"Michel, here is something that might interest you. It is an interview from Atlas that I got on
www.willflyforfood.cc Date Interviewed: 10/2004 Summary of qualifications: ATP 5400 hrs, 3500 turbine, 2400 turbine PIC, part 135 exp Where you offered the job? Yes Pilot Interview Profile: Started with overview and paperwork. All people were professional and friendly. Interviewed (in MIA) with Atlas Chief Pilot, Atlas Asst Chief Pilot, Training Manager from Polar, and Denise from HR. Most questions addressed attitude, personality and chahracter (they hired me anyway). I felt they were more concerned with the type of people they hire as compared to technical knowledge. I enjoyed the interview (no S!$T) and the people. they were concerned about ability to be away for 17+ days straight, UK base, and Flying the Classic because i have been flying glass cockpits. The Polar Pilot asked me to rate myself on a scale of 1 - 10 and then asked me to explain. i was asked what i would do if my FE showed up drunk so i inquired as to whether Atlas provided firearms in the cockpit... Sim ride (Classic) was straightforward, all basic flying skills (scan, ILS, climbs descents, hold, etc). Right seater was a training pilot who provided all configuration changes and would do whatever you requested (within the guidelines of morality). To sum it up, he would tell you the speeds but not the power settings... Best advise is try to relax in the interview and show them who you really are. as long as you're not a @#%$@#$ you will do well. training is about 3 monyhs (till release to line)and training pay is $1200.00/mth + $52 per day per diem. (dont quote me on the per diem but it is within a few greenbacks) I was told that I would probably be called in March. They called me in March to tell me I would get the 400 in June. Got the call today (March 18) that I was being offerred the 200 for an April 18 class. I tried to hold out for the 400 and was told too many are doing the same so take the Classic or go back to the end of the line. I was also told that the Classics will be replaced with 744's soon and I can bid a 400 after a year. I will be bidding a U.S. base Hope this helps, Good Luck Date Interviewed: July 2004 Summary of qualifications: ATP 8,000 hours Where you offered the job? Dont Know Pilot Interview Profile: Arrived for interview (Miami) at 8 am. Met other candidates (10 others) while waiting for the process to begin. Was greeted by an HR person from company HQ in NY. Then by person of similar role from Miami. Pilot types came in later....Chief Pilot, couple of line Captains, and some training department types. Paperwork drill took up most of the first couple hours. Brief description of company was presented both verbally and on video. Seemed to be a big priority to let you know that the schedule sucks. 18 days, extendable to 22 without your consent. They wanted us to know that we'd be hell and gone and that if we didn't like that we might want to consider other employment. All said however, it was more or less a matter of fact statement, not necessarily anything aggressive or antagonistic. Politeness and professionalism seemed to permeate most of the communication with us. And a brief tour of the training facilities was given. Interview process consisted of half the candidates getting their sim eval first and an interview afterwards. The other half did just the opposite. Sim ride was very straightforward. The entire group was briefed as to pitch and power settings, the departure procedure to be flown (to a holding entry), and the simple airwork to return for a landing. Ride was from left seat. Line CPT occupied right seat but was very low key. Waited for leadership from the candidate. Did not provide any guidance or correcting input but did accomplish anything the candidate asked for (heading bugs, tune and I.D., etc). But power was set by candidate at all times except for the takeoff. All in all there were ABSOLUTELY no tricks or distractions attempted on the part of the sim operator or support pilot. They were looking for basic airmanship, comfort with cockpit leadership on the part of the candidate, and ability to follow the gouge given during the mass briefing to all of us prior to doing the eval. Configuration of the aircraft was handled entirely by support pilot so that the eval would not be based on 747 knowledge. In addition, the configuration and speeds directed by ""ATC"" seemed to have been chosen with min trim changes in mind. Really, they made it as easy as possible for you so that it was more or less an eval of your very basic piloting ability, and not your ability to fly a 747 sim. To be honest, it was without a doubt the easiest sim eval I have ever taken. The interview board was also relaxed. They wanted to know a bit about your personal and professional background. It was non-threatening. And they were again very professional and polite. It was an enjoyable interview experience. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Currently any interviewees hired will go into a pool. Atlas seems to have a reputation for hiring and furloughing a lot. Junior guys go to the UK (London) but can commute from anywhere. Currently hiring into both the -200 and -400 aircraft. 06-20-00 On Friday Jun 9, I received a call from Mike Sikorski and was asked if I was interested in interviewing with Atlas. I told him I would love to interview with them. He said he would call the following week and set up a date. On the 14th of Jun, John Roberts (Assistant Chief Pilot-Anchorage) called and asked if I would be available on the 20th or 21st of Jun. They were conducting interviews in Anchorage, Alaska. I live in Anchorage so this was a nice bonus. I arrived on the 20th of Jun to the Atlas office in Anchorage, Alaska. There were 12 candidates on Tuesday and I assume another 12 on Wednesday. Our backgrounds consisted of 3 Air Force pilots (2 active duty and 1 national guard), 1 civilian 727 captain from Northern Air Cargo and there rest were commuter pilots mostly from Alaska but I believe one from Air Wisconsin. Mike Sikorski gave us the introduction to Atlas and then gave us the psych evaluation. It consisted of 56 questions. The first half was positives, ""What you like most and least."" The second half was what you want to avoid most and least. There are three statements on each question and you have to select one as M for most and one as L for least. After that we were given the necessary release forms and paperwork to fill out and then Mike gave us some information on pay and benefits and where the company was going. We also watched a short film on Atlas life and the company. The group was then divided into two groups-the first group of 7 stayed for interviews and the second group was released to come back at 1300 for afternoon interviews. The interview panel consisted of three members, Mike Sikorski (retired Atlas Captain), Lew Allen (Chief Pilot Anchorage), Eileen Maguire (Human Resources Representative). It was pretty relaxed and very short, approximately 15 minutes. No technical questions. Mainly questions on would you be a good match for Atlas and their culture. Here are some of the questions asked: What is going to keep you at Atlas when American calls in six months? Tell us about a CRM experience or when you used CRM. How was the transition from a large aircraft to a small aircraft? Do you have good family support? What do you do on your time off? What do you like least about your present job? Do you like to travel? How do you think the transition to civilian life will be? How do you feel about long trips? Are you planning on staying in Alaska? Are you planning on going to the guard or reserves? What was your best flight? What was your worst flight? Why Atlas? We were all told to expect a call in a week by another Human Resource Representative because he couldn't be at the interview. We would not find out anything until we received the call from him. I still have not heard anything but think the interview went well. I hope this helps those who get a call from Atlas. I am expecting the call this week. 5-17-99 There were 5 applicants for the interview last Monday, 17 May 1999. Besides me (ready-to-retire USAF Lt Col), there were two ready-to-retire O-6s (one AF and one Marine), and two younger former-AF guys. One of those was in a non-flying sim instructor job, the other has been flying a commuter turboprop in California since he got out last August. He previously had an interview with United and did not get hired by United. The first thing we did was the Flight Crew Opinion Inventory. It was a psychological survey to see how compatible you would be for Atlas. The main thing is to be consistent. The first part was a series of positive statements, and the second part was a series of negative statements. We filled out the different release forms for records checks and credit checks. Then we watched a video about Atlas, directed at telling you what it is like to work for Atlas. Then Mike Sikorski told us some more things about pay and benefits. He is the one who decides who goes into which airplane (747-200 or -400). He specifically mentioned looking for pilots with glass cockpit experience, and specifically C-17, to go to the -400! Upgrade to Captain is running about one year from date of hire! Then we had our interviews with the panel. The panel consisted of Mike Sikorski, Mike Bryant (Chief Pilot), Jim ____ (a flight engineer, I think), and Eileen McGuire (HR). The interview lasted about twenty minutes and was non-threatening. The main point of the interview seems to be to determine if you are compatible with relatively long crew duty days and long trips, and that you will be likely to be a long-term employee, not just using it for a stepping stone job. As best as I can recall, here were the questions: Briefly, tell us about your flying career. Tell us about the C-17. What are your crew duty day limits? How do you handle a 24-hour crew day? How do you feel about long trips? Tell us about a CRM challenge you experienced. Why do you want to fly for Atlas? What would you do if 6 months from now, USAirways called you? Can you make it to a July 20 training class? After the panel interview, we each had a one-on-one interview with John Turnipseed, the Director of HR. He was very personable and easy to talk to. He wrote down my answers to a one page list of questions: Why Atlas? What was your best job? What was your worst job? How do you feel about long trips? What is your strongest feature? Then he said he would call me by the end of the week. Overall, it was a friendly and non-threatening process. Just be yourself and let them get to know you. They exceeded my expectations for a freight company--tasteful and professional offices and competent and friendly employees. This is a very successful and well-run company. I'm excited about having a job with them, flying brand new 747-400s all over the world, and as a captain in a year or so. Five days later, Mike Sikorsky called me with a class date for 747-400 training!! 4-20-99 Had my resume walked in, very hard to get a interview if you don't have a recommendation. Air Inc., sent me an application and I filled it out with my $35.00. Called Atlas before Thanksgiving and got ahold of Capt. Bob Silver, he then had me call him at home and said he would look for my resume. I then recieved a call from him in late December and had a phone interview. He then offered me a formal interview in JFK. Interviewed in January and it starts off with a video of the company and then a pshyc. test. Then paperwork and the interview. Chief Pilot, Dir of Training and human resources. Very straight forward with no technical questions except the drunk Captain one. Then we met with John Turnipseed who is in charge of Human Resources, very nice man and a real positive interview. Went home and got called that evening with a job offer for the right seat of the 747-200. No sim ride, never looked at logbook, etc. Need letter of recomendation or you can forget it. If you get called up to JFK, you have the job unless you say something stupid. Very Very relaxed interview, you don't even have to wear the ""interview"" suit. They tell you this when they send you the paperwork. Great company and great training. When the union comes on on the 23rd of April life will be that much better. Upgrade time is 14 month from F/O to Capt. 4-15-99 I interviewed with Atlas on 4/15/99. The interview was real short and did not include a sim check. There were four of us and we started out at 0830 by taking a personality test designed to see if we were compatible with the type of flying Atlas does. The questions were the kind with three statements and you had to decide which statement you most agree with and which one you least agree with. Basically if you agree that you don't have a life and want to fly 747's world wide you will do well. But... you have got to be yourself. The interview was a board style interview with three people behind a desk asking questions. It was VERY short. Each person only asked 3 or 4 questions. There were no technical questions. The questions seemed to all be directed at finding out if you were the type of person they would want to fly a 16 day trip with. Others were the typical ""tell me about yourself"" ""tell me about a bad experience you had while flying"" ""tell me about a time you used CRM, or saw it used"" type. The people there were VERY nice and the interview was very low key. It is conducted at bldg 151, JFK. You have to get there yourself and pay for your motel. The Five Towns motel seems best as they have a 24 hour van and will pick you up and drop you off at the Airport or at Atlas. Don't forget to bring logbooks, passport, and copies of everything. (I had all that but they never asked to see any of it). After the interview you will either get to see on of the corporate officer for a final gauge of your personality. If he can't see you he will call you after you get home. 10 days to 2 weeks later you should hear one way or the other. Good Luck! And here is some interviews by Polar: tech questions by Chris Nardiello (747 FO); 1.) Tell me how you would fly this approach? (given a ndb approach from a Brazilian city using the GAMA ndb, approaching from the east over some high terrain) The appraoch starts at 5000' over the ndb so you must enter and use a depicted holding pattern to descend from the eastern 7500' MSA sector. Important to do a thorough approach brief to yourself. 2.) He reads an atis information at the LAX airport giving you visibility 1/4 fog, temp. 0c, dew point -2c, what are your takeoff considerations? icing and use a takeoff alternate. 3.) Talk through a non-standard holding pattern entry holding south over the Seal Beach VOR approaching the VOR from the west. 4.) Given a LAX VOR approach depicting a VDP. At what point may I descend for the runway? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03/24/00 Ms. Lumpkin, HR, finally called after I sent several resumes. Cab from LAX to 100 Oceangate took 25 minutes in moderate traffic. Cost of $40 each way. If you come a day early the Hacienda Hotel had good rates for airline employees. Got my room for $50.00. Huge hotel so I am sure you don't need a reservation. Polar is located on 15th. Floor. Once there I took the elevator downstairs to the ""plaza"" floor where there's a restaurant, a little store etc. Waited there until 10 mins. before my interview. Once in the lobby of Polar I registered with the secretary. Believe her name was Lucia, or something like that. 15 mins. past my scheduled interview time I was told to take the elevator to the 9th. floor where I met Ms. Lumpkin. Interviewed by her and a Captain. They told me to relax ( I was already relaxed) and that this would be a laid back and straight forward interview. They looked over my current resume. HR asked me how I got interested in flying, how I liked my current job, if I had any commitments (she meant family and kids etc.). Nothing difficult at all. Captain asked about pilots action in windshear, any accidents or incidents, consideration when taking off in fog with 1/4 mile from LAX, OAT of 5 degrees C., no wind. ( Alternate + anti-ice for t/o ) Asked me to brief an approach into LAX, how to enter hold after missed, when I could descend on that approach once rwy. is in sight (VOR 7 L/R has a charted VDP which is mandatory), max elevation of obstacles on the approach plate. Two hold entry questions, speeds at different altitudes in the hold. One question on descent profile at night with no VASI but with DME (300 ft. pr. NM lateral), descent planning from FL310 to FL180 and to cross FL180 at 250 KIAS with an initial speed of 330 KIAS ( 13000 ft. to lose: 13 x 3 = 39 plus 15 miles = 54 NM prior to crossing restriction. Vertical speed is 5 times G.S. OR you can add a ""zero"" to your G.S. and divide in two. Same answer.) Rumors has it that UAL are looking into buying Polar. IF they do, the pilots ALPA contract states that the pilots go with it. At least thats what I've heard. Supposedly they are also getting three more 747 Classics, on top of the -400 they are getting Very friendly and personable people. A growing company with a bright future. Told me I did well so now I am just hoping for a call with some good news. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03/09/00 Interview did not differ substantially from previous post of 2-16 on this message board. Was asked what I knew about Polar and tell us about your background. Technical questions included: 1. Brief an approach-VOR or GPS 7L or 7R at LAX 2. What is the entry to the hold on the missed approach? 3. Showed a drawn picture of a VOR with an airplane approaching the VOR from the west on a 090 heading at 3000 ft. Hold south on the 180 radial, nonstandard turns. What is the entry to the hold? When would you start slowing? What speed for that alt. would you hold? What if the holding speed for that alt. was too slow for your weight, what would you do? 4. You are told to cross Simi Valley VOR at 10000', you are at FL310, when would you start down? 5. You are doing a visual approach to 7L or 7R at LAX at night, no vasi or papi, basically you are doing a visual into a black hole from over the water. What alt.should you be at 6 miles out? Then at 3 miles out? 1800 and 900. Thats about it. All told it took about an hour and was very relaxed and informal. I made it in the pool. Just be yourself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2-16-00 Polar Air Cargo Trip Report. February 16, 2000 Transportation: After arriving at LAX I took the Super Shuttle ($26+Tip) to Polars Headquarters in the 1st Bank and Trust Building on the corner of Ocean Blvd and Magnolia in Long Beach. Do not use the unlicensed drivers who approach you at the terminal. They are scabs who tried to charge me $40. After the interview walk down to the Hilton (one block West) and give the concierge a couple of bucks to call Super Shuttle for you. They have a deal with the Hilton for $14. Check in was on the 15th floor as directed. I was met by Capt. Craig Little one of the directors for training who took me to an office where I met Cheryl Lumpkin. After some small talk Cheryl asked me what I knew about Polar. (They have a web site for some information, try to find some press releases on the web.) She then asked me to talk about my background. When hearing that I was married she asked me if I could deal with long trips of up to two weeks away. Craig then asked me some tech questions, very standard: You are at FL350 and need to cross XXX at 10,000 when should you start your descent? You are approaching XXX on this heading and are to hold on this radial, talk me through it. Read a Metar strip. This whole experience was very relaxed, lots of smiling and some laughing. Craig then took me up to see the Chief Pilot, later I took this to mean I passed the HR/Tech part of the interview. Scott (forgot last name) told me everyone does not get brought to his office. He was more interested in my background and flight experience specific to what Polar does. He was also very relaxed. He is looking for potential Captains, unlike some freight outfits they don?t want career copilots. Polar has to be at the top of the list in the non-scheduled freight world. They are operating 14 747-100/200 and are leasing five more 747-400s in the next couple of years. The have PFEs, which are great to have in that environment, not to mention you start in the right seat. Their pay is well in line with industry standards. There is a 4 hour/day trip rig and 14 guaranteed days off per month. They average about 60 hours per month of hard time and that is also their guarantee. It?s not going to be Fedex or UPS, but it as attractive as Atlas or any of the other box haulers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-14-99 I just finished interview at polar. They ask QFE QNE QNH are . HOLDING A/S length of legs slow down time then draw a hold and how to enter it. What is HAT and HAA. 3 people important to you in your life. A positive and negitive event in your life. Sim ride ; one visual app at nite go around one eng IMC s.e. ILS to land. If you are single your in. If your married your not as likely to be hired. <!--emo&;)-->[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]<!--endemo-->"