Sheesh, nowadays, it seems very little. Depends on the airline I suppose too, some are pickier than others.
On the whole, I think DUIs are a pretty big eliminator, as with other egregious traffic offenses. Anything that would cause you to fail the background check as well.
Other than that, the 'soft' requirements are ever changing and disappearing. The need for a college degree is finally waning.
My IOE instructor there was excited to tell me where to get the best prostitutes in Wan Chai and the cheapest antibiotics in Nagoya. I'd say at least 1/3 of the lifers there prefer their girls trafficked.
A big problem with a DUI is entry into Canada. Once you can get past that hurtle it's more of a "tell us why you're a better person now" part of the HR interview.
I also personally know someone with a DUI at a legacy.
The college degree thing is what’s stopping me now. I did 2 years of college a few years back and want to finish but I don’t know if I should get my degree first or just something focus on flying and saving for that.
My goal was to try to take my money saved and probably take a loan out if possible to get enough training to do cfi then work into a regional carrier and finish my degree then I’d that’s feasible. Plus that gives me a good few years to start knocking off some courses in the meantime. Thanks for your response.
Initial checkride failures are no big deal at all. I failed my instrument and ME add-on during the practicals for bone headed mistakes. When you’re asked the question on the interview you say what you failed, what happened, and what you learned from it. And keep it brief.
My first Part 135 job laughed and said “sounds like a DPE that wanted more money,” and we continued the interview. My 121 regional interview the HR rep just nodded and we moved on to the next question. My 121 legacy interview they asked “when did you retest and did you pass the second try?”
I can remember failing my ME add-on thinking my career was over, but in the end they’re really not a big deal as long as on your interview you open up to your mistake, airlines are looking for honesty.
Airline checkride failures, I have heard, are treated differently and more severe. However, I have never experienced to know and I know plenty of people with airline checkride failures that still made it to carriers like United and Southwest.
So in the end, keep it honest! You’ll be fine!
Good old Doug Parker! We called him DUI Dougie when I worked AA ramp. We had his legendary mug shot posted up on the bulletin board in the break room. We had to take it down when big wigs from DFW came to audit our station.
Yes. I thought it was one of the reasons he lost his job at (legacy) American, and just like a pilot with a drinking problem, he could only get hired at America West, which then bought US Air (and took the name) and then bought American (and took the name).
I am positive that his desire to buy American had no roots in getting back at the people who fired him. /s
I saw a dateline once where a guy was literally convicted of murder and still hired by an AA regional.
I thought murder would be an immediate disqualification
Edit: Dateline—not darling
There's a difference between making a mistake once, and having a history of repeat convictions or repeat failures. The airline HR teams understand this. Most airlines will hire someone with a few checkride failures, or an arrest when they were a teenager for something dumb. Most airlines probably won't hire someone who failed everything multiple times, or has been arrested repeatedly (or recently).
Does anyone know if they care about a misdemeanor? I got caught drinking when I was under 21 with a fake ID a long time ago. Do you think this will hurt my chances? I’m about to apply to the regionals.
Might come up in an interview, shouldn’t be a big deal as long as you disclose it, own up to it, and have a clean record after. I know a few people from college who made a mistake or two in college and are at legacies now. If it was a big deal half the university flight school people would never make it.
Man, I had (brief) thoughts of hanging it all up after failing my instrument ride… I can’t imagine the wherewithal required to keep going after *six* private failures.
I wasn't sure if I was going to continue on as a career after those failures. At the time I was just taking things one step at a time, and I didn't want to get that close to PPL and decide to just give it up. I wanted to at the very least finish that rating just to feel better about it. I got my PPL and decided to see if I was feeling good or bad during instrument training, and I was able to get IR done in the minimum hours without any failures or setbacks.
I probably would have quit if I struggled with IR, but completing IR without setbacks made me keep pushing a step further to see if I felt like I could handle the next phase or not. Eventually it lead me to the regionals, and then to a legacy.
It's a very long story. The short condensed version is that during my PPL training I got sick, ended up in the hospital, and went home from college for a month to recover. When I got back I had to choose to either try to get my checkride done by the end of the semester, or repeat the semester flight course. For some reason I chose to push for the checkride while I was sick and hadn't flown in over a month. I failed twice.
My school had a policy that after two failures students have to take the entire oral and checkride over again, and not just the items that were failed. I got into this cycle where I kept failing for one item, then would have to take the whole oral and checkride again and would fail for another item. Eventually after failure #5 I just repeated the semester, got myself healthy and passed. I never had another failure (mostly because I learned so much from my PPL experience).
Holy shit that thread is amazing.
Funny thing is, Delta is probably furiously crosschecking their shit now to figure out which app it is. If he hadn't posted it, they'd probably never have known to look.
For all of the people in here continually listing checkride failures, there needs to be a bit more explanation on this. The airlines aren’t just looking at things at face value, you’ll likely be given a chance to explain said failures during the interview process, and owning them is a must, explain what you failed for, why you failed, what you learned from it and what you did to improve yourself and your performance to avoid making the same mistake again. Do not deflect blame. Furthermore, the airlines are going to be looking for trends, if you have a few busts (even 121 busts)but then have a proven track record, showing multiple successful recurrent training passes, etc, after said busts, it will reflect positively on you.
I failed my PPL check ride six times in a row. I've done a long writeup about it a few times on reddit. After failing my PPL six times I've never failed anything else again in my career up to this point. During times of tough hiring (such as 2008-2010) those failures were a deal breaker for a lot of airlines, but I did manage to get on with a regional.
In about 2018 after nearly 15 years had passed since my last failure I started getting major airline interviews. Eventually I interviewed with four different legacies, and I ended up at my #1 choice airline. Checkride failures are a hurdle to get over, but some failures early in training aren't a deal breaker even with an outrageous amount like I had. What the airlines don't want to see is someone failing ATP or part 121 rides repeatedly.
Congrats on overcoming the obstacle and not losing faith. That’s a helluva story and serves as proof for everyone that while it complicated things, you chose to rise above it. Perseverance prevailed.
The reality of the matter is the automated systems will not show you as a viable candidate with checkered failures and unless you have plenty else on your application to make up for it, it screws. you big time
I didn’t say it would be without difficulty, I just said it doesn’t make it impossible. I agree you need to have other things on your résumé. Up until a few years ago even those with perfect training records needed to have other things on their résumés as well. Especially at the major level. They know you can fly at that point. You need to bring more to the table.
Or have an engine failure in the pattern at Atwater, California? [Jail](https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/atw/)!
(It was very weird hearing the call "downwind over the prison" the first time I went there.)
I presume it's possible, but if drugs get dropped out of the plane into the prison, they'd just pull all the tail numbers from ADSB and start contacting aircraft owners. If it's a class D airport, you'd have to give a tail number to come into the airspace. Heck, the prison /u/stradivariuslife mentions at KJWN is even on the sectional in the surface area.
1. It's just outside the delta
2. ADSB is not required
3. Even if it was in the delta, you could just lie about your tail number
You could very easily do this at least once.
Eh… I know a guy who didn’t even have a drivers license at a regional interview because he was caught running from the cops. Fleeing and eluding, with some jail. Made it onto a regional and later a legacy.
Haha no, I did think it was pretty funny when he told me about his interview. This was back when the regionals were super desperate. When he told them about not having his license they asked, “can you get to work?” He said yes, and that was it. He was turned down by a couple other regionals before this though.
Very few things will make you unhirable as it were these days. BUT with that said, if you lie about anything and they find out, you'll be blacklisted. Lie on a medical, in your logbook, about your past, any of it...and you're finished.
The aviation community is very small, don't be stupid.
Personality isn’t talked about much too. If you’re a wierdo, anti social, or just a dick. They’ll see that during interviews and it’s definitely a factor in hiring. No one wants to fly a 4 day stuck next to a dude who never talks, or does but rambles about conspiracies for 6 hours.
That’s literally 80% of all pilots I’ve flown with. I refuse to believe that’s not exactly what they’re looking for on purpose, especially in the bigger carriers.
I’ve been curious if the airlines are like this, almost ever working pilot I’ve ever met is like this.
On this note, it seems there is no in between, if you’re in aviation, you’re either a really cool, nice, humble, person or complete scum of the earth. It’s crazy to me. The few 747 pilots I’ve met have been some of the most racist, misogynistic, and generally vile people I’ve met.
But at the same time some other working pilots would do anything for you and have a great outlook on life. To the point that you’d think they were the nicest person you’ve ever met.
Yeah I wrote that poorly. I was just pointing out the sample of pilots that we generally consider prestigious. I don’t have a huge sample size, maybe 200 pilots in my time.
At my regional they were few and far between. I flew 10 years and 6,500 hours in regional jets and I can only think of about 5 people that I absolutely couldn't stand to fly with. Overall we had a really good pilot group.
This is never discussed but it’s real. Guy in my interview group at my legacy carrier was perfect on paper, good GPA, clean driving record, lots of experience, LCA and a recruiter, but he was beyond arrogant. He didn’t get the job.
I think arrogance is one of the few personality based things that will actually keep you from getting the job. Being weird or socially awkward doesn’t. I know some people that I can’t even imagine being in the flight deck for a 4 day with…
Not having the skill for small talk is much less likely to get people killed than I know everything and I'm the greatest.
It's even listed as a human factor for crashes and accidents in FAA reports.
Guy who flew charter through the FBO I worked at was a retired AA interviewer and told me something along those lines. He said they did a points system where a degree, experiences, type ratings, military ETC where added up but the biggest points factor was wether or not he liked you and could be trapped in a cockpit with you for hours on end and not want to jump out of the plane.
Unfortunately in times of tough hiring these are some of the first people allowed to slip through the cracks. Someone with a pristine resume who is a total jerk to fly with looks good on paper. Lowering minimums or other standards generates press so they seem more reluctant to do that.
Good point! I got the sense during my interview that I was essentially answering two big questions for the interviewer: 1) Is this guy going to put in the effort to get through training? 2) Would I want to be stuck with this guy on a four day trip?
I felt like I didn't do so well with the technical questions, but here I am about to start IOE this weekend.
Previous airline checkride failures, while aren’t a dealbreaker, will severely reduce your chances.
Checkride failures during pilot training up to CPL ME aren’t as much of a big deal.
You got this, learn the material and have your references on hand and you'll be fine. Try to sit in and see if other instructors at your school will let you help teach the private students on grounds and such.
A busted checkride (or even multiple) won't DQ you, but failing to disclose it on the application absolutely will. Even if you get an interview and are successful they will pull your FAA records. Any undisclosed checkride failures will almost certainly result in a CJO being pulled and would likely DQ you from any further interviews anywhere else.
Not only does it exclude a person, but some major carriers are open about the fact that lying on the application will blacklist a person from a future interview too. I put every little minor thing on my application even if I knew it wouldn't pop up on my records or background check (such as part 141 stage check failures). I decided that putting too much down was better than leaving something off and risking my career.
EXACTLY. Just because they're different companies and are competing for applicants doesn't mean that the hiring departments at the various airlines don't regularly communicate with each other. Failing an interview at one company won't DQ you from getting hired at another one, but doing something blatantly dishonest or illegal will spread around and will get you blacklisted.
You're absolutely right that it's far better to over-share things they don't care about than to be caught hiding (or appearing to hide) anything.
They know that the road to being an airline pilot is long and can be bumpy for people. It's expected that you will have encountered some kind of difficulty along the way. They're far more interested in how you learned and improved from that difficulty than whatever specific problems you might have had.
How much do airline care about 141 stage check failures? Because I haven’t failed anything technically certificate granting so nothings on my FAA record (I think? No pink slips or anything) but I have failed quite a few intermediate 141 stage checks.
Nope. I failed one checkride at UPT, plus a non-form 8 checkride at PIT. I listed both of them on the app, but received zero questions about them at two different major airline interviews.
My friend failed instrument, and commercial twice (oral, then flight). Just be able to talked about why and what you learned from it. Always take responsibility for your failure. Don’t blame anyone but yourself. Even if you had a bad CFI who pushed you when you weren’t ready, you can say something like how you succumbed to the external pressure of thinking you had to be done by a certain deadline. What you learned is to speak up when you weren’t understanding something and train harder on your deficiencies, or seek out an extra set of eyes to evaluate your progress. I had the same CFI for my private through commercial, my friend’s CFIs kept leaving so he had like 6 different ones. He should have spoke up to the flight school about how it’s setting him back and demanded one of the more stable instructors.
I wouldn’t sweat that too much. I remember all sorts of mistakes and humiliations and things that seemed huge at the beginning of my career. In the end, they all seem so insignificant now. Standard part of the learning process even. I get the impression that largely the airline interview is pilots determining whether or not they want to sit beside you for hours and still want to grab a beer after. This is an oversimplification of course, but I can’t imagine a situation where they’d look at a good candidate with tons of experience and say, “wait a second, they had to redo their private ride a billion years ago!”
I knew a hang glider pilot who was afraid of heights. Would not stand any closer than 10' to the edge of the cliff, would not walk down to the end of the take off-ramp. But he will run off of it. I talked to him a little bit and he said something like I know I can control the glider.
Is it something like that for you?
The control and the learning of the physics and science behind it was what got rid of the fear of flying for me. I do still have a fear of heights but it seems to be motion based. The faster my perceived motion (to a point) the less it affects me. When doing slow flight practice for instance I can get the fear of heights creeping back in.
I'm still that way - standing near a ledge with no guard rail or any unsupported/uncontrolled scenario gives me the willies. No problem at all in planes or ledges with railings. I think the difference is that in a plane you'd have to have several mishaps line up and even then it's mostly a horizontal impact threat, whereas the cliff scenario is one mis-step, sudden gust of wind, etc away from plummeting vertically.
Well I was looking to get my private pilot license, but ADHD is a disqualifying diagnosis so I can't even get that part.
Unless I do some expensive tests, which I just can't commit to especially since it's still not a guarantee.
Not who you are responding to, but I just found out this morning that ADHD is a disqualifying condition, and I do take medication for it. Really kind of crushed my day.
Let me qualify my response by saying I am no longer involved with this aspect of Aviation day to day, but for 20 years I was directly responsible for screening pilot resumes, pilot interviews, new hire training/simulator evaluations, on B737, A320 and A330.
I can only speak to my time but never once did I know about a rating ride failure of an applicant. If they passed, they passed. I checked with my former colleagues in Personnel and they assure me they did NOT research FAA pass/fail records. A rating held met minimums, Period. Speaking ONLY for myself, had I known a particular candidate failed a ride, it would NOT in and of itself be disqualifying. For me, a failed ride does NOT equal a failed candidate. Everyone can and does have a bad day. One of the worst situations I ever saw was a fellow Checkairman demoing chart plotting for an international departure out of Barcelona to the US. Even the "best of the best \[?\]" can make mistakes. That's why there are two \[or more\] of us up front.
I recommend contacting the FAA and asking the pertinent questions. Don't be shy. This is your potential career. Get the facts. I doubt they can disclose failures however, my dealing with them is not recent and things may have changed \[i doubt this\]. Just ask them. They are usually quite nice and many were once Airline or Corporate pilots themselves and generally sympathetic to your cauese. They will understand and help. Good Luck.
You got me. I was going to say, "My age and my attitude." Then I realized you meant "What are disqualifying factors?" rather than "What's wrong with you?"
No, it shouldn’t really hurt you.
But focus on making sure that the pattern stops there.
If/when it gets brought up, say something like, “I’m glad you asked about that! I think sometimes things can look worse on paper, so I’m glad to talk about it. Since that hurdle, I’ve completed 22 phase checks/checkrides/whatever with no issues.”
People make errors and mistakes, I think most airlines globally will look past resits, especially if its early days such as your PPL stage, you're still have a way to go before an airline.
They are probably more concerned with frozen ATPLs % ( unofficially BA does not accept candiates that average under 90% on all 14 exams), and I've been through the CX and KA interview process in Hong Kong and they are looking at lot more at your resume and judging you as a person than something that happened relatievly early in your training, I have known cadets to be let go due to bad/toxic/conflicting personalites, which are things that will definetly get you let go.
The one thing I've been by the fellow instructors who were airliners at my school is that the airline HR staff will be keen to know if you've ever been in an aircraft-related incident, and if you did, who was repsonsible and how did you deal with it.
The other common thing you'll hear most people say, is that aviation is a very small circle of people who are often only 1 or 2 people away from a connection of some sort, play nice and dont burn any bridges, you may be surprised how small the circle is.
Well if those are your only two failures for the rest of flight training then it's not much of a problem, if those lead to a few more failures then you're hosed.
It was the forward slip to landing. I'm in the ATP fast track right now, and I am my instructor's first student, so there were some things that were neglected, but overall it was because of nerves and stupid mistakes. First time, I was too high and didn't pull power soon enough, and the second time, I landed a little to soon, before the thousand footers. I bet you'll be fine, though!
Landing at/after the thousand-footers isn’t the standard/why you failed. I’d have to look at the ACS to be exact, but it’s probably whatever spot you and the examiner agree is your landing spot +/- 200’. So, if he said to land on the thousand-footers you’d have +/- 200’
What’s the deal with visible tattoos? (New to flying)
This is something I have heard a few times and wondered. If you’re rocking like a full sleeve or something along those lines, are you gonna have a hard time? Obviously I don’t mean including face tattoos etc
Yes, you will. I believe basically every airline in America requires you to cover any and all tattoos. If you have a sleeve, you have to wear a long sleeve shirt (which sucks when you're flying into places where it is hot as shit). I honestly don't think you could get a job with the airlines if you have tattoos that you can't cover.
Face tattoos or a currently suspended license usually do the trick. Act civil, have a good legal background, and show that you do the legal safe thing while flying will be a good foundation for success.
Sheesh, nowadays, it seems very little. Depends on the airline I suppose too, some are pickier than others. On the whole, I think DUIs are a pretty big eliminator, as with other egregious traffic offenses. Anything that would cause you to fail the background check as well. Other than that, the 'soft' requirements are ever changing and disappearing. The need for a college degree is finally waning.
[удалено]
Atlas doesn't count.
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Similar crowd to regional lifers, typically for similar reasons.
My IOE instructor there was excited to tell me where to get the best prostitutes in Wan Chai and the cheapest antibiotics in Nagoya. I'd say at least 1/3 of the lifers there prefer their girls trafficked.
Wow. That is a unique culture right there. Not really okay with it.
I could go on for a long time about how wretched a lot of them were. I hope their wives get everything and give it to their kids.
A big problem with a DUI is entry into Canada. Once you can get past that hurtle it's more of a "tell us why you're a better person now" part of the HR interview. I also personally know someone with a DUI at a legacy.
The college degree thing is what’s stopping me now. I did 2 years of college a few years back and want to finish but I don’t know if I should get my degree first or just something focus on flying and saving for that.
Almost all legacies removed their college degree requirement. Regionals and LCC’s never had that requirement to begin with so it’s very doable.
My goal was to try to take my money saved and probably take a loan out if possible to get enough training to do cfi then work into a regional carrier and finish my degree then I’d that’s feasible. Plus that gives me a good few years to start knocking off some courses in the meantime. Thanks for your response.
Initial checkride failures are no big deal at all. I failed my instrument and ME add-on during the practicals for bone headed mistakes. When you’re asked the question on the interview you say what you failed, what happened, and what you learned from it. And keep it brief. My first Part 135 job laughed and said “sounds like a DPE that wanted more money,” and we continued the interview. My 121 regional interview the HR rep just nodded and we moved on to the next question. My 121 legacy interview they asked “when did you retest and did you pass the second try?” I can remember failing my ME add-on thinking my career was over, but in the end they’re really not a big deal as long as on your interview you open up to your mistake, airlines are looking for honesty. Airline checkride failures, I have heard, are treated differently and more severe. However, I have never experienced to know and I know plenty of people with airline checkride failures that still made it to carriers like United and Southwest. So in the end, keep it honest! You’ll be fine!
Thank you. This has been a big anxiety of mine for a long time. Your comment really helps!!
Criminal record; kinda makes sense
Nope. I know for a fact AA has hired someone with a felony outside of the flow.
Anything can happen on super rare occasions, but it’s a disqualifying factor in most cases
He must know someone. Aviation is a small business, and definitely a good old boys club.
Doesn't the CEO of American have two or three DUI's in his history? What a great example for a safety focused company.
Good old Doug Parker! We called him DUI Dougie when I worked AA ramp. We had his legendary mug shot posted up on the bulletin board in the break room. We had to take it down when big wigs from DFW came to audit our station.
Yes. I thought it was one of the reasons he lost his job at (legacy) American, and just like a pilot with a drinking problem, he could only get hired at America West, which then bought US Air (and took the name) and then bought American (and took the name). I am positive that his desire to buy American had no roots in getting back at the people who fired him. /s
Who would know better?
I think that’s the minimum prerequisite to be a CEO anywhere these days
It’s a small world that I’m pretty sure I even know who you’re talking about.
He was director of flight ops are PSA. That’s how much they don’t care haha.
I saw a dateline once where a guy was literally convicted of murder and still hired by an AA regional. I thought murder would be an immediate disqualification Edit: Dateline—not darling
There's a difference between making a mistake once, and having a history of repeat convictions or repeat failures. The airline HR teams understand this. Most airlines will hire someone with a few checkride failures, or an arrest when they were a teenager for something dumb. Most airlines probably won't hire someone who failed everything multiple times, or has been arrested repeatedly (or recently).
Does anyone know if they care about a misdemeanor? I got caught drinking when I was under 21 with a fake ID a long time ago. Do you think this will hurt my chances? I’m about to apply to the regionals.
Shouldn’t be a big issue because that’s such a minor offence, lots of cases of people getting hired with stuff like that.
Might come up in an interview, shouldn’t be a big deal as long as you disclose it, own up to it, and have a clean record after. I know a few people from college who made a mistake or two in college and are at legacies now. If it was a big deal half the university flight school people would never make it.
This is so damn true, UND is a shitshow and I love it!
I know a United 737 FO with 3 check ride failures. You’ll be fine. He failed Private, Commercial, and CFI initial.
I'm a 737 FO with six failures, but they were all on my PPL. I didn't fail anything after PPL which I think helped my case.
No offense, but I'm genuinely curious how?
You failed PPL six times?
[Stand back, everybody, the record falls tonight!](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/b968fe9e-e3c6-4610-9422-817992269109)
HAHA! I love that movie!!
Man, I had (brief) thoughts of hanging it all up after failing my instrument ride… I can’t imagine the wherewithal required to keep going after *six* private failures.
I wasn't sure if I was going to continue on as a career after those failures. At the time I was just taking things one step at a time, and I didn't want to get that close to PPL and decide to just give it up. I wanted to at the very least finish that rating just to feel better about it. I got my PPL and decided to see if I was feeling good or bad during instrument training, and I was able to get IR done in the minimum hours without any failures or setbacks. I probably would have quit if I struggled with IR, but completing IR without setbacks made me keep pushing a step further to see if I felt like I could handle the next phase or not. Eventually it lead me to the regionals, and then to a legacy.
Story time please?
It's a very long story. The short condensed version is that during my PPL training I got sick, ended up in the hospital, and went home from college for a month to recover. When I got back I had to choose to either try to get my checkride done by the end of the semester, or repeat the semester flight course. For some reason I chose to push for the checkride while I was sick and hadn't flown in over a month. I failed twice. My school had a policy that after two failures students have to take the entire oral and checkride over again, and not just the items that were failed. I got into this cycle where I kept failing for one item, then would have to take the whole oral and checkride again and would fail for another item. Eventually after failure #5 I just repeated the semester, got myself healthy and passed. I never had another failure (mostly because I learned so much from my PPL experience).
that must have been expensive. I'm at one of those schools and get ripped off at every step of the way.
Change schools?
In too deep boss! It's okay, I'm working through it.
Being honest with a psychologist/psychiatrist, unfortunately.
For real... I've been waiting a year now, and they just told me they want more evaluations. FFS.
Jumping out of your airplane before going through an engine out checklist or troubleshooting at all. Oh don’t forget the GoPro!
And the ridge wallet
Also don't hide a fire extinguisher in your pants, it looks suspicious.
Costa Concordia captain when he becomes airline pilot be like:
Being on the no-fly list.
#HireWildBlue
that's maybe the dumbest thread I read over there...and that's saying something.
Do you have a link to the thread?
https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/delta/136359-hirewildblue.html
Holy shit that thread is amazing. Funny thing is, Delta is probably furiously crosschecking their shit now to figure out which app it is. If he hadn't posted it, they'd probably never have known to look.
Lol
He was wearing ass-less chaps?
I love that this is already a meme.
Literally just finished reading the thread and I’m so glad to see it’s here already 😂
Epilepsy
Unfortunately, I'm in that boat ☹️.....wish it developed before I spent 60 grand on flight school....
For all of the people in here continually listing checkride failures, there needs to be a bit more explanation on this. The airlines aren’t just looking at things at face value, you’ll likely be given a chance to explain said failures during the interview process, and owning them is a must, explain what you failed for, why you failed, what you learned from it and what you did to improve yourself and your performance to avoid making the same mistake again. Do not deflect blame. Furthermore, the airlines are going to be looking for trends, if you have a few busts (even 121 busts)but then have a proven track record, showing multiple successful recurrent training passes, etc, after said busts, it will reflect positively on you.
I failed my PPL check ride six times in a row. I've done a long writeup about it a few times on reddit. After failing my PPL six times I've never failed anything else again in my career up to this point. During times of tough hiring (such as 2008-2010) those failures were a deal breaker for a lot of airlines, but I did manage to get on with a regional. In about 2018 after nearly 15 years had passed since my last failure I started getting major airline interviews. Eventually I interviewed with four different legacies, and I ended up at my #1 choice airline. Checkride failures are a hurdle to get over, but some failures early in training aren't a deal breaker even with an outrageous amount like I had. What the airlines don't want to see is someone failing ATP or part 121 rides repeatedly.
Congrats on overcoming the obstacle and not losing faith. That’s a helluva story and serves as proof for everyone that while it complicated things, you chose to rise above it. Perseverance prevailed.
The reality of the matter is the automated systems will not show you as a viable candidate with checkered failures and unless you have plenty else on your application to make up for it, it screws. you big time
I didn’t say it would be without difficulty, I just said it doesn’t make it impossible. I agree you need to have other things on your résumé. Up until a few years ago even those with perfect training records needed to have other things on their résumés as well. Especially at the major level. They know you can fly at that point. You need to bring more to the table.
Past Performance Does Not Equal Future Potential.
Wow. That was beautiful, man! Thank you for that.
That’s a fine print line from any investment product commercial, lol
Applying to the airlines when you’re trying to apply to the Air Lines.
Delta has entered the chat
So its Air Delta lines right? Just trying to make sure I get it right...
Applying to airlines whilst doing air lines.
Failed medical is by far the biggest reason. Always keep the possibility in mind if going into debt to become a pilot.
Believe it or not, jail.
Undershoot the runway? Jail. Overshoot the runway? Also jail. Overshoot or undershoot - jail.
Or have an engine failure in the pattern at Atwater, California? [Jail](https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/atw/)! (It was very weird hearing the call "downwind over the prison" the first time I went there.)
KJWN is like this too. Pattern is directly over a huge state prison.
So is KJXN.
Can confirm. Watched airplanes from the yard.
Good ol’ Reynolds field…
Are there any rules saying not to buzz the jail at 500' AGL? Ive always wanted a closer look.
Couldn't you get drugs or whatever into the jail that way?
Yea but it's hard to take anything out of your ass while flying. Many pilots still have a stick up there.
I presume it's possible, but if drugs get dropped out of the plane into the prison, they'd just pull all the tail numbers from ADSB and start contacting aircraft owners. If it's a class D airport, you'd have to give a tail number to come into the airspace. Heck, the prison /u/stradivariuslife mentions at KJWN is even on the sectional in the surface area.
1. It's just outside the delta 2. ADSB is not required 3. Even if it was in the delta, you could just lie about your tail number You could very easily do this at least once.
Yes, you could. Would you also get caught very quickly? Also yes. Good way to get a bunk down there.
Eh… I know a guy who didn’t even have a drivers license at a regional interview because he was caught running from the cops. Fleeing and eluding, with some jail. Made it onto a regional and later a legacy.
I'm going to call bs on that one.
Go ahead. It’s true though. Just saw him on a layover. Bottom line, own your mistakes and show that you aren’t (still) an idiot.
Barefoot bandit?
Haha no, I did think it was pretty funny when he told me about his interview. This was back when the regionals were super desperate. When he told them about not having his license they asked, “can you get to work?” He said yes, and that was it. He was turned down by a couple other regionals before this though.
Very few things will make you unhirable as it were these days. BUT with that said, if you lie about anything and they find out, you'll be blacklisted. Lie on a medical, in your logbook, about your past, any of it...and you're finished. The aviation community is very small, don't be stupid.
Personality isn’t talked about much too. If you’re a wierdo, anti social, or just a dick. They’ll see that during interviews and it’s definitely a factor in hiring. No one wants to fly a 4 day stuck next to a dude who never talks, or does but rambles about conspiracies for 6 hours.
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in ONE earth rotation! Demonic scientists continue to ignore corner-to-corner time.
The only modern website designed to be viewed on a KLN-90.
You should inform my airline’s hiring team about this….
That’s literally 80% of all pilots I’ve flown with. I refuse to believe that’s not exactly what they’re looking for on purpose, especially in the bigger carriers.
I’ve been curious if the airlines are like this, almost ever working pilot I’ve ever met is like this. On this note, it seems there is no in between, if you’re in aviation, you’re either a really cool, nice, humble, person or complete scum of the earth. It’s crazy to me. The few 747 pilots I’ve met have been some of the most racist, misogynistic, and generally vile people I’ve met. But at the same time some other working pilots would do anything for you and have a great outlook on life. To the point that you’d think they were the nicest person you’ve ever met.
Lol i like how aircraft specific youre being, meanwhile listen to Southwests stuck mics. These retards exist at every airline and on every aircraft.
Yeah I wrote that poorly. I was just pointing out the sample of pilots that we generally consider prestigious. I don’t have a huge sample size, maybe 200 pilots in my time.
What’re they saying on SW? They’re not near me
At my regional they were few and far between. I flew 10 years and 6,500 hours in regional jets and I can only think of about 5 people that I absolutely couldn't stand to fly with. Overall we had a really good pilot group.
yup, it's mostly 80% redneck racists with 5% normal people. It's quite embarrassing. Guess that's what Air Force does to one, brainwashed.
This is never discussed but it’s real. Guy in my interview group at my legacy carrier was perfect on paper, good GPA, clean driving record, lots of experience, LCA and a recruiter, but he was beyond arrogant. He didn’t get the job.
I think arrogance is one of the few personality based things that will actually keep you from getting the job. Being weird or socially awkward doesn’t. I know some people that I can’t even imagine being in the flight deck for a 4 day with…
Not having the skill for small talk is much less likely to get people killed than I know everything and I'm the greatest. It's even listed as a human factor for crashes and accidents in FAA reports.
Agreed. Arrogance is a huge red flag. Leads to a lot of bad behavior and hazardous attitudes. It’s a huge liability.
Guy who flew charter through the FBO I worked at was a retired AA interviewer and told me something along those lines. He said they did a points system where a degree, experiences, type ratings, military ETC where added up but the biggest points factor was wether or not he liked you and could be trapped in a cockpit with you for hours on end and not want to jump out of the plane.
Exactly. At that level they know you can fly.
Unfortunately in times of tough hiring these are some of the first people allowed to slip through the cracks. Someone with a pristine resume who is a total jerk to fly with looks good on paper. Lowering minimums or other standards generates press so they seem more reluctant to do that.
Good point! I got the sense during my interview that I was essentially answering two big questions for the interviewer: 1) Is this guy going to put in the effort to get through training? 2) Would I want to be stuck with this guy on a four day trip? I felt like I didn't do so well with the technical questions, but here I am about to start IOE this weekend.
My avoid list would beg to differ.
Interviews exist 90% because they're gauging your attitude and personality. They could just read you resume and find out everything else.
So, no one like you then? Someone who minds their own business? Someone without political or social bias?
Previous airline checkride failures, while aren’t a dealbreaker, will severely reduce your chances. Checkride failures during pilot training up to CPL ME aren’t as much of a big deal.
Would CFI count as well?
You could close your eyes throw a rock in a room of pilots and hit someone who has busted their CFI Initial checkride lol
No, just checkrides taken in a 121/135 environment, mostly.
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Nah it’s more like 60-70%
Really? I always heard CFI has about the same pass rate as Private. I’m halfway through CFI ground school now, and it’s definitely overwhelming.
You got this, learn the material and have your references on hand and you'll be fine. Try to sit in and see if other instructors at your school will let you help teach the private students on grounds and such.
A busted checkride (or even multiple) won't DQ you, but failing to disclose it on the application absolutely will. Even if you get an interview and are successful they will pull your FAA records. Any undisclosed checkride failures will almost certainly result in a CJO being pulled and would likely DQ you from any further interviews anywhere else.
Not only does it exclude a person, but some major carriers are open about the fact that lying on the application will blacklist a person from a future interview too. I put every little minor thing on my application even if I knew it wouldn't pop up on my records or background check (such as part 141 stage check failures). I decided that putting too much down was better than leaving something off and risking my career.
EXACTLY. Just because they're different companies and are competing for applicants doesn't mean that the hiring departments at the various airlines don't regularly communicate with each other. Failing an interview at one company won't DQ you from getting hired at another one, but doing something blatantly dishonest or illegal will spread around and will get you blacklisted. You're absolutely right that it's far better to over-share things they don't care about than to be caught hiding (or appearing to hide) anything. They know that the road to being an airline pilot is long and can be bumpy for people. It's expected that you will have encountered some kind of difficulty along the way. They're far more interested in how you learned and improved from that difficulty than whatever specific problems you might have had.
How much do airline care about 141 stage check failures? Because I haven’t failed anything technically certificate granting so nothings on my FAA record (I think? No pink slips or anything) but I have failed quite a few intermediate 141 stage checks.
I'd put them on the app when they ask about any failures, but I wouldn't sweat them one bit.
Did your UPT failures come up? We basically all have them with how easy it was to fail.
Nope. I failed one checkride at UPT, plus a non-form 8 checkride at PIT. I listed both of them on the app, but received zero questions about them at two different major airline interviews.
Idk but apparently getting caught with coworker naked in the woods gets you brought up to mainline.
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[Story](https://www.foxnews.com/story/naked-pilot-flight-attendant-charged-after-romp-in-woods) Dude went on to mainline
the right to bare arms, and also bare other body parts
My friend failed instrument, and commercial twice (oral, then flight). Just be able to talked about why and what you learned from it. Always take responsibility for your failure. Don’t blame anyone but yourself. Even if you had a bad CFI who pushed you when you weren’t ready, you can say something like how you succumbed to the external pressure of thinking you had to be done by a certain deadline. What you learned is to speak up when you weren’t understanding something and train harder on your deficiencies, or seek out an extra set of eyes to evaluate your progress. I had the same CFI for my private through commercial, my friend’s CFIs kept leaving so he had like 6 different ones. He should have spoke up to the flight school about how it’s setting him back and demanded one of the more stable instructors.
I wouldn’t sweat that too much. I remember all sorts of mistakes and humiliations and things that seemed huge at the beginning of my career. In the end, they all seem so insignificant now. Standard part of the learning process even. I get the impression that largely the airline interview is pilots determining whether or not they want to sit beside you for hours and still want to grab a beer after. This is an oversimplification of course, but I can’t imagine a situation where they’d look at a good candidate with tons of experience and say, “wait a second, they had to redo their private ride a billion years ago!”
They can't hire you if you die. Don't do that.
DUI(s)
*Mesa enters the channel
Signing a 10 year contract to fly for the military on active duty
Can you please elaborate, I'm confused, thought airlines will like the experience of narrowly avoiding being killed for that long
A third penis.
Fear of flying might be a deal breaker, unless you're applying to be a baggage handler.
Depends if you are able to beat it or not. I used to have a terrible fear of flying, now I'm a 250 hour PPL working on IFR and CPL.
I knew a hang glider pilot who was afraid of heights. Would not stand any closer than 10' to the edge of the cliff, would not walk down to the end of the take off-ramp. But he will run off of it. I talked to him a little bit and he said something like I know I can control the glider. Is it something like that for you?
The control and the learning of the physics and science behind it was what got rid of the fear of flying for me. I do still have a fear of heights but it seems to be motion based. The faster my perceived motion (to a point) the less it affects me. When doing slow flight practice for instance I can get the fear of heights creeping back in.
I'm still that way - standing near a ledge with no guard rail or any unsupported/uncontrolled scenario gives me the willies. No problem at all in planes or ledges with railings. I think the difference is that in a plane you'd have to have several mishaps line up and even then it's mostly a horizontal impact threat, whereas the cliff scenario is one mis-step, sudden gust of wind, etc away from plummeting vertically.
Well I was looking to get my private pilot license, but ADHD is a disqualifying diagnosis so I can't even get that part. Unless I do some expensive tests, which I just can't commit to especially since it's still not a guarantee.
Sport Pilot. Gliders.
Yeah I looked into that a bit. I probably will eventually, just a little unmotivated given some of the restrictions but would still be nice.
Do you take prescription medication?
Not who you are responding to, but I just found out this morning that ADHD is a disqualifying condition, and I do take medication for it. Really kind of crushed my day.
I believe they generally frown on convictions for murder
I’m partially red green colorblind. So, I became a M.D.
do you plan on flying a V-tail Bonanza ? LPT: don't.
Someone in my LCC initial class had 4 PPL fails and a CFI fail. I also personally know someone who had 4 GA fails and is at United.
Being an 800 hour helicopter pilot is probably one. 😃
Let me qualify my response by saying I am no longer involved with this aspect of Aviation day to day, but for 20 years I was directly responsible for screening pilot resumes, pilot interviews, new hire training/simulator evaluations, on B737, A320 and A330. I can only speak to my time but never once did I know about a rating ride failure of an applicant. If they passed, they passed. I checked with my former colleagues in Personnel and they assure me they did NOT research FAA pass/fail records. A rating held met minimums, Period. Speaking ONLY for myself, had I known a particular candidate failed a ride, it would NOT in and of itself be disqualifying. For me, a failed ride does NOT equal a failed candidate. Everyone can and does have a bad day. One of the worst situations I ever saw was a fellow Checkairman demoing chart plotting for an international departure out of Barcelona to the US. Even the "best of the best \[?\]" can make mistakes. That's why there are two \[or more\] of us up front. I recommend contacting the FAA and asking the pertinent questions. Don't be shy. This is your potential career. Get the facts. I doubt they can disclose failures however, my dealing with them is not recent and things may have changed \[i doubt this\]. Just ask them. They are usually quite nice and many were once Airline or Corporate pilots themselves and generally sympathetic to your cauese. They will understand and help. Good Luck.
In my case, it's having no experience flying or even learning how to fly a plane
Whaddya doin here bro?
Most was on my feed lol
i mean there are pilot cadet programs which really take in zero-hour noobs
DUI, no pulse, no medical thats about it
1. DUI (excluding MESA). 2. Dishonorable discharge from the military. 3. Serious criminal convictions.
As somebody who just got approved for their flight school loan and now holds a first class medical, this thread is very intriguing to me.
Nope, nobody cares. Just be honest about it.
Short and sweet. I like it.
I have a 5G phone
noob , i have 5 G antennae after my 20th booster shot
You got me. I was going to say, "My age and my attitude." Then I realized you meant "What are disqualifying factors?" rather than "What's wrong with you?"
Hahahaha! Well, if that's a factor, you and me are in the same boat.
If you pass the test, you have the skill. Regardless of failure, you have the skill.
No, it shouldn’t really hurt you. But focus on making sure that the pattern stops there. If/when it gets brought up, say something like, “I’m glad you asked about that! I think sometimes things can look worse on paper, so I’m glad to talk about it. Since that hurdle, I’ve completed 22 phase checks/checkrides/whatever with no issues.”
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Well, this is my first question...
File a NASA report and you should be okay. Edit: the deleted comment said "asking too many stupid questions on Reddit."
Murder
People make errors and mistakes, I think most airlines globally will look past resits, especially if its early days such as your PPL stage, you're still have a way to go before an airline. They are probably more concerned with frozen ATPLs % ( unofficially BA does not accept candiates that average under 90% on all 14 exams), and I've been through the CX and KA interview process in Hong Kong and they are looking at lot more at your resume and judging you as a person than something that happened relatievly early in your training, I have known cadets to be let go due to bad/toxic/conflicting personalites, which are things that will definetly get you let go. The one thing I've been by the fellow instructors who were airliners at my school is that the airline HR staff will be keen to know if you've ever been in an aircraft-related incident, and if you did, who was repsonsible and how did you deal with it. The other common thing you'll hear most people say, is that aviation is a very small circle of people who are often only 1 or 2 people away from a connection of some sort, play nice and dont burn any bridges, you may be surprised how small the circle is.
Well if those are your only two failures for the rest of flight training then it's not much of a problem, if those lead to a few more failures then you're hosed.
This isn’t necessarily true. I know more than a few people at legacy carriers with multiple checkride failures.
Too few DUI's.
Not being a pilot.
Hey, have my ppl checkride coming up, which maneuver was it?
It was the forward slip to landing. I'm in the ATP fast track right now, and I am my instructor's first student, so there were some things that were neglected, but overall it was because of nerves and stupid mistakes. First time, I was too high and didn't pull power soon enough, and the second time, I landed a little to soon, before the thousand footers. I bet you'll be fine, though!
Landing at/after the thousand-footers isn’t the standard/why you failed. I’d have to look at the ACS to be exact, but it’s probably whatever spot you and the examiner agree is your landing spot +/- 200’. So, if he said to land on the thousand-footers you’d have +/- 200’
Probably hijacking that involved 1 or more murders. Can you be more specific?
PTSD and on medication for anxiety
What’s the deal with visible tattoos? (New to flying) This is something I have heard a few times and wondered. If you’re rocking like a full sleeve or something along those lines, are you gonna have a hard time? Obviously I don’t mean including face tattoos etc
Yes, you will. I believe basically every airline in America requires you to cover any and all tattoos. If you have a sleeve, you have to wear a long sleeve shirt (which sucks when you're flying into places where it is hot as shit). I honestly don't think you could get a job with the airlines if you have tattoos that you can't cover.
Face tattoos or a currently suspended license usually do the trick. Act civil, have a good legal background, and show that you do the legal safe thing while flying will be a good foundation for success.
Serious FAA violations, felonies...
Hard drugs, past or present can prevent your hiring.
Brain Tumor followed by epilepsy ☹️. Talk about a career killer...
Wanting a decent salary 😂