The Dreaded Interview

Although it has only been a few days since the past post, a lot has happened in the world of the Fledgling Flier. Cathy and I wrapped up a visit with Bonnie and Brian in Tampa, a much too short visit with my beautiful daughter Jamie in Oviedo Florida, and are now in Clarksville Tennessee, where my son Brandon has just returned from his second and final tour in Iraq with the Rakkasans of the 101st Airborne Air Assault Division. There is little in life that brings me more happiness than knowing that Jamie and Brandon are happy in their lives and are safe. Like others that know me, both Jamie and Brandon may quietly question my sanity about giving up the life (read that "paycheck") that Cathy and I are accustomed to in order to chase the dream of flying for an airline, but they also encourage me and tell me that they are proud that I'm giving it a go.

As I signed off from the last post, I was explaining that I had just accepted an invitation to interview with Mesaba Airlines on Oct 30, yet I did not really know anything about the airline. Like many if not most new applicants for airline jobs, I used the shotgun approach to sending out applications, sending one out to any airline that will accept them without really considering the pros and cons of the companies that I could end up working for. This is exactly how many new Fledgling Fliers end up flying for companies that they really don't respect.

As I started preparing for my interview with Mesaba, I started to learn more about the company. Naturally this preparation was designed to help me answer the “tell me what you know about our company” questions that were inevitable, but I started noting an interesting trend; whenever I mentioned Mesaba to my friends already in the industry, without exception they spoke highly of the company. About the only things I could say I did not like about what I was hearing was that the company did not domicile in Chicago (where I live), and there was a pending merger deal with Delta being rumored, which meant a lot of uncertainty. Not withstanding these two issues, as my interview date approached I became more impressed with the company overall.

As with most airline interviews, Mesaba offered to fly me up to Minneapolis for the interview, but because Cathy and I wanted to explore the city a little we chose to drive up. So, on October 29 we set off on the six hour drive to the Twin City area, enjoying what was left of the beautiful fall foliage along the way, me driving while Cathy asked me questions from an interview prep guide to pass the time away. Once checked into the hotel, we make a dry run trip to find the Mesaba office, which turned out to be a great idea since the office is on the back side of the building complex and is not visible from the road. After a trip to the Mall of America and a good dinner, its off to bed for a good night sleep before the big event.

Without going into too much detail, I can say that there were no surprises at all during the interview. The process was just as described on various web sites (see my previous post), and all of the Mesaba employees we interviewees came into contact were professional and friendly. The day started with a group presentation, followed by finger printing, individual HR/technical interview, sim session, and drug test. Straight-forward, efficient, no-nonsense. Once completed, Cathy and I drove to downtown Minneapolis to check out the town, and after another nice steak dinner went back to the hotel.

It was on the drive back the following day that the fateful phone call came, just as we were pulling in to The Dells, Wisconsin. During the interview we were told that successful candidates would be contacted in about seven days via phone, and unsuccessful candidates would receive a "no thank you" email in about the same time. Naturally I was super excited to receive the call from HR with the offer, excited enough to pull off the road and have a short "happy dance" with Cathy. The rest of the ride home was on cloud nine.

As promised on the phone call, a few days later a package arrived with additional paperwork, a welcome aboard pamphlet explaining some of the benefit programs, and an interesting "Turbine Transition" booklet. Having a type rating and about 50 or so hours in the Falcon 10, I did not find much new in the transition book, but for someone with no turbine experience at all it would be a good intro.

Since this post has taken a while to write, I'll quickly bring it to a close. As of today, I've been assigned the CRJ-900, and I'm still waiting for the flight operations manual to arrive. We were told to study this prior to showing up for training on Dec 1, but here it is one week before (Thanksgiving week at that) with no manual. The flight ops study will obviously be a cram session, something I'm hoping to avoid during ground school.

So, with Brandon settled back in the US in his new apartment, Jamie and her boyfriend Brad happily settled in their lives, I have one week to go before the big show. It will be a busy week for Cathy and me with a lot on the go, so I likely won't post until I'm in Minneapolis with ground school underway. Until then, happy flying.