a lot about a candidate by following up with "he refuses to call in sick, what do you do?"

You say call the company. Who are you going to call? The answer you give can give good insight into the type of personality you have.

Simple...

Call the chief pilot of your base.

K

Tell the CA I won't let him get on the plane drunk. He needs to call in sick. If he won't call in sick then I'm calling the chief pilot at the base / outstation.

Bottom line - the CA is not leaving the hotel / getting on the plane. Situation is bad but no need to make it a 6PM news item.

-LAFF

OMG I guess I'm such a sexist I didn't get it right hahahhaa damn!

Here's the list of folks to call /things to do as I've heard them in interviews:

System/Domicile Chief Pilot
Captain's Friends (other captains) to encourage him to call sick
Professional Standards
Company Safety Manager / Director of Safety
Crew Scheduling
Drug / Alcohol Manager
Call in sick yourself
Offer to call in sick with the CA (bad food the night before perhaps?)

There were some other creative answers, but I can't remember them all. The big thing is don't let the Captain leave the hotel. But some interviewers might think higher/lower of you depending on their personal beliefs and experiences.

(For instance, I was more impressed by the people that not only protected the company, but also genuinely sought to get the CA help and not end his career by flat out calling the CP as the immediate first step).

Another good question
 

Here's another good question I heard...

"When was the last time you broke an FAR?"

-If you say no, they know that you are lying, sort of a leading question.

-Same as, "So sir, is it true that you have stopped beating your wife?"

um maybe it's just me but that makes no sense. the first question is not a YES or NO question like the second one.

If you have never broken an FAR why wouldn't you just say , " I have never brroken an FAR "

That in itself means you probably don't have enough experience. Everyone violates one at some time, for example, accidentally off altitude, speed, etc... usually corrected by a nudge from the controller and nothing comes of it.

You're not alone TD, stupid me thought the same exact thing....I guess I need to get my head in the game for interviews when they come, that could be a big mistake especially if a woman is the interviewer

Ah I understand, I have done that before. Went off my altitude and yea got the nudge from atc thats all. I was thinking something serious that involved some sort of mark on your record.

Yea, this thread is pretty helpfull. Good thing im seeing all this now lol.

Don't feel bad, you guys aren't the only one that have "fallen" for this little trick. It definitely tends to catch the older guys, particularly those from the military that haven't necessarily had as much exposure to females in aviation.

Here's another one that we used to ask some of our candidates, particularly those that were older (such as second careers or coming out of the military):

How do you feel about flying with a captain that might be half your age and have half the total flight experience as you do?

What will you do if you feel that a particular decision that such a captain makes is contrary to what you might have done based on your own experience?

Falling into the "older" category, and having been an aircraft commander for quite a while, I got that one at every interview. There are many paths to the destination, and many are equally "correct". I'd make it a point to make sure that I'm not hosed up and misunderstood the situation by asking about it without judgment, as it may be technique, and my Captain has more experience in this type of flying and this aircraft than I do. If that technique is outside of what they taught in the sims, I'd carry the discussion further with the Captain about why we were doing things differently...hopefully we'll figure it out from there.

Communication, and always remember you can always learn.

Will not be a problem...I've worked with younger and older bosses all the time in my military career. Mutual respect and open communications are the key to getting the job done safely. Decisions - ask the CA why he did what he did. I see different prespectives as a learning experience. I'd certainly pick the CA brain about his decision. If he's not going to compromise flight safety - its a non issue and a learning opportunity...

I have a question about resumes. I'll have 20 years military experience when I head off to the airlines. Should I have that work experience as one entry or split it up by commands/assignments? Each assignment has had increasing levels of responsibility / leadership.

-LAFF

LA,

Regarding resumes, there's no simple answer. (It depends). Remember that for airline jobs (flying), you're going to want to emphasize on your flying history.

When I was first starting out and applying for my first airline job, I broke my resume down into four basic categories. Flight Time, Education, Related Experience and Other Experience.

Related experience had everything that had anything to do with flying. This included flight instructing, ramp jobs, airline ticketing jobs, if it connected to flying or the airlines it was there. The other experience area covered exactly that- military service, management jobs, etc.

Since you are going to want to keep your resume to an appropriate size (one sheet of paper with reasonable spacing and font size), I would recommend consolidating whatever you can, provided that it gets the point across.

Something to the effect of:

1986-2006. United States Air Force (non-flying officer)
Multiple duty assignments. Achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Postings and responsibilities included: Overseeing the latest and greatest super bouncy ball research and development. Training and mentoring up and coming senior non-commissioned officers on the proper techniques of filing excessive paperwork and implementing bureaucratic policy. Tasked to increase domestic security through the implementation of paper clip chains and rubber band ball radar assemblies. Successfully implemented multiple cost-intensive military programs which serve unknown purposes. Awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained through repeated consumption of black tar-like substance from a coffee pot that hadn't been cleaned since World War II.

:D

I would avoid an overly detailed explanation of what your military career has entailed. Perhaps high points could be mentioned in bullet format after a brief explanation of your overall career. I think the airlines want to see a well rounded person and putting too much emphasis on a glorious military career would not be to your advantage. Be sure and mention your family, civic involvement (soccer coach) and other aspects of yourself that would show you were qualified, but not all wrapped up in one particular facet of your life.
Good luck with the transition!

Here's a question that was posed to a recent interviewee that is a real gotcha!

A boy and his father are in a terrible car accident and the boys father dies. The boy is rushed to the hospital and as he is readied for surgery the surgeon walks in and says "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son"

Explain this?


The answer which seems obvious after we hear it is: The surgeon is the boys mother. As females become more prevalent in aviation it is important to expand our limited thinking about gender roles. Apparently interviewers agree.
The question was asked by a female sitting on an interview board. I don't think anyone would get a thumbs up from her by being stumped or getting this wrong.

Or another big one might be not wearing the Oxygen mask when the other pilot leaves the cockpit.

K