I was offered the chance to interview in early September. I was given the choice of two dates and I chose the earliest one. On the day of the interview, I arrived about 6:30 AM for a 7:00 interview time. First we went to the cafeteria to wait for the interviews to begin. At 7 AM sharp Mr. Trout came and got us and took us to a classroom. There he issued a written exam immediately. Its 50 questions, ATP style written. There were questions pertaining to part 91 and 121 regs and company information and history. Majority of the written was about IFR procedures and holding. Have a good idea of crew rest requirements, fuel requirements, Circling distances, light gun signals, and Jepp enroute and approach plates. The charts and plates used where not anything unusual so just know the basic elements of them. Know the company officers and who founded the company. After finishing the written test we where told to go to the cafeteria and wait for all to finish. I was second to finish and felt pretty confident about it. Mr. Trout came and got us and we went back to the classroom and he let us know we all passed. We then took a break and went to the Simulator lounge to wait for the HR portion and sim ride. The HR portion was with Mr. Trout and a senior pilot. They asked basic HR questions like how did you get into aviation, etc. They then asked a couple of simple questions about a Jepp approach and chart. Nothing difficult. Total only about 7-8 questions between HR and Technical. Following the HR portion we proceeded back to the sim lounge. The Sim was an Elite desktop sim set up like a king air. You take off, turn direct to a VOR and climb to 4000. Once reaching the VOR turn to the IAP. Did a tear drop entry on a holding pattern in lieu of a PT and intercepted the localizer. Shot the approach to minimums and landed. It was very straight foward with no curve balls. All in all a very good experience. Everyone there is very welcoming and you feel like they want you there. If you study the other gouges online you will have a good overview but make sure you study extra especially the 121 and 91 regs. Just relax and be yourself and you will have no problems.
Date Interviewed: August 2011
Summary of Qualifications:
1200 TT, 100 ME, CFI, ATP written
Were you offered the job?
Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
Arrived at CLT the night before. Took the Quality Inn Executive Park shuttle found at zone C to the hotel. Checked in and signed up for the 0630 shuttle to the "training center". Woke up the next morning and took the shuttle to the training center. Placed luggage in bag check room, be sure to remove pertinent paperwork and valuables.
Was told by security to head to the cafeteria and meet with other candidates. Bob Trout came in and brought us to a second floor conference room. All paperwork was collected including the application and copies of documents. A written multiple choice test of 50 questions was administered. The test is still up to date as posted on other sites. 80% is passing.
After the test a little presentation was done on Piedmont and its history. A few jokes were cracked and overall a very light atmosphere. Then we were brought into a sim lounge with a few vending machines. None of us were sent home after the written so we were assuming we all passed.
Other candidates included some with 500 total and 50 hours multi. There were 5 including myself. We waited only a short while in the sim lounge and were called out one by one for the HR/technical phase. In the HR/tech portion it was Bob Trout, a woman from HR and a line pilot. It lasted about 10 minutes. Basic questions, tell us about yourself, your mentor, what got you into aviation, then a few questions on an approach plate. That's about it, sent out of that room back to the lounge, next candidate was called about 10 minutes later.
A captain came in calling us out one by one for the sim eval. The sim was done on an Elite desktop PCATD with a King air setup. They’re testing really just basic instrument skills and CRM. Be sure to make callouts and call for checklists. Have the PNF do everything, tune and ident, set power, set bugs, course, headings, freq's, etc. Takeoff, fly direct to a VOR, asked how to hold given a certain radial. If correct, didn't have to do the hold. Proceed via published transition to IAF, procedure turn and begun an ILS approach. Sim eval was about 15 minutes, overall a very laid back experience.
After sim eval, sent back into sim lounge and told to go to the airport we will contact you in a few days. The airport shuttle is every 1/2 hour or so in front of the training center. Bob trout called about 4 days later and offered position. Materials were mailed out. Overall a very pleasurable experience, seems to be a solid operation. The mainline pilots in the training center were very friendly and had nothing but good things to say.
E mailed application and received interview offer in 2 days. Interview was as stated in previous gouges. Three of 12 in class failed the written exam, one failed the sim. Make sure you are current in your flight time. They can tell if you haven't flown in a while. Great people to meet with. Very reasonable, they even granted me a delay to start class to complete my CFI students. Told I was offered position same day.
Date Interviewed: November 2007
Summary of Qualifications:
CFI 820 TT, 31 ME, ATP written passed
Were you offered the job?
Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
First of all, I faxed my resume and received an email 2 hours later inviting me for an interview. I am pretty sure they interview every Tuesday. I set up my interview and made a hotel reservation, don't stay at the Amerisuite's, it's $91 a night even with the discount, I believe the other hotel was Homestead Suites, either way it was only $31 a night. So jump on that one
Anyway, I checked out of the hotel at 5:45 am, and jumped on the shuttle at 6 and got to the training center at about 6:20. The interview started at 7. There is a place for the bags so you don't have to carry everything with you which is nice. So Bob Trout met us, there were about 14 of us and we went into a room and took the test. It was a 50 question test just like the other gauges said, however the questions have changed from what is below. I would recommend studying the ATP Gleim parts 91, 121, weather and Jepp charts (finding highest elevation, figuring HAA, holding speed, etc) also they ask about company officers and pilot bases so know those. Also, bring your own pen!! They don't supply them. After the test two pilots were ushered out, then they began the presentation. Great pay, the highest I have seen, good benefits and really nice perks.
After the presentation we were handed an approach plate and a brief of it, I'm assuming they were all the same but I had the ILS I believe 06 into ABE. Then we were escorted to the cafe, and Mr. Trout came in and said that they had the order for the sim, and that it was who ever did best on the test went first. I was in the first group of 4 so we were lead to another room. Then the 4 of us sat down just outside the door for the Dash 8 full motion sim, (my understanding is that they normally do a desktop kind of ride, but they had some open time so they let us do that, without the motion activated.) They took us in one at a time for the interview prior to the sim, the interview for me was very relaxed. It's a two on one with Bob Trout and Mr. Buchanan. We discussed my resume and made some small talk, then they asked me why Piedmont, what I had been doing as a CFI and if I was willing to move from Chicago to a pilot base. Then it was over and they thanked me and told me to wait for my sim ride and that they would talk with me before I left. The interview itself was no more than 15 minutes.
After the 4 of us had our initial interview they called in the first two again, one came back and said he came off as unsure about the job so they let him go, I'm not sure about the other, I never saw him.
So I was the first to take the sim, I got in and was feeling really overwhelmed, but it didn't go too badly. They team you up with a captain who does everything you ask for, ie takeoff power, climbout power, gear up, flaps up, as long as you fly and ask for things he'll do it, we took off at night and the captain sets up the flight director, which just tells you where to fly, no biggie, they have you turn towards a vor and give you a hold, again the captain handles the radios and you just fly, tell them the kind of hold you'll do and the entry turn, for me I was on a 240 heading and was asked to hold South of the VOR on 180 radial. I told then I'd do a parallel entry and started to get turned around and told them i would do a left turn into the protected side of the hold and they said ok. They then reset me and gave me a turn to intercept the localizer, gave me a speed to come in at (120) and just had me fly the ILS. I was a bit all over the place, but not too bad, the clouds are not at mins, so I punched out of the clouds and there was the runway, they froze the sim and said i was done.
They took me back to Bob and Mr. Buchanan they asked how the sim went, and I said I was some what overwhelmed and could have followed the glideslope a bit better to which they said, you did pretty well. Then Bob asked me if I was ready to work for Piedmont and I said, I sure was. They gave me a home study packet and said we'll see you November 27th! I was done by 11:30
Everyone there was very friendly, I caught the shuttle to the airport had some lunch and flew home, that's about it, hope this helps, I hope to see you in Charlotte in Nov.
Date Interviewed: November 2007
Summary of Qualifications:
Commercial Multi Instrument (Single too) 331 TT 95 multi 110 instrument
Were you offered the job?
Yes
Pilot Interview Profile:
They flew me out to the interview in Charlotte the day before and I stayed in the Homestead Suites about 5 miles from the US Airways Training Center. Showed up around 6:30am for a 7:00am interview start. The Chief Pilot John Buchanan met with us (10 applicants) and gave us the 50 question test. STUDY information about the company such as Director of Flight Ops, bases, cities served, and flight attendant requirements on the Dash 8. After that, we were give a sim ride in the Dash 8 with a Captain who set the aircraft as your want. All you have to do is fly the airplane. Take off runway heading to 3,000, direct to the East Texas VOR for an unpublished hold. Heading 230, hold East on the 090 left turns. Vectors for the Allentown ILS rwy 6 to minimums.
After that, there is a 5-10 minutes HR interview with the Chief Pilot and Bob Trout. Only a get to know you type thing. They ask what you like to do in your spare time and if you are ready for their intense training program. After that, I had to wait for about and hour and found out around 1pm that I was hired. Took the study information and they took me back to the airport to come home. GREAT AIRLINE!!
