Applicant FAQ

“The overall experience was nice. Of course, everyone is amped up and they try there best to make it relaxed. I stayed at the Renaissance concourse which was ok, kind of overpriced ($22 breakfast) but it is close to the delta main en-trance. It is 11 min walk or took the easy route and had the shuttle drop me off and through him a couple dollars. I would get there around 7:15 or so, you check in at the main gate for about 1min and then walk into the Delta Global Staffing building which is about a 10 sec walk. Everyone say “hi” “good morn-ing” even the shuttle guy said “good luck” so it is well known what you are there to do. The other debriefs do a pretty good job of what goes on there, I just wanted to add my opinion about the hotel and where to go. They are very professional, you should be too!!”

“Really just a class act. The staff at Pilot Selection are very friendly and it is quite amazing that Capt Holmes takes the time to give his spiel for every single interviewing class. They try to make you feel at ease. Never got the feeling like we were being watched or “judged.” Wore the blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. The panel was great- friendly but not overly warm. Not overly cold either. Be ready for long moments of silence while they write data from your responses. I just drank some water during those times.”

“Great experience! They give you a tight window to arrive. At the front gate NET 0715, in the interview building NLT 0745 (they’re close, no sweat). After dropping off your documentation with Dorothea (highly suggest you fully sep-arate the sets they instruct you to into separate manilla envelopes), Barry Holmes takes everyone into the conference room and tries to put you at ease. Brief overview of the two days, to include disclaimers that he doesn’t own day 2, it’s all the shrink and computer.
Then they leave you in the waiting room, with a schedule posted on the table. 4 people total, two interview in the morning while the other two are testing, then flip after lunch. They set aside 2 hours between interviews, but each interview only lasted 45 minutes. So, quite a bit of down time. You’re welcome to wan-der the campus. I was first to interview, 0830-0915, then I didn’t test until 1230, so I had quite a while.

The interview itself was pretty relaxed. 1 HR, 1 ret captain, 1 active captain, no one in uniform. I drank all the water, enough to make a joke about it when Sarah took one before I hogged them all. Questions based on app after my in-tro. Did your college meet your expectations? Talked about my check ride fail-ure, then follow up question “how do we know this won’t happen again….?” etc. A few TMAAT and WWYD, one I hadn’t anticipated. WWYD if the Cap-tain and his jump seat buddy make sexual comments to the flight attendant and she rushes out of the cockpit in a fluster (still on the ground) but it honest-ly went really quickly.

I kept some of the guys waiting their interview company til they went in, then I explored campus a little bit. Unfortunately the museum was closed.
We all met for lunch in the cafeteria and then headed back. Testing was three blocks with the
ability to take a break in between the blocks. COG was perfect after lots of Jet Brain Games from RST. As everyone has said, it’s easier than Tito’s practice tests. JKT testing also was as expected from RST. Study it, focusing on the practice tests after you give yourself brief refreshers on aero and en-gines.Personality was as expected. I’m sure there are study guides out there, but I just answered honestly. It’s only about 200 questions if I recall, shorter and more straight forward than day 2.

CJOs came at the end of day 1 as always. 3/4 got picked, two mil and one En-deavor DGI. The three of us did our paperwork and got another short brief about day 2. We then went and met for dinner at Mellow Mushroom and hap-pened to run into the CTP class so we passed on whatever words of wisdom we had during our high time.
Early to bed, early to rise, day 2 started at 0630. Every one takes the personal-ity test at the same time. I happened to finish first so I was the first into the shrink’s office later. First I had to urine test. They late you drink water during the 600 question personality, so pace yourself, but you want to be able to go right after.

Then into the shrink’s office. They warned us ahead of time that if we try to “game” the system on the test, that it will show on the computer and they may have us take it again (“NO ONE is that positive”) but that’s not a bad thing. This happened to one of us, not me, and he still go approved after day 2. They also explained that the shrink will have the results of the computer test and he may ask questions on sections. I don’t know if that was the case for me but he didn’t seem to ask anything specific to the test. Just some general things, how do you deal with stress? Do you have any regrets (I took the opportunity to talk about the Q3 again even though I had the day before). Etc.

After that just over to pass/ID to get fingerprinted and picture taken, brought all the paperwork back to Dorothea and was out of there by 0930! Got the email at about 11 that day 2 was successful, which included the CJO pamphlet on what to expect from year 1. “

“It’s like being stuck in a library all day. You spend most of your time waiting. There for 7+ hours for stuff that takes 2-3 hours. So while you wait it is crazy quiet! Other airlines will have people out talking with you and just being friendly. No warm and fuzzies here. “

“This interview was the most professional thing that I have been a part of in my life. From the moment you walk up to the gate and until the moment you leave World Headquarters everyone wants to see you succeed. Captain BH puts you at ease from the start. Emphasis on the Delta Air Lines culture and brand and they really take pride in protecting that. They want you to join the family in my opinion and they are looking for honesty in all aspects of the process.”

“Welcomed in the morning and were given different time slots for interview and testing. Overall experience was pleasant everyone was really nice and made you feel at ease. Only 4/8 were hired on the day and the ones hired were all Military (4/6 Military were hired).”

“Awesome. Previous ride reports accurate. Recommend reading through a bunch of recent ones. Mostly stressed because of how much is on the line and because Delta was my #1. They do a fantastic job of putting you at ease. Inter-view team (1 HR, 1 retired CA, one current CA) was extremely laid back. Half of the group tested before lunch, half did the HR, then swap. Day 2 is the MMPI and a short talk 1 on 1.”

“RST was a great asset by giving some valuable insight to the entire interview process. The previous trip reports from the last year give a fairly accurate por-trayal of the events that occur once you show up for day 1 of the interview. I drove in the day prior. I checked-in at the front gate the next morning by build-ing 1020 to get a car pass and visitor pass. No electronic devices must be seen at any point during the interview days so I just left my cell phone in my car for the time being; however, you could just hide it in your briefcase powered off because you just can’t be seen with it during the interview process. Once in the pilot candidate office they gather your paperwork and then meet for a briefing on the days events; some will test first and others will interview first. Everyone is very professional and friendly that does take some of the tension away. I tested first and then was the last to interview so I walked around the campus to try and relax until it was time to interview.”

“Awesome. Obviously stressful but the entire team goes out of their way to welcome everyone and reduce it. However, now that from the time you walk through that door you are on the interview. Captain Barry Holmes was a pleasure to work with, really great guy and sets the tone right away. There is no “good cop/bad cop”; there are no tricks. Look good, feel good (I wore a lav-ender tie and did just fine). If you make it to the interview, Delta wants to hire you. HR was great, very conversational. Went over my career highlights and a few questions, about 40 minutes. JKT was difficult, but the study materials provided are more than enough to (re)build that solid foundation to understand the concepts. It is imperative that you really understand the material, as the question bank is prohibitively large and the answers themselves can be usually only narrowed down to two choices.

Day two, you cannot fool the MMPI. Be yourself, by consistent, and you will do fine.”

“The Delta Pilot Recruiting team did an excellent job at trying to put you at ease for all the different events that encompass the Delta interview. I definitely felt like they wanted us to succeed and were very transparent about the whole process. I did the testing first and was done by 1100. RST provides an excep-tionally good product for the test prep. I didn’t have the HR interview till 2:30 so I decided to get lunch and then spend some time at the Delta museum while I waited. Leaving the pilot recruiting office was not an issue and was actually encouraged. I’d highly recommend checking out the museum if you have the chance. All previous TRs on HR portion were spot on. The only variation I experienced was not being asked a single WWYD. I did have multiple TMAAT scenarios.”

“The overall experience was great. HR made us very comfortable in the begin-ning and everyone was so nice and wished us luck, including the ladies at the guard shack. My group met the night before and that was really nice to be able to meet some faces before we showed up the second day. They seemed to genu-inely want to hire all of us.”

“Just like everyone else has said, it is a very relaxed experience. Gouge out there is outrageous. Don’t worry about how many waters you take from the fridge, or if you keep your jacket on or off. Everyone you work with is real and human. Drop the canned answers and show them you are a genuine pilot who makes good decisions.”

“The prep was more stressful and difficult than the experience itself. There’s some gouge that says they act nice to trick you into letting your guard down….I think they are just nice people. Testing and COG were straightfor-ward–put in the brute force effort and you’ll do fine. The HR portion seemed very much a “get to know you” vs saying the right answer or finding any “gotchas” on your app. My advice would be to act how you would act if you were meeting your girlfriend’s dad and brother for the first time, who happen to both be pilots and have already heard good things about you. They’re look-ing for a reason to like you and how you think so give that to them. The day 2 personality test was frustrating in that all the answers had to be true or false, so I just clicked the first thing that came to mind. The psychologist was very straightforward and the suspense for waiting around to start was the most stressful part.”

“Great experience. Delta employees were great across the board. RST prep was excellent for the Cog and Job knowledge Test (JKT). HR panel was tough but fair. Interview preparation services are simply required; but in addition to that, you must execute well. Experience, recommendations, and preparation services may get you in the door for the interview, but you must interview well and test well to secure the CJO. While need for pilots is high (retirements, etc.), getting on with a major remains highly competitive.”

“Incredible experience. Everything is explained and put on the table during the first meeting with Captain Barry in the morning. There are zero surprises throughout the process. This was the most accurate part of the ride reports that I reviewed prior to interview. Your clothing colors don’t matter and for the military guys, telling combat stories for your tmaat questions didn’t make a difference. Every military pilot in my group received a cjo. Just tell your sto-ries and what you learned from them. 7/8 received a cjo.

Be yourself. Don’t give them the answers you think they want to hear. Tell them what you think, explain the logic behind it, and stand by your answers. The whole interview process is designed to get to know who you are and how you think. Make their job easier by being honest and the process will go smoothly.
The other ride reports have the format down well. All candidates broken into groups in the morning. Half do computer testing and half start with the inter-view.”

“Great experience. I felt confident with RST and ECIC prep. Be prepared to start your interview or testing session early if everyone is ready to go. Captain Holmes is great and truly wants candidates to be relaxed and succeed. He was very quick to dispel some myths about the gouge. Coat on/coat off and all the other stuff you hear/read doesn’t matter. Be professional and it will go fine.”

“At about 730 Dorothea came out to grab us to turn our 2 sets of paperwork in. 745-815 welcome intro by Captain Holmes. They have a schedule posted in the pilot selection waiting area. My HR interview was at 1030 so I left the building and walked around campus for about 45 minutes before that. Got back to the building at 945, called into HR at 1020, done about 1105, then lunch break. HR was very cordial and relaxing environment. Back by 1215 for testing at 1230. Cog, personality, JKT. Done by 3. Last HR interview done by 1515. Captain Holmes and the rest of the Pilot Selection team came to tell us congratulations at 1545. Day 2 starts at 630, MMPI, urinalysis, psychologist interview (about 30 minutes), then fingerprinting and photo lab. Done with everything by 11. Day 2 success email at 1130. Overall great experience. They know how stressful it is and do a great job putting you at ease. Smile, be po-lite, look like you’re excited to be there.”

“Dropped off required docs (no staples, paper clips, tabs allowed). Then intro by Capt Holmes. They are watching how you interact with everyone from Dorthia (secretary) to the psychologist to your fellow interviewees. Went to the HR interview first, then testing in the afternoon (COG first, then mini-psych, then JKT). All the Delta personnel were awesome and nice. Overall it was stressful but the people were welcoming. Once everyone was done for the day, everyone came out to congratulate us on getting the CJO. On day 2, we had the long version of the psych test (500+ questions) and then the interview with the psychologist. Pee test and fingerprinting after that and we were done early on the second day (~10:00 AM).”

“Very professionally handled. Listen to Capt Holmes when he tells you what Delta is looking for. They look heavily at your education and GPA in those programs. (If you don’t have a Master’s Degree go get one and make sure you get great grades.) They look heavily at the leadership positions you have held. Be ready to talk about those things when they review your app. You really need to relax and show them you have personality. Don’t step into the HR Board nervous– it will show if you aren’t confident in your answers. People that lost their cool got the boot. Don’t give canned Emerald Coast answers. They seemed to hurry you along if they felt like you were reciting canned an-swers. You need to read the feedback you are getting from the HR Board and adapt accordingly. That shows true intelligence. Take the ECIC concepts and apply them to your stories and TMAAT questions, but be genuine about what you say. I had fun and laughed a few times. They don’t want robots that feel uncomfortable talking about themselves. Be prepared to sit at a very small ta-ble and be up close and personal with the HR Board.”

“A world-class experience. Newly renovated (Fall 2018) facilities. Absolutely professional individuals in the Pilot Selection Office. Barry Holmes’ spiel is to reduce your stress and build your confidence. The panel put me at ease. Re-member that Delta expects you to deliver safe, high-quality service and act with honesty, integrity and professionalism. I would recommend keeping that in mind when answering all interview questions.”

“Professional. Front desk lady is fantastic and she shows you around. They bring all of you in a conference room. He talks for a while so you can stop be-ing nervous. The itinerary for the day of who is interviewing first and who is testing first is on a neat sheet of paper in the middle of the waiting area which is a great looking freshly remodeled area. You know exactly when you are do-ing everything. Delta Cafe is great, lots of options. If you interview first, then as soon as your done with testing at the end of the day, those scores get sent and you will know if you are cut pretty close to immediately.”

“Great experience! They give you a tight window to arrive. At the front gate NET 0715, in the interview building NLT 0745 (they’re close, no sweat). After dropping off your documentation with Dorothea (highly suggest you fully separate the sets they instruct you to into separate manil-la envelopes), Barry Holmes takes everyone into the conference room and tries to put you at ease. Brief overview of the two days, to include disclaimers that he doesn’t own day 2, it’s all the shrink and computer.

Then they leave you in the waiting room, with a schedule posted on the table. 4 people total, two interview in the morning while the other two are testing, then flip after lunch. They set aside 2 hours between interviews, but each interview only lasted 45 minutes. So, quite a bit of down time. You’re welcome to wan-der the campus. I was first to interview, 0830-0915, then I didn’t test until 1230, so I had quite a while.

The interview itself was pretty relaxed. 1 HR, 1 ret captain, 1 active captain, no one in uniform. I drank all the water, enough to make a joke about it when Sarah took one before I hogged them all. Questions based on app after my in-tro. Did Purdue meet your expectations? Talked about my Q3, then follow up question “how do we know this won’t happen again….?” etc. A few TMAAT and WWYD, one I hadn’t anticipated. WWYD if the Captain and his jump seat buddy make sexual comments to the flight attendant and she rushes out of the cockpit in a fluster (still on the ground) but it honestly went really quickly.

I kept some of the guys waiting their interview company til they went in, then I explored campus a little bit. Unfortunately the museum was closed.
We all met for lunch in the cafeteria and then headed back. Testing was three blocks with the ability to take a break in between the blocks. COG was perfect after lots of Jet Brain Games from RST. As everyone has said, it’s easier than Tito’s practice tests. JKT testing also was as expected from RST. Study it, focusing on the practice tests after you give yourself brief refreshers on aero and engines, but the vast majority of the JKT came from RSTs test bank it seemed. Personality was as expected. I’m sure there are study guides out there, but I just answered honestly. It’s only about 200 questions if I recall, shorter and more straight forward than day 2.

CJOs came at the end of day 1 as always. 3/4 got picked, two mil and one En-deavor DGI. The three of us did our paperwork and got another short brief about day 2. We then went and met for dinner at Mellow Mushroom and hap-pened to run into the CTP class so we passed on whatever words of wisdom we had during our high time.

Early to bed, early to rise, day 2 started at 0630. Every one takes the personai-ty test at the same time. I happened to finish first so I was the first into the shrink’s office later. First I had to urine test. They late you drink water during the 600 question personality, so pace yourself, but you want to be able to go right after.

Then into the shrink’s office. They warned us ahead of time that if we try to “game” the system on the test, that it will show on the computer and they may have us take it again (“NO ONE is that positive”) but that’s not a bad thing. This happened to one of us, not me, and he still go approved after day 2. They also explained that the shrink will have the results of the computer test and he may ask questions on sections. I don’t know if that was the case for me but he didn’t seem to ask anything specific to the test. Just some general things, how do you deal with stress? Do you have any regrets (I took the opportunity to talk about the Q3 again even though I had the day before). Etc.

After that just over to pass/ID to get fingerprinted and picture taken, brought all the paperwork back to Dorothea and was out of there by 0930! Got the email at about 11 that day 2 was successful, which included the CJO pamphlet on what to expect from year 1.”

“You can always study more, but I felt confident walking out of testing and the HR panel. I knew I put my best foot forward and it paid off. “

“Studied concepts more than questions for Delta knowledge test.”

“The HR is literally 90% of it. Focus there. Don’t let the cog trip you up. Put in the time for JKT. 90% Aero and engines, 10% random 121 stuff/ math (descents and such)”

“I should have taken more time on the personality test and been more consistent. I believe that’s what cost me the job. I will research personality tests like Myers Briggs going forward.”

“I spaced my interviews 2 months apart thinking it would help me prepare better for each individual company but I think it made me over prepared for the first interview and less prepared for the second interview.”

“It was more fatiguing than I thought. Don’t drink so much water before the MMPI on day 2! The drug test is after.”

“Study more of the study guides in RST instead of focusing on the 15 day course. The course is important as it teaches you the concepts, but I didn’t realize there were other parts until I started clicking on things in the Member’s Area. I would do the 15 day course a month prior and then spend the last 2 weeks doing the study guides, associated quizzes, and interview prep if you choose to.”

“As an active duty pilot, I was able to get a week of leave (very grateful for this as I know some aren’t afforded this option), but I also was able to balance most of the studying with flying and training. That being said, if I would have started earlier (as soon as I started building my application) I would have been able to prepare earlier and feel less jammed as the interview date approached. “

“Not sure you can ever start too early for the JKT prep. May have made me feel a bit more confident after finishing the test, but obviously did well enough”

“I wish I would have put more effort towards the RST study to increase my confidence on the JKT. Luckily I did okay but it was definitely a stressor.”

“I would like to have better appreciated the peril posed by the cog test and the importance of focusing ones complete, undivided attention during the cog test question sets.”

“I wish I would have had my app complete when I went to the CTP program, there is a lot of waiting so push the rope.”

“Work through more of the WWYD questions and run those by interview professional; fellow pilots (especially Captains

“Like most, I still wish I could have started studying for the JKT 2-3 months early.”

No. Preparation was perfect. Execution, on the other hand, was not. RST does an amazing job on everything with K
JKT and cog and HR simulator”

“Studying more systems outside of the turbine engine stuff. Saw questions on the ammeter, T/R, Elec fuel control.”

“Absolutely not, I was freaking out the night before thinking I hadn’t done enough, covered enough topics on RST or Emerald Coast. But come prepared, study RST at least 6 weeks out if able, I did it 8 weeks out. Do that and you’ll be successful.”

“No. Read as many Trip Reports as you can and this will help with the unknown factor and when finished, pay it forward.”

“Start RST JKT prep sooner. I only gave myself 15 days and I would hav been more comfortable if I had started sooner. “

“Not really. Just be consistent with your prep. Work on a few things every day, and try to find the balance between making progress/reviewing vs. trying to cram at the last minute.”

“It was a very stressfull 3 months leading up to the interview. By far the worst part. Looking back, they called for a reason. Trust the process and show up prepared and you will do just fine.”

“After looking back trying to decipher what went wrong – the biggest thing I can pinpoint is the 1st day MMPI test (or similar…200 question personality test).
After reading ride reports, I knew the 2nd day test didn’t want to see too many neutral responses, so I think that may have bled over into my answers to the 1st day test. I answered the questions honestly, but I think I went with too many “Strongly Agree” and “Strongly Disagree”. Or I could have totally porked away the cog test and not even known it? No idea.”

“Yes, start earlier. Also, remember, RST is not an MQF. It is a check of understanding of concepts. The more you take the practice tests and look through the flash cards the more you memorize them. Start earlier, read Everything Explained for Professional Pilots; and Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. The EEPP is absolutely great. It does a great job of going over Aero and it also covers a lot of FAA reg stuff that us military guys don’t know. Well worth the money, just wish i would have started reading it earlier.”

“Like anything, more and earlier prep. RST studying…need to do >15 day plan…recommend a solid 30+.”

“The only thing I wish I did was not have a work trip before the interview getting home at 2 am only to turn around the next day to go to Atlanta.”

“No – I wasn’t super confident, but I wanted to make sure that if I didn’t get a yes there wouldn’t be something that I wished I had done that I hadn’t. Probably over-prep’d, but it gave me confidence as the two-day process went on.”

“Worry less about the small stuff. I had several things in my head that I was nervous about them asking about during the HR portion. I wasn’t asked about a single one.”

“If I had to do this again I would be more diligent to spend more time each day working on studying. However, at least spending a couple hours each day helps. I used some longer days, 6-7 hours, as the interview date got closer to keep things fresh in my mind.”

“Had a prescription Valium to calm the nerves! Just kidding, but in all honesty, I’m a very calm person and Day 1 was one of the most stressful days in my life just because of the unknown. Near the end of the day, Capt Holmes began calling out individual names at random, pulling them aside and informing them that they weren’t selected. We felt like a heard of animals being picked off by a sniper. When there were 5 of the 8 left, we stood around nervously for another 30 minutes until he came out to congratulate us.”

“I wish I had buckled down a little more on the JKT studying. I started to feel comfortable on most of the study areas and slacked off a bit on the end as I was able to pass the RST tests. It is not an easy test though. If I had been able to walk out of there feeling like I had done on, the stress of the whole experience would have been reduced drastically. You can’t control which questions you get, but it’s better to be over prepared and get easy questions than hope to guess lucky on stuff you’ve never seen before.”

“I would have gone to Atlanta 2 days prior to my interview to adjust and make sure I was well rested. The most challenging part of the process is I only slept 1.5 hours the day before the interview. It was mostly self-imposed stress, but also sleeping in a new environment (room near noisy elevator, couldn’t get the room temperature correct, etc). I think adding a day to the trip would have made the process less painful.”

“I did everything I could and I’m happy I did, that I was successful but if it went sideways, I would have known I did everything in my power and it just wasn’t meant to be. That helped me relax going into the process. It’s like I used to tell my students on checkride day: you’ve done all the work leading up to this point, that was the hard part; now it’s time to go enjoy earning the fruits of your labor!”

“Been this prepared on the first attempt, and done it right the first time. If i had to do a break down of the necessary study, in my opinion, it would be 70% HR 25%JKT 5%cog (maybe even less). The cog is not something to fear or worry about. It is very straight forward and pretty easy with the practice you are allotted while taking the test”

“I was nervous about the speeding tickets, and all I ever heard was just be honest… but never how to explain? Still not sure…
For me, I psyched myself out and didn’t frame things as well, being sure to focus on what the airlines want to hear. Advice from my experience: be able to explain everything on the app that’s negative and just be in the frame of mind to “sell yourself” as a passionate flyer (if not obvious in your background) and a company employee (even if you can’t fly anymore!). Good luck!!”

“Like the other Ride Reports, everyone wants you to get the job. From the security guards to random people in the cafeteria, they all are wishing you good luck. It was obviously a stressful 2 days, but there was not a single bad experience within the two days. “

“Prepare paperwork and the app so nothing is out of place. You want them to have no questions on format or hours going into the HR session.”

“I found much of the stress to be self induced. If you got the interview they want to hire you. Show that you cared enough to be there and prepare but interview them as much as they are interviewing you. It’s a buyer’s market.”

“Overall, I felt it is a very fair process. People must put in the work and spend the money to be successful. Act professional and treat everyone with respect. “

“Day 2 Psych eval was a big stress beforehand. Delta addresses that upfront. Just relax and be honest.”

“Not upset in the least. Went for the interview cause it was offered and Delta is structurally a great company. Had nothing to lose. But not getting the job isn’t the end of the world. It’s like a marriage…hopefully you’d go on a date first to see if compatible. But some dates you couldn’t imagine being married to for 20+ years? This was a date that showed me more what I’m looking for…and that is a better fit. Just hoping those dates will swipe right soon…”

“Be respectful and encourage each other throughout the day. My interview group was motivating each other throughout both days and it made it less stressful.”

“Just be yourself and be humble/respectful.
I had a lot of time after testing with lunch and a break before HR, so went to the museum. Great place to pass the time. Everyone recognizes you as a pilot interview candidate with the suit on and wishes you luck. “

“I had 0 internal recs, but I did have 2 letter of recommendations attached to my addendum. “

“We went 4/8 on Day 1. Day 2 I got the PARB review email at the airport. It was a gut check and put a damper on the celebration. I waited 8 days and ultimately got the all clear. Unlike previous reports of an unavailable number and Barry delivering the news, it was a listed Atlanta number and Phyllis that delivered the great news! “

“Books/Publications that I read:
-Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators (yes whole thing…helped with solidifying aero topics) -Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot -Checklist for Success
-The Turbine Pilot’s Flight Manuel
-Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (parts that applied to RST’s program)
-Delta’s Rules of the Road, The Way We Fly, Code of Ethics & Business Conduct
-I tried to read all of the posts by Tito on the facebook page, and build flashcards on the topics I wasn’t as familiar with.”

“I was stressed the week or two prior to the interview on whether I had prepped enough. I averaged around 75-80% on the RST quizzes and tests, which had me worried. In hindsight, I was probably over prepared for HR and COG, and probably on track for JKT. Don’t overthink the psych questions. Go with your first reaction and be honest.”

“The Hilton across the street just makes life easy. Yes I wore a blue suit and a red tie. Everyone is nice and is rooting for you. Yes you will be nervous but really only because there is a lot riding on your performance, but no single event is really that hard when you think about it. I felt like I wish I would have prepped more the day prior and after the process I felt that I had over-prepped. I think all the professional services (app review, RST, EC) are silly not to do.”

“RST was great for Tech prep; overprepared there. Enjoyed the closed FB page which gave good insight to current focus items and interview experiences through the ride reports.”

“One tip that I learned from the ECIC videos was to use the trip as an opportunity to interact with the Delta employees. I took note of the names and any interesting interaction. At the start of the interview, as we were getting situated, one of the interviewers asked how my trip was, I said great and then used the name of one of the employees and what they had done for me. The interviewer was surprised and asked that I knew/used the persons name. Interview seemed to note that point as a positive.”

“I let nerves get the better of me. And lack of sleep. It’s so important that you remain calm, and put yourself in the scenarios as the pilot. Day dream in the room after being asked the question. Literally imagine yourself in the scenario and do what you would ACTUALLY do. I didnt think like that and it cost me.”

“Be yourself! Do your best to stay relaxed. If you can, get out of the building for a little bit while you’re waiting to get some fresh air.”

“During the interview, a phone range for about 1 min straight. I think they were messing with me! I got “don’t worry about that, just keep telling your story”. Stay cool and carry on.

Additionally, Facebook was great. We met up with a group that interviewed the day prior for dinner. One of the guys in that group said he did not stand up when the secretary handed him some paperwork. No big deal right? Well that came up later in his interview when one of the interviewers asked him why he disrespected the secretary, ouch. Treat everyone well, of course.”

“Aim for 10 webinars through Emerald Coast. Spend 85% of your time prepping for HR, 10% for job knowledge test, 5% for cog trainer. “

“One thing that doesn’t seem to be brought up much is the personality test day 1 and the psychological test day 2. For both of them, be truthful. If you seem too perfect, they think you’re lying. Nobody is perfect. The personality test was another place that some had issues with my day.”

“The best advice I got was that interviews ask two types of questions. One’s to determine your thought process and ones to see what’s in your heart. Have a process to answer the brain ones i.e. Hub and spoke method or safe, legal, efficient, did i use my team checklists. For the heart ones just be true to yourself and don’t be afraid to express some humanity / vulnerability (within reason)… A trick I use when doing Q and A with large groups of people is what I call the water pause. I hear the question take the cap off a bottle take a drink or two put the cap on then answer. This short 5 second pause buys enough time for there to be enough time to gather your thoughts think of a quick strategy and begin to answer, also it helps to recenter your thought process if you start thinking at hyperspeed. I went through about 4 bottles of water in 45 minute interview. I think all and all I did a phenominal job of over complicating rather simple questions while preparing. Relaxing is 90% of the battle the other half is preparation. “

“Its a stressful time. Connecting through FB and meeting up the night before for dinner really helped. There is a lot of downtime. Interact like a normal human being and don’t isolate yourself. They’re probably watching and want to see the interaction. “

“I’ll just echo some advice I was given during my application/prep process:

DO NOT search to the end of the internet for each and every possible technical question/TMAAT/scenario idea you can find. It’s helpful to review the ones that you come across in your prep, but don’t spin your wheels trying to have an exact answer for each individual one. You are going to be graded on your communication ability, so focus on YOU and your experiences that apply to several broad categories of questions. For the WWYDs, you need to be able to demonstrate your thought process, communication, teamwork, problem solving abilities, etc, so DON’T just give a canned answer that you found on some random website; guarantee you they’ve heard it before and will be able to sniff it out.”

“Read every chapter of AIM & EEFPP (1 chapter a day) till I felt comfortable with the information. Took the advice from Tito to write down any questions I could get and kept on rereading it. I went over and beyond to rewrite most of the flashcards too as I had plenty of time. I was anticipating the interview and went thru a phase a year out before getting burned out. 2 months of few hours a day was enough for me to feel comfortable at the interview.

You are being watched from the second you step foot on campus. There are few baby monitors inside the building so be on your best behavior.
Don’t do anything to stand out of the group. Be friendly towards everyone and lastly BE YOURSELF.

As far as the psychological testing/ don’t take too much time to answer/ go with your gut feeling. I was sent to the PARB and had to wait over a month for the answer. It is hard to say what triggered it. “

“Only 4 of 8 of us in the group got the CJO. And I know at least two us got the Pilot App Review Board due to our psych evals and/or MMPI results. So we’re still waiting to hear the results of that but it could take weeks. The head of pilot recruiting did say the majority of people who get the PARB get the job still so I remain hopeful.”

“I was a re-apply in 12 months. I updated my app a few days after reaching the 12 month re-apply date, which was over a weekend. I received the invite to interview the following Monday (2 days later?). I didn’t even get the chance or needed to add any LOR’s. This almost immediate invite was a big surprise to me, and I am sure is rare. I had a very productive 12 months from a “box checking” standpoint, so maybe this helped?”

“A lot more idle time waiting around than anticipated on Day 1, I did HR early morning and finished Testing later in the afternoon some fatigue definitely set in, you can take breaks between computer tests I’d recommend it, I walked to the restroom splashed some water on my face and broke off a small piece of chocolate between each test just to reset mentally. Day 2 is no joke I drew blanks during some of the psychologist’s questions as a result I’m waiting for a PARB review”

“Treat all of the staff the same as you would treat Captain Holmes. If you’re approached, stand up, smile, shake a hand, yes sir/no man. The physiologist may use your mannerisms against you.

May not be a good idea to talk about war stories with the physiologist. You can probably come up with a non-flying answer. War stories seemed to lead some to the PRB (or so we think).

Delta wants all transcripts, period. Even if your classes are covered by a transfer to another college, get the transcripts from every college you attended. We believe we lost a great candidate due to this minor oversight. Follow the instructions in the invitation/follow on emails exactly.”

“Day 2 shrink, 1-on-1 interview: Lots of softballs, but I’ll list the questions I remember as I think you do need to be careful. Interestingly, during the HR interview, the non-verbal feedback was immediate; I could easily tell if the 2 Capt’s and the HR rep were picking up what I was laying down. On the other hand, the Shrink was totally Stone Cold Steve Austin; she never let on in any fashion how I was doing.
– Tell me about a formative experience in your youth.
– What was your best assignment and your worst assignment and why?
– Give me 3-5 words to describe yourself (1 I included out of honesty in the moment was “creative” – she latched onto that immediately, apparently I explained it well).
– TMA the most stressful time in your life, how you handled it and what helped.
– TMA conflict at work and how you handled it.
– Disclose any violations of the law to include traffic tickets.
– Do you drink alcohol and if you do what does consumption look like over the course of a day, week, month…
“Thank you that’s it we’re finished” with a straight face and a handshake.”

“Even if you have a CJO on day one you have to go through the MMPI and Psych eval on day two. I had a buddy of mine recommend taking a few practice tests for MMPI to see where you are at and if you trigger inconsistencies or certain profiles. I think this is a good idea and would do it if I have to take another personality test in the interview process. How can one pass the Hogan and trigger a PARB for the MMPI? Go ask the psychs I guess. This seems to be happening more often than not and I routinely find out around 30-50% of the applicants are getting PARB’ed for day 2 testing. Success rate is high but it still doesn’t make you rest any better at night.”

“Great experience. Try to relax and enjoy it. I had heard the stories of not being able to sleep the night before. I am not a worrier by nature and have never had a problem sleeping, even with a lot of stress. Sure enough, I didn’t sleep at all the night before due to mind racing. Wish I had advice on how to prevent it, but I didn’t study, go through HR questions, etc… for a couple of days prior to clear my mind – still didn’t help! Drink lots of coffee I guess!”

“Make sure you get to know the others that are interviewing with you. This really helps to ease the stress.
Don’t worry about the psychology/personality test. There is alot of good info under the Files section on Facebook.

Go to the facebook page and search within the group “WWYD” and “TMMAT” to see old posts and replies to make sure you have thought about all possible ways to answer these questions”

“Delta thoroughly looks at your application and the HR representatives know what to look for and what questions to ask pertaining to your application. They actually told me that I did a great job listing my hours, and that they added up perfectly. Like I said they know what to look for what to ask questions on from the application. “

“I was quite nervous about the HR interview, but I made sure to be myself and I think the interviewers saw that. Using interview prep should be taken with a grain of salt. Still be yourself, but make sure to be the most polished version of yourself. Barry said that one of the top reasons why they reject people in the interview is because the interview panel comes back and says “we met RST or Emerald Coast, but we didn’t feel like we met the guy/gal sitting across the table from us.”

Also, my HR panel had a total of 4 interviewers (1 HR, 1 current captain, 1 retired captain, and 1 pilot being trained who didn’t ask any questions, but took notes). One of the other groups the day I interviewed had 5 interviewers on their panel (1 HR, 1 current captain, 1 retired captain, and 2 pilots being trained).”

“MMPI…. You can be “too positive” and be inconclusive on the test. I tried to just answer each question quickly and honestly without over-thinking it. Several of us had to take it again due to inconclusive results. My best advice is to be yourself, but if you’re a pretty confident and positive person, maybe add a little cynicism to your thought process during the test.”

“No issues. I had listed some training failures, and they weren’t ever brought up. For my logbook, all I supplied was my original military logbooks, and a summary sheet with important stats. No tabs or anything else.”

“I had my original paper logbooks and printed a digital copy as well. I was told I did a nice job with them and that was the only comment about logbooks.”

“The only issue I had is I put down the wrong date for a fail checkride. I added the date after I had my application reviewed so that was my bad. I have logbookpro so I ordered a logbook and the pages off their website and just printed it myself (cost of about $170 for 4,000hours). It is very clean and very professional!”

“None. Only question I recieved regarding logbooks was why my Navy logbook total time did not match my airline app totals.”

“No issues with logbooks. I provided my green flight history folder as well as my personal logbook that I used Milkeep to create. There was one question about my Master’s transcript because it appeared like I completed the degree in one semester instead of one year.”

“Just that I understand the word ‘have’ as present tense and the hr person understood it as past tense. I was completely honest on my application, but had an issue years ago that I knew they knew about from a past interview. But this was supposedly a clean slate and the question about letters in your employers file says “do you HAVE” any…I don’t so I said no as that was the advice from the prep services. But hr had that circled when I walked in and really pressed (again, clean slate supposedly). I had nothing to hide so I said I HAD a letter in the past, but I do not HAVE a letter now. She kept asking have I HAD any letters, not the way the question reads asking if I have. I guess they spell air lines their own way and also like to change other words. Again, I had nothing to hide as I knew they knew about my past issue. But I’m a pilot who is detail oriented and thus read the question the way proper english would read it.”

“None. Military failures in tactical syllabus, 3 speeding tickets.”

“No issues or questions with logbooks – turned in unmodified AF records with a flying history summary report. However, before I showed up I read a trip report about an individual not having a complete work history on their application. Therefore, I updated my app with 2 jobs I didn’t list during my high school summer years and that was the only updates I did (besides current flight times) before the interview date – no questions asked about the 2 additional jobs updated on my app. “

“None. Copied my individual flight pages from my flight records as well as the flying history report. Turned in those, a paper sheet from my ATP and a hand written log form IFS. Was told ‘nice job on your logbooks’ during the interview. Don’t need to do anything crazy with binding/format/etc.”

“None really. Dropped off my military flight logs and civilian log book. I did get a question in the HR portion about one of my aircraft hours adding up incorrectly on my application, but it seemed like they just wanted to see how I would react to a minor stressor. I mentioned that I had worked hard to make sure they were correct but there might have been an error. They asked if my overall totals were accurate and I said they were and they quickly moved on.”

“No, they liked an organized table in my flight summary that broke down time by A/C, time in the last 30/60/90 days, etc.”

“No. I used the flight hours summary template from MIL2ATP and just brought my logbooks and Air Force flight records.”

“No. They didn’t even look at my logbook with me or ask any questions in the interview. I’m career military; I had my Navy logbooks as well as LogTen Pro log printed in a binder to justify the mil-FAA translated time.”

“No issues. I had listed some training failures, and they weren’t ever brought up. For my logbook, all I supplied was my original military logbooks, and a summary sheet with important stats. No tabs or anything else. “

“The only issue I had is I put down the wrong date for a fail checkride. I added the date after I had my application reviewed so that was my bad. I have logbookpro so I ordered a logbook and the pages off their website and just printed it myself (cost of about $170 for 4,000hours). It is very clean and very professional!”

“No issues. All paper logbooks, I made some minor corrections and only updated flight hours on the application. I handed in my logbooks and green ARMS folder. They did ask if I had access to airline hours via my airline company website, I do not and he left it at that. Might be something to get before hand and include in the paperwork to back up your logbooks. I would have had to get them from my airline’s flight records department. I did not take my own personal summary sheet nor did I tab my logbooks.”

“Nothing that was brought up during the interview. I can honestly say however that you should be careful how you log actual instrument time. I had to do an audit previous to my application to correct some issues with that. Outside of that it was a pretty straight forward experience. If you are transitioning military they do require much more documentation than they do as a civil pilot. Civil pilots do not need to bring training records so save yourself that hassle. Logbook summaries are greatly appreciated though as well as a register of important logbook dates (have them neatly tabbed).”

“No issues with any paperwork or logbooks. Didn’t have any questions about flight time. Make sure you follow directions when compiling your paperwork. Don’t waist your time binding it or labeling it, just give them what they ask for. “

“None. I worked pretty hard from starting my prep months ago to be sure my application was airtight and did monthly updates on it. I am a Naval Aviator and went through my NATOPS (flight records) jacket to get some things organized in the correct order, ensured dates matched and overall just did a QA of that and my log book. This also took a lot of stress off me since I was not really sweating anything – 2 weeks before my interview I changed my availability date to “2 weeks notice” since my availability date was in the past, no issues with this at all – but be ready for the fact that they will ask you to initial next to that date and hold you to it.”

“I took a course at a local community college that I didn’t provide a transcript for. They asked why, and I answered that it was on my University transcript so I thought it wasn’t necessary. They seemed satisfied.”

“Logbooks no. Application, if you have any gremlins (tickets, citations, failures, anything) be ready to discuss it. Best way to handle this…prepare. Make sure your app is airtight, and 100% honest, and have an explanation for anything you cannot change, ie bad GPA. Paperwork, no. I was missing one thing, mentioned it, had a good reason for missing it, and nothing more was said.”

“Yes, My career path has not been as straight as most people. I have 3 different degrees (associate, bachelor, master) and flew 129 (foreign carrier) before coming back to the US. When the HR interview started they were confused about all those jumps (had a lot to do with money). I also made some simple mistakes in my application (like wrong GPA in the associate degree and wrong graduation date in the bachelor—transcript showed different date than what I thought). Also, in my initial application I had only included 1 check ride failure but later I found 2 more and added it (they had my initial app vs. my latest app). They did not liked that.”

“None. The HR panel reviews your application and is very clear on confirming with you that everything is current and accurate, including failed checkrides and availability. At first it feels like they know something that you don’t, but if you are 100% honest, there is nothing to worry about.”

“Not during the interview itself. I initially couldn’t decided how to present my times after my first written logbook. Ended up going with Logbook Pro’s turnkey printing service. I was very impressed with the final product. Very professional looking binder and the reports they print with the logpages work perfectly for flight time summaries. I simply printed additional copies at Staples (of the reports). I recommended thinking about this before the interview invite so you can avoid needing to buy the expedited service. Then you are eligible for topoff service when your interview comes up.”

“None. I was all paper. I put together an Excel spread sheet for my flight hour summary. I was insecure about my log books. I was all part 61/141 and my early log books are quite sloppy. All of my 121 time was entered per-trip so I included a 121 supplement, which was a print off I got from Sked Plus (SkyWest). I was not asked one question about my logbooks or my times. I am living proof you don’t need to drop a ton of $$$ on electronic conversions and elaborate presentations.”

“No issues. What is worth mentioning is that Delta really does expect two stacks of loose papers – they scan everything into a computer. And recently, they have expressed on their FB page that a professionally bound logbook/paperwork, while not a negative, doesn’t necessarily score points. Also, they do seem understandably a little sensitive to the use of the Widget logo too.”

“Zero. But I spent a painful amount of time on my log book. For the regional guys or perhaps the fighter pilots this may not sound like much, but I have over 750 flights culminating into 4500+ total flight hours. I had never used anything other than relying on my friendly neighborhood flight records office at HARM. But, I spent many hours taking my flight history a turning it into my own excel product. I’m glad I did, as I was able to catch two errors when I did a full review of my flight history line by line. We corrected the time and it took an entire 8 hour day to get threw it. We updated the official Air Force flight records and I updated my personal log book. I took BOTH records to the interview and the matched perfectly. I was prepared to explain my conversion times (I used 90% of my primary for PIC plus my IP time made up my total turbine PIC time) but it never came up!”

“No. I’m a bit OCD so I’ve been tracking my USAF flights in an XLS spreadsheet since I starting flying the C-17 so it was “easy” to convert to PIC, SIC, Dual, XC, etc. I also tracked my A-Code time so I didn’t have to estimate how much of my Primary time was PIC. I put both my USAF flight record and my spreadsheet (in a Jeppesen-like format) in a 3-ring binder along with my civilian logbook and added a summary page. One of the pilots started to ask me a question about some of my T-6 time in the HR interview but changed his mind and said it wasn’t significant.
For the rest of the paperwork I followed the OTS Candidate Check-In Checklist and didn’t have any issues. I included a copy of my CFI behind my ATP in Stack 2 since it was a license and they were asking for licenses, nobody said anything about it. As of 13 July 2017 is one minor discrepancy between the checklist and the initial invitation email. The email asks USAF folks to bring original Form 8s (Forms 8?) and one set of copies of Form 8s but the checklist only asks for one set. I kept my second set in my briefcase and nobody ever asked for it. The checklist also asks for original OPRs and “copies (separated)”. I asked about this at turn-in and they just want you to put both sets back to back in Stack 1.”

“No issues. As others have stated, they only want a big stack of paper (plus original FEF & ARMS products) for stack 1 & 2, no binding desired. They collect these at the very beginning before any testing /interviews. The only questions asked about my paperwork involved a limitation of airlineapps to properly list my bachelor’s degree type. Despite the warning to not update your app within 48 business hrs, I accidentally updated on Sat for a Tues interview and my changes made it into the app they reviewed with me. They will have you initial the addendum entry about violations and initial the 2 weeks availability entry on the app.”

“No issues. I transferred Universities after my freshman year. Even though my college transcript had the previous University courses and credits they wanted to see the grades. Not an issue. Just bring all institution you went to and got credit for coursework.”

“They spent alot of time on my speeding tix.. 10 (they joked that I had one in every state..).. but hit on one in particular that said “Court dismissed” from 2007. I had that data from my driving records (I pulled records from every state I got a ticket in). I couldn’t really remember the particulars being it was 10 years ago, but said I thought I probably called/wrote a letter/went in to the court and asked for points to be dropped off. One of the interviewers was really interested in what that meant, seemed skeptical. I just apologized and said I’m sure I was just trying to get the points lowered. Felt like that issue may have detracted from my score bigtime.

They asked about a job I had that I only worked for a few months then quit.. asked if they called the chief there, what he’d say the conditions of my release from that company were, I said “resigned”, and they asked why I left, I said the money could not justify the risk (mil contractor in Iraq) and was not what I expected going in, and if I gave proper notice, I said “inside 2 weeks however there was no required notice per contract”. I’m sure that cost some points as well.

They also had me add a line in pen under military history for my enlisted time (I had only one entry for my entire career (enlisted to commission, no break in service)). On airline apps the drop-down menu only includes choices – Active/Inactive/Retired/Honorable Discharge/Dishonorable Discharge/Other – none of which apply to my enlisted service.”

“The date of issue for my commercial pilot certificate and private pilot license that I wrote in the beginning of my original logbook did not match the date of my check ride. I believe that I copied the date from my original plastic copies which may have been different. They took issue with this.
I was also dual enrolled in two colleges at the same time. This took time to sort out because they did not understand.

Regarding GPAs that I listed for universities that I took just one or two classes; For example I had a B and a C at university X. I listed this as a 1.5 GPA even though I never graduated from university X and never actually saw the transcript. The course was only taken at University X to serve as a transfer credits and to be included in my cumulative GPA. I am still not sure how they wanted this listed but we spent more time talking about this.

There was one oversight on my part. When I transferred all of my paper copies to electronic logbook (a timely process) I had some tail numbers dating back to my flight instruction days that I duplicated (to save time) and were more or less placeholders so I could get accurate times. The correct tail numbers were in the original logbooks which I presented to them. In hindsight I should have scoured my electronic logbook more closely since I did ultimately sign each page. Honestly this may have been the reason.”