The interview was for WASINC,one of the companies supplying crews to Japan Airlines with a Honolulu base. I was called three weeks in advance and given a choice of days to interview. They paid for an airline ticket to Denver and also paid for the hotel and breakfast. The interview process was a three day deal: First day, fly in and check in to the hotel. The hotel front desk gave me a welcome package with a schedule tailored for me. It listed times of each event and who would be in my group. The groups were of four people each. We showed up at the appointed time and watched a promotional video on Jalways. Then on to testing. The first event was a couple hours later, it consisted of a paper "cultural adaptability" test, then an IQ test conducted on a computer, then the Psych test. The Psych test is 320+ questions and takes awhile. They have you take it again if you don't fit a certain proifile. After testing the chief pilot briefed us on the simulator profile and answered our questions regarding the company and line flying frankly. Done by 7:00pm.

The second day was the personal interview and simulator practice. We showed up at our appointed time and I spoke with a representative of Japan Airlines and the CEO of WASINC. No technical questions were asked. The Japanese didn't ask any questions, just sat and took notes. The other fellow asked some questions but spent over half the 30 minutes talking rather than asking questions. I got the distinct impression that they were trying to sell the job to me rather than test me in any way. Not much else to tell about the interview. Later that night we all got an hour in the right seat and an hour in the left seat where we sat during the simulator evaluation the next day. One WASINC rep ran the sim and one coached us through the profiles. All four in our group got the same time so four hours in the United Airlines full motion 747 classic sim for practice.

The third day was the simulator evaluation. I showed up at my appointed time and went right in and sat down in the left seat. The right seat was occupied by a JAL captain and another JAL captain sat in the engineer seat. The same guy who ran the sim during practice ran the sim for the eval. The profiles were simple: Taxi to the runway, stand the throttles up and take off. A pre-arranged heading-to-altitude climbout followed by a turn to fly direct to the NDB. Fly outbound the NDB for a pilot constructed procedure turn. Configuring for the approach and decending to final approach altitude, then an ILS with the flight director (all engine). Normal landing and rollout. Immediately the engineer will reconfigure the aircraft for another takeoff. This time, vectored departure and further vectors for an all engine ILS with no flight director, normal landing and rollout. Then the sim-tech freezes the sim and configures the sim for a 45 degree intercept of the ILS. He asked if I was ready (we were briefed it would be coming), then failed an engine. Three engine approach and landing with the flight director.

Everything about the profiles is written down and well briefed before hand. Nothing is a surprise. JAL wants to see you able to memorize the profiles and callouts in a day and execute them as well as possible during the eval. You won't be thrown any curves. After the eval you'll be notified in your hotel room that day whether you passed or not. If you passed you'll be asked when you can do the medical exam.

The medical exam is definately the most difficult part. Not much you can do except live cleanly and try to get some sleep the night before. No alcohol for as long as possible before flying to Minnesota (the Mayo clinic) for the exam. It's beyond me why the Japanese spend thousands of dollars on each pilot for this process then promptly fail over half of us. I didn't pass the physical, why I don't know. The mayo clinic won't tell you unless it's a life-threatening condition. As before, WASINC pays for the hotel in Rochester, MN. When you check in to the hotel the front desk gives you a packet from the clinic including a few questionares. My advise would be not be truthfull when filling it out. As far as you know, your family does not have a history of heart disease, diabetes, etc. When in doubt, if it's something a doctor can't confirm (like you drank like a fish in college) don't admit to it. EVERYTHING is used against you when the JCAB reviews your file.

All in all it was a pleasant experience. The WASINC staff, while really giving the impression that you were doing THEM a favor by signing up for a three year contract, were more than nice. Not much out of pocket expenses to be paid. But given the ficklness of the Japanese, if offered a job in the future, I would not resign my seniority number. They'll ask if you are willing to do that and say it's a factor in whether you get the job or not. I wouldn't do it unless my company was going TU.