Applicant FAQ

It’s a long day (just over 12 hours). They first email you a personality test and a very challenging puzzle scenario which takes an hour or two, don’t start late at night after a flight like I did, although I passed. The day of the interview we are asked to show at 0615 and the chief pilot briefs everyone starting at 0630 for about an hour about Frontier. That being said, they tell you all there is to know about the company, so dont waste your time studying this, no one got asked about company numbers or specifics. After the presentation we did an ATP test. Sheppard Air has the best gouge specifically geared for Frontier, without this, the test would have been extremely difficult. Most of the day is waiting around with the other applicants. Initially they will do a low-threat logbook review, just making sure the numbers add up. The rest of the day consists of 3 other interviews: Approach plate, SBI, and HR panel. The approach plate involves briefing a Jeppesen approach and answering some relatively easy questions. The SBI is a 7 minute timed event with a lose-lose situation and there is not a visible timer, so it’s always a surprise when it goes off. Everyone thought they failed the SBI and very few actually announced their plan when the timer was up. Then you debrief for 2 minutes and you’re done. The HR portion involved 30 minutes of fairly straight forward questions. Overall everyone was very nice, no confrontational or otherwise interviewers. Every pilot and employee was very friendly and would seemingly be wonderful to work with.

Great experience. The Frontier people really make you feel welcome. Thorough interview that lasts all day.

It’s a full day. Show at 7:15am, quick presentation on the company from a chief pilot. ATP test (1 applicant failed and was removed from the process). Logbook review. HR panel interview with a pilot as well. Finally, a situation based interview. They made us wait, then removed two others before they brought nthe group of seven new hires to congratulate us on our jobs (after messing bwoth us in the suspense).

Good experience. Everyone I interacted with was nice and it seemed that they wanted all of us to succeed. 3 of 7 were given CJOs. The weather was bad that day (big snowstorm) so I think they were trying to speed up the process just a little. 7 candidates showed up. Showtime was 0715. First there was a company brief for about 30 minutes. Then we took the written test. Next we moved on to the review of our flight records. After that they discreetly called for 3 of the candidates to get their stuff and they were sent home. The remaining 4 candidates continued through the rest of the interview process. Each of us were sent separately to accomplish the remaining 3 parts of the interview in random order. I did the technical portion as Jepp approach reviews including a standard approach brief and then lots of questions. Next I did the SBI (I believe Situational Based Interview). Basically you are given a setup in the air and presented with a problem and you have to deal with it. You are given wx, flight plan info etc and can ask questions. This is a solo exercise so you can disregard previous reviews where it was done in pairs. They plan to do it solo now. You have 7 minutes to handle it and they will be everyone you need to talk to (FO, Flight attendant, ATC etc). I didn’t get everything done I wanted to but did make and execute a decision. Then they allow you to debrief. I took the opportunity to critique myself and add some other things I would also do if given more time. They were very stoic so no way to read how I did. The general consensus from the other candidates was everyone thought they did poorly. The final portion was the HR interview with one Captain and on HR rep. Both were friendly and it was a relaxed environment. Next was lunch. Afterward they took one candidate away and the remaining three of us were taken to a room and given CJOs. They also had some paperwork to fill out and asked us to go to the airport to take a drug test as they didn’t have capability to do it there at their facility. The other two hires were from a regional airlines (1 was a Captain and the other a FO). Again, the ATP test was the most stressful for me, after that, it wasn’t too bad. Just be yourself.

Interview environment and interview team were really relaxed. They did a pretty good job of putting (at least me) at ease. We were told to show up at 0745 at their facility, but it snowed the night before and I didn’t know how the roads would be so I allowed myself extra time just in case but ended up arriving at 0700. This was actually GREAT for me, because I was the first one there and a few members of the interview team were already milling around in the lobby, so I got some one-on-one time with them and I think I made a good first impression.

We quickly got to it as soon as everyone arrived. Quick 40ish minute brief from the Chief Pilot about their operations and history, basically just informative. She was a little intimidating. She was Manager On Duty as well so she kept answering her phone throughout her brief, kinda gave an impression that we were taking up her valuable time. She ended up being in one of the panel interviews, but not mine.

They had two separate panels, splitting the group in half. I had Tony and Darren, the other panel was the Chief Pilot Lisa and a female first officer.

They then started taking people in whatever order and the interviews started. It’s split up in the 4 parts and people did them in any order, didn’t really have an rhyme or reason to it it seemed.

I started with the SBI. They had TWO candidates do the SBI together, one acting as Capt and one acting as FO. WE FAILED MISERABLY! They did such a good job sucking up our 7 minutes that we hadn’t gotten any of our 2-in 2-out at all really before time was up! I was rather dejected. But we debriefed together and admitted our terrible performance and for whatever reason that seemed to satisfy them, because both myself and my partner were offered CJOs. Also, before the SBI, they had you give an approach brief from a Jepp chart an then asked some questions about it, if you don’t fly Jepp often, go review, I haven’t flown more than 5 or 10 Jepp approaches ever, so I had to make some assumptions.

The moment I stepped out of the SBI the COG/Personality woman pulled both of us into our respective rooms and put us on computers for the COG and personality tests.

150 question personality test, pretty similar to all the others out there, just answer honestly. Not timed.
50 question puzzle/math test. TIMED, 12:00. IT ALLOWS YOU TO GO BACK before hitting submit and answer any questions you hadn’t, so I skipped ones that were taking me a bit too long and came back to them at the end. I answered all of them only guessing at one. My partner who also got a CJO only answered 42.

Then since I was now half way done I got to sit for a little while and stew on the mistakes I made in the SBI. I personally didn’t want to openly affect their process there in the building, but others didn’t seem to care about that so they started sharing SBI gouge with the people who hadn’t gone yet. It didn’t seem to help. The members who did the SBI last an knew exactly what was coming so they got their 2-out-2-in done and everything did NOT get a CJO.

Eventually I got called back for the panel and it was Tony, who recruited me at WAI, and Darren. Very relaxed environment, offered that I should take off my jacket but I kept it on and turned it into an opening joke about only just buying this suit and wanting to get some miles out of it. I joke when I’m nervous but I think they took it well.

Didn’t get the standard “tell us about yourself” but they opened with “lets talk about your flying,” and I just kinda rolled into my intro, amended to focus on the flying portion a little bit.

TMAAT you went above and beyond (didn’t specify for customers, but I took it that direction)
How do you implement CRM in your cockpit
Here’s a drawing of what you see out the window while your weather radar is down, WWYD
The Captain wants to take a jet with no lav with 200 pax for a 1+20 flight, WWYD (I rejected the jet, standing up to the Capt, but others took it and still got CJOs)
You just lost an engine 100 miles after departing DEN, WWYD
What’s your most recent bad mistake (I took this opportunity to talk about my commander directed downgrade (Q3 for you air force types) from 2013, so not my most recent, but my biggest)
That’s all I can remember now, but other people got “Do you have other apps out” and “Why Frontier?” as well.

Then we did records review which I thought lost me the job. First, the guy who reviewed my records was the guy from my panel who role-played the Captain who wanted to take the broken Lav jet, and he said “first off, interview pause, you wouldn’t REALLY reject that tail with the broken lav would you?” And I openly said “I feel like I’m being tested” but he stuck to his, “no no no, this just me asking” so I changed my mind and said I’d take it. Don’t know if that was important or not. Anyway, I had mis-read my HARM product (Air Force Log book) and was missing 2 years of T-6 time!!! Thankfully that’s only 500 hours, but I thought I was done for. Also, BRING YOUR FEF/Checkride documentation to include ATP. I also didn’t have that and I thought I had lost the job.

THANKFULLY that wasn’t the case.

After about an hour of letting us sit while they talked, they came back to the lunch room where we were all sitting and took 5 away. Didn’t say up front which group was which. They talked to them and then came back to us. They had us grab all our stuff and walked us to the door and hazed us a bit by saying “Gentlemen thank you for coming and showing interest in Frontier. Unfortunately the interview process is over and we need you to….head down the hallway and start filling out new hire paperwork with HR.” Now we had heard from other gouge the reverse of this process, so I’m sure they switch it up, so don’t be discouraged or encouraged when they separate you, just realize it doesn’t mean it’s over til it’s over.

The day started out slightly disorganized. Everyone we met was great and seems excited about the future potential of Frontier

We started promptly at 7:45AM. We were all brought into a room and given an hour long presentation on the company with some Q&A at the end. Then we were ushered into the cafeteria to wait between the 4 interview portions. A light breakfast and lunch were provided as the day progressed. Take the time in the cafeteria to meet the fellow applicants, and talk with and get to know the people that work there. There will be interviewers in and out of the cafeteria. Talk with them, ask questions, and be yourself. The 4 interview portions are Cog/Personality test, HR/Panel Interview, Paperwork Review, and Technical/Scenario based interview. There’s nothing I can really add that isn’t already out there on the gouge, but they stress that they don’t want a gouge pilot. They want “you to be yourself” They want to see the real you and if you’re knowledgeable, skillful, personable, and someone they could fly a 4 day trip with. A lot of exciting new things are coming to Frontier. Most notably 180 new air frames over the next 8 years. Currently they’re filling classes 35 people per month for the foreseeable future. There were 15 candidates in my interview group. Of those 15 applicants, 7 were given a conditional job offer. The 7 of us given a job offer were given a class date of June 3rd. My interview experience was incredibly positive. Frontier has an incredible pilot group, and I really enjoyed the interview process. Come prepared, be engaged with others, and most importantly be yourself. Lastly, plan to be there all day. Final results were not issued until about 5:30PM, and for those hired you will have to do some basic paper work and go get drug tested. Dedicate your whole day to the interview, and have fun!

Day started @0800 email says to get there at 0745 I walked in at 0740 and was the 5th person there out of 8, so I would say anything around that time should be fine. We all met in the lobby and were greeted by the head of HR, systems CP, and other Captains who are all part of pilot selection. Went around the room and did quick intros along with our favorite overnight. After that, we were brought into a conference room to get a brief on how the company is doing, future plans, and how the day was going to pan out. We were then brought out to the lunch room to begin the process. There are 4 separate parts, to the interview that you are selected for in random order. I didn’t do anything for the first hour which was a slightly uneasy feeling, but I was able to stay focused and keep my head in the game. The SBI is tough, and it’s supposed to be, they partner you up with another candidate now instead of being by yourself. I did that first and thought I did horrible, but the debrief is crucial so make sure to take mental notes on things you did well, and not so well.
Everyone at Frontier was amazing, I had a fantastic experience and can’t wait to start. I cannot stress enough to be yourself, and talk to everyone. Out of 8 candidates that day 4 of us made it through. I briefly saw some of the guys on their cell phones, and heard one guy ask about what time the interview will be done so he can catch a commute home. I was floored by both of those situations and I separated myself from that immediately. Be outgoing, be excited, have a good attitude, and again be yourself they will see through your BS.

My interview was cancelled due to previous checkride failures and I am requesting a refund.

Great interview experience. Technical questions were easy. Most likely answered some of the HR questions incorrectly. However, there were no curve balls.
3/12 were offered CJO.

RTAG job fair in-person chat with the chief pilot.

Meet the Chiefs event.

Went to Aimpoint job fair in San Diego. Met with chief pilot with my resume for a pre screen interview. I got the interview offer before I’d published my app.
I attended OBAP in July, added a 737 type rating in August and kept my app updated every couple weeks. However, there is no way to know which of these (if any) affected the invite timing.
Talked to them at WAI

I had a friend submit a silver bullet recommendation, and another friend in the marketing department send an internal.

I could have done better on my own with interview prep. My top off was essential.

I focused too much on aerodynamics and not enough on the other areas like weather for instance. I would have done a more balanced study approach.

If you fail the ATP test you dont continue the interview, Sheppard air airline ATP prep is essential.

Study for the atp test. It sounds like almost every interview group loses at least one person who didnt study for it.

Everyone was really nice, and made you feel at ease. The chief pilot hung out with us all day and shared war stories. Pretty good experience overall… Even though it was a long day. We left around 5:30pm.

The chief pilot told me my logbook was a mess. I turned in my Air Force HARMS products (which were a mess, but we’re also my official logbook). I put a clarifying note on my Excel product that it was not official. This was confusing. Once I’d explained that my Air Force product was not a copy, but the official product, and that I’d only put the note on my Excel product because they specified “official”, he seemed okay with it. He showed me an example of what they’re looking for, and I was polite in receiving feedback. Later, an HR person found me and reassured me that I was continuing with the process…

I think they saw that I was a bit concerned about it.

They have specific instructions for what to bring. It isn’t listed but bring a photocopy of your pilot license. They didn’t want to take our actual licenses.

I didn’t scrub my Air Force HARM product as thoroughly as I should and turns out they hadn’t updated it in 2 years! So I was 500 T-6 hours short, thankfully it didn’t matter.

Study the Sheppard air airline gouge and you will have absolutely no issues.

The sbi portion.

Study Jeppessen charts if you’re not familiar. No questions were overly difficult.

The hardest test questions for me were weather related, some were very specific.

JEPP overall was tough for a mil guy.

Nothing in particular was harder than anything else.

There was not a formal knowledge test.

Nothing too crazy that the gouge didn’t cover.

Calculate LR on an arc.