The interview for Hawaiian Airlines is pretty straight forward. The biggest hurdle is getting an invitation. They only interview people who have recommendations from current Hawaiian pilots. Without that, it'll be pretty tough to get in.

Once that is taken care of, it is a two step process. All the interview process takes place at their headquarters in Honolulu. The first day is a simulator ride, using an Elite 4 PCATD set up as a DC-9. They give you a briefing sheet before hand with a lot of helpful information on it. They mostly want to see your instrument skills, so they handle the gear, flaps, etc. All you have to do is fly and set the power. Takeoff from HNL RWY 8, turn out to a heading, level off, and make 180 degree steep turns each direction. Then intercept a radial to a hold. Fly out of the hold and fly an arc. Then the ILS RWY 8 to minumums. That is it for the sim ride. The guys there are former line pilots, and are very cool about it all. Just relax and let them help you as much as possible.

The next day, you interview with three current line pilots, one of them is the assistant chief pilot. It's very relaxed. They are all in Aloha shirts, so that kind of sets the mood. They really just want to get to know you. They look over your logbooks, ask about your background in flying, your education, how you heard about Hawaiian etc.. One situational question (what do you do if capt goes below mins, or what if you smell alcohol on his breath....standard stuff) and that is it.

If you make it past that part, they will call you and ask you to come back at another date to complete the application and background check paperwork, take a drug test, and do about five hours of psych tests. I think it was the Wonderlick, MMPI, and a couple more I hadn't seen before. And that's it. If all goes well, they are hiring about 7 or 8 per month, mostly into the FE on the DC-10 for the west coast. Sometimes a person or two will go directly into the right seat of the DC-9. With all the new 717's coming in, and more 10's arriving soon, the hiring will continue for quite a while. Most people who fly here love it. It is a great place to work.