I recommend arriving the day prior to Louisville to get your stuff together. When they call you for an interview, they give you a good hotel to stay in...it's the companies contract hotel so it's cheap but stay on guard, you never know who is watching.

Arrived about 45 minutes prior to the interview. The first thing you do is get finger printed and give the HR lady your paperwork copies...ie background investigation stuff they ask you to prepare. Then you go back downstairs and wait.

The management captain came and got me and put me in a small room with he and they nice young lady from HR. Very laid back...asked about me but nothing about the company. Asked about the following:

-- Best flying day ever -- Worst flying day ever -- What companies I had aps in with -- Hooked a checkride -- What is the importance of recommendations -- Who recommended me -- What'd they say about me -- What did they say about the company and how they liked/disliked it -- Zero about the company and zero technical airplane stuff.

Overall, be yourself. It is hard to be calm but be cool and yourself and never lie. They'll nab you.

Then the sim came. We all had the 767 including 3 current 767 pilots from various failing airlines. Weird. Standard profile you can read on others write ups. It doesn't change. They asked all the technical there:

-- Departure alternate required? -- Wx required for an alternate -- How would I get pressure altitude on the ground -- Distance required to alternate on 1 engine.

The one thing I wasn't prepared for...he wanted me to calculate my fuel required to alternate, hold and land all while executing the missed. Just ballpark it, subtract it from your current fuel and then he wanted to know how much time I could hold for at an average fuel flow of 12k an hour. Quick public math never hurt anyone. Good luck.

Easy stuff and they asked all the other guys the exact same things. As soon as you are done, they give you a voucher to leave in a taxi. Total time there...7 am till 2:30.

The rumor about the written test is wrong. They also give you an hour to study a book on the 767, the departure and ILS to fly. They don't expect you to fly the 767 like a typed guy so don't worry about flap speeds and all that. Just fly raw data stuff, stay on altitude and airspeed and youre set.

Overall, very pleasant people and a great company. We'll see if I get hired.

On arrival, some people were set up for the personal interview, others went to the sim check. In my case I did the sim check. You are given a folder with a profile and basic overview of what to expect. The previous gouge was right on. Very few calls to memorise. After one hour, the check airman will show up and take you to the sim. A few basic WX reading Q's and Q's regarding TO alternates. I flew the DC-8, others that day were in the 727. The departure is a turn to interecept a radial. The profile is set so you are cleaning up, turning to intercept and leveling off all at the same time. This happens fast, so pay attention and do not blow through the radial. Next is steep turns, 15 and 45 DOB, 180 DOT. If you are on the 8, be careful as the ailerons are boosted(very light) and the elevator is not (very heavy), this can cause a PIO is you are not used to it. Next is the constant rate deccent. In the UPS DC-8, forget the convential A/S indicator for most manuvers(the only use I found for it was checking flap and ref speeds)...used the digets on the top efis tube. The installed A/S gage is too small to read and you can be 5 knots off, but still look right on... Last you get zapped back for a ILS. In my case we got to min with no aiport in sight (Ie WX was set below 200 and 1/2) and went missed, flew the procedure until established outbound to the hold. End of ride. Quick debrief with pluses and minuses. Sent back to wait for several hours for HR inteveiew. Met with one HR representative and one managment pilot. Very casual interview, the obligatory "why should we hire you and not the other guy" "why UPS" etc. That portion lasted one hour...nice people, "more of a get to know you", not a "rake you over the coal" interview.

I recieved my flight time summary sheet and sent it in. UPS called for an interview 3 weeks later. The interview was very informal. An HR and Pilot interviewer spends about an hour with you. When you first show up they give you an 18 question questionniare (I think the # of questions varies) they base some of the questions off of your responses. About 90 % of the interview revolves around what you know about the company. Just download the section of the website that tells about the company and its history and you should be fine. After you finish the HR portion of the interview you will fly the sim. They give you a book of profiles and take you to a breakroom and you sit for anywhere from an hour to 3 hours. The sim will be nonmotion analog of the DC8 or 727. The pilot questions will be done in the sim while waiting for takeoff . For the mostpart they are things like airspace, T.O. alternates, fuel requirements. Remember to run the checklist and get your clearance like a normal flight. Watch for weather requiring a T.O. alternate. After the sim, you will either 1.) go into the pool 2.) recieve a conditional offer and do the physical the next day 3.) or be rejected. One very important thing is the sim debrief. They expect you to tell them what you think you did wrong or could of done better, be thorough and then ask them if they have anything to add. They offered me the job that day and I did the physical the next day. I started class 3 weeks later. One other thing, unconfirmed rumors say that there now a written test, I don't know if this is true. I find that the biggest thing they are looking for is a good personality, excellent CRM skills and the ability to recognize your weak areas and take constructive criticism. Be yourself, the pilot interviewer is very sharp, he will spot any inconsistincies and eliminate you. Overall the experience was very laid back. enjoy it. all they want is to get to know you

The interview is real straight forward, no tricks. They are a real friendly bunch down there. You start out with a briefing with Pam Heide (HRS manager), she will then give you a 30 minute written survey, with questions like: "why do you want to work for UPS", " Who is UPS biggest competitor" ( It's not Fedex, it's Roadway and USPS), "Who are the 5 best airlines, and why?"

You will then interview with three persons, one pilot and two HRS people. I Interviewed with Regina from HRS and a visiting regional manager, the pilot interviewer was Mark Kowalski, B727 check airman.

Regina and the other HRS guy asked standard HRS questions like: Tell us about yourself, how did you get interested in flying? excpect a couple of questions in a negative light. The HRS part of the interview took about 45 minutes.

Mark only asked me four questions: "Brief this approach?", What happens to the runway lights towards the end of the runway?", Explain the hydraulic system on the SAAB?", "What does the large arrow on the approach plate planview mean?".

I waited about an hour and a half for the sim, they gave me the 727 book with all the profiles to study while I was waiting. I flew the 727 level D sim with the Collins EFIS retrofit. The normal DC8 and 727 sim was broke.

The ride consisted of a normal T/O, steep turns, intercept a radial, descending and climbing turns (split S) at 250 knots and 1000' pr. min, two ILS's to a full stop, the whole ride took about 30 minutes. The 727 sim is pretty easy to fly. I prepped in the DC 8 sim at UAL in DEN (through Arnautical), and that one was pretty hard to fly. I recommend to rent a sim for an hour or so if you don't have much jet experienxe.

Most of the people that interviewed lately did fly the DC 8 sim.

When you get the flight time summary excpect about 2 months until you get called for an interview

If you can get a recommendation you are almost in, it seems like that is the key to getting hired.