Interview experience:
The interview started at the Horizon Ops center at 7:30 am. I arrived at 7:00 am and 2 others joined around 7:15. One more person joined us around 7:30. One person no showed. So in all there were 4 of us interviewing that day. The interview went exactly as the other applicants said. The people at Horizon are very professional and friendly. Everyone went out of their way to be friendly and put us all at ease. At first a lady came out and reviewed all of our paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork, make sure you have it ALL complete and ready for them to go over with you and collect. After all of our paperwork was competed we waited about another 15 min before the interview process started. There are 3 parts to the morning sessions. The personal interview with the Chief Pilot and/or Assistant Chief pilot, the HR portion, and the technical oral. They came and took us in random order. I started out with the Chief Pilots. I had 2 Assistant Chief Pilots. They reviewed my logbook, licenses etc... and asked a few questions. What is your aviation story? How did you get started in the industry? TMAAT when you have been stressed at your current job (CFI). Why Horizon? Have you ever had an aviation related accident? Incursion? Any traffic tickets in the past 10 yrs? They were both very friendly and put me at ease. I went to the HR portion next. Pretty much the standard HR questions. A lot of TMAAT when questions.. TMAAT when you had to work under stressful conditions. TMAAT when you had an unhappy customer. The one question that caught me slightly off guard was "TMAAT when you implemented a safety procedure at a previous job". She also asked why Horizon should hire me. She asked about my 10 year work history. Have you ever quit a job and if so why. The last part was the technical oral. It was with a line pilot. She gave me a wx packet and some approach charts from Pullman, Idaho to Lewiston, Idaho. Very basic IFR questions. Know the Jepp enroute chart. Do you need a Takeoff alternate? In my case it was no so she asked what would the wx have to be in order to need the alternate? How would you pick up your clearance? How would you get from the ground to the enroute portion of the flight? Asked a lot of "what is this questions". MEA, MOCA, MORA (and when is a time you would need to use the MORA), COP, know how to identify a Minimum Crossing altitude on the Jepp chart, green vs blue airports. I was asked what I knew of the history of Horizon. How would you as a first officer make a flight more efficient? I said I would help with other duties when I completed my duties (i.e. helping the FA clean in the back, helping pax with their bags, assisting the captain as needed). I don't know if this is what she was looking for but she seemed to like the answer because it demonstrated willingness at teamwork. Duty and rest requirements (know the scheduled/regular/reduced/compensatory rest requirements). What is controlling in regards to needing an alternate (visibility). Read a METAR. Read a TAF. No other weather questions for me. I studied all of the other gouges and made note cards from the questions and felt very prepared for the morning sessions. When you are done with all 3 steps they let you know if you get to continue on. If you do, they take you to be drug tested and finger printed. 3 of the 4 of us proceeded to the afternoon sim portion. It is a long day so bring some high energy snack food. They provide some snacks, water and a box lunch, but not good snacks to keep your energy level up. We took the van over to Hillsboro Aviation where the simulator portion of the interview took place. Once there the pilot who administered the sim gave us a quick briefing on speeds. 90 vr, 140 cc, 180 cruise, 150 gear/flaps speed, 120 approach speed. He was very clear that he wanted one of those speeds not anywhere in-between. He said "If you somewhere in-between these speeds I'm going to assume you do not know what you are doing". He also said he wanted us configured at 120, gear down, flaps 50% by the FAF. Up to us when we got ourselves configured but said also he didn't want to see it on a procedure turn outbound because that is a waste of fuel and that's not how Horizon would do it. We then had 20 mins to eat lunch and decide who would go first. I was the last to go. We flew the same route as the tech oral, Pullman to Lewiston. Here is where our interviews seem to be a little different from the other gouges. All 3 of us did something a little different. The ILS was not down and it was up to us to determine what approach we wanted to do. The first guy got a hold first before the approach due to traffic in the area, he asked for the ILS, told to expect that then he got switched to the VOR Rwy 26. The second guy chose to do the 10 DME arc to the ILS, went missed then did a few turns in the hold and then did the VOR. I chose to do the VOR 26 first because by the time I got the weather and set up I felt that I would be pushing it to do the arc and I didn't want to mess it up. I asked for the full procedure turn VOR and was told I could expect that (the wx was high enough for either approach). I chose to slow down on the procedure turn inbound and then configured gear and flaps 2 miles before FAF. Went missed, established myself in the hold, picked up wx again. It had gone down so I called SEA center and requested the ILS. Told to expect that after another turn in the hold. I then got Radar Vectors for the ILS. I was a little surprised to get the vectors, it made it much easier but he did vector me in pretty close so I think he was trying to see my situational awareness. I started getting myself slowed down to 150 on the vectors and it's a good thing I did because on my last vector turn I intercepted glide slope and localizer only 4 miles from the FAF. Shot the approach and made a full stop landing. As with what others are saying you cannot get enough practice in the FRASCA 142. It is very sensitive and the turbulence level and tail winds are pretty high. My ground speed in the enroute portion was around 220. I was told to call the next day after 12 pm. I called the Assistant Chief I interviewed with and was offered a position in the Q400! Study these gouges and go buy some FRASCA time and you will be well prepared for the interview. Good luck.
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