Getting hired with an incident/accident

[exeagle]

Maybe this should be on the general board, but nonetheless. I have a good friend who was involved in an incident about 2 years ago. Basically, he aborted a takeoff and bent a nose gear..Long story short, the ntsb found him to be at fault.. He has basically given up because he thinks that he is 100% not gonna get hired anywhere. I realize that his chances are not as great as someone with a perfect record and that you can bring documentation, tell them how you learned from this incident , etc , etc. But my question is, have any of you guys/gals gotten hired with something like this on your record and how did you handle it in the interview. Maybe if he heard some of your stories he would keep on truckin and building hours, who knows. PM me if you want. Thanks.

 

[Skull-One]

I think the point he needs to remember is that there are two types of pilots: those who have screwed up and those who will. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes. I guarantee that friend of yours is one of the world's experts on aborted takeoffs because of his experience. He should highlight that fact to anyone who questions him.

"I made a mistake. At the time it seemed like the proper decision. I have learned from my experience and it has made me a better pilot."

 

[Wiskey Driver]

Skull-One has the right idea. While I have never even scratched an a/c I do have a good friend of mine, now with exec jet who had an awful crash in a BE-300 that wiped out the a/c and a van on the street (yeah that bad). Aborted takeoff and ran out of real estate, lucky the van was there and I say that because if not he would have run down a hill into the freeway and we can only imagine that horror... Anyway the best policy is to learn from your mistakes and during the interview process turn a negetive into a positive. Have him be honest and up front about the incident but do it with his chin held high and looking as if he learned from the event, not beaten and unsure of himself. My friend had learned that day before the crash that he had an interview with CAL, never happened and he would be furloughed now but he was able to secure new employment with exec jet. BE HONEST!!!!

WD.

 

[Nindiri]

Yeah, honesty works. I had an incident on my record because I let a student collapse the nosegear on a C-150. No big deal at two regional interviews. I was honest , took responsibility, and the interviewers said "okay" and moved on. I got job offers at both places.

Tell him to just keep a clean record from now on, and don't sweat it so much. It was only about 3 years between incident and interview for me.

 

[GCD]

Be honest. Learn from your mistakes. Don't give up. Never say it will never happen. Did I say be honest? Oh, yes, be humble.

Hell, see that list to the left? See that AC680? I crashed one of them once. I mean a bad crash. I was off of work for a year because of having a leg reattached, third degree burns, and facial reconstruction (and I am a good looking guy, now), and I've still had a great career afterwards.

Self determination. Never quit. Be honest.

I just wrote an article on RTO's. I wish that I had a chance to interview your friend before hand.

 

[Metro A-Team]

I don't mean to disagree with th other posts from dudes more experienced than myself but having an accident could (probably will) make the "airline" job hunt a bit more difficult. There are just too many people out there with "clean" records. I know one guy who has interviewed @ SkyWest 3 times and never been hired. It always comes down to his accident (so he says). But it could just be him???? Another budy of mine got hired there with a "Letter of Warning" so who knows.

Now with that said, there are a TON of jobs out there (even now) that don't care what your "history" is. Many of these may not be "career" jobs but I guess it all depends on how much your friend loves to fly.

In my opinion, any flying job is better than a "real job" so I'd tell your friend to keep "Learning Forward".

Cheers

 

[GCD]

I seriously doubt that the accident alone has kept him from being hired. It may be the way he explains the accident.