Interview coming with ATA - help please

[Race Pilot]

I got the call today. I will be interviewing with ATA on June 13th. I am currently searching for all the gouge that I can get. I feel pretty good about things but it never hurts to study up. Any help you can give will be MUCH appreciated.

For those that always want to know these things, I mailed a resume to ATA on 3-8-02 along with doing their online thing. I was sent an application within a week or so after that. I took awhile to get that done but finally sent the application in along with three letters of recommendation from ATA pilots around the middle of April. I was called today (5-24-02) and given available interview dates of June 10-13. I picked the 13th because thats my lucky number!! Actually, I'm coming back from a week at the C-130 simulator on the 9th or 10th and needed a few days to decompress and get ready.

I have a little over 6000 hours (mostly USAF time with no conversion factor figured in). My previous aircraft were C-141, C-22 (B-727), C-137 (B-707), CASA 212 (what a ride there!), and C-130 now. I have a part-time job as a Captain with Roush Air, a part 125 operator, on the 727-100. My actual true civilian 727 time is only about 100 hours. PIC time is around 3165 turbine, 1084 turboprop. I'm coming up on my 42nd birthday in September and will hopefully be on terminal leave from the USAF about that time (waiting for stop-loss waiver).

Sorry for the long post but I thought the info above might help some folks that are looking at ATA. Any info anyone can provide me I would appreciate. Thanks again.

 

[ATA75Pilot]

Congrats on getting the interview...ATA doesn't call just anyone. Believe it or not they are very selective and if you got the call "the job is yours to loose" as they say.

They haven't interviewed in a while but I doubt they have changed thier process. The gouge is out there on various sites. It's a demanding interview in that it starts early in the morning and ends sometime late that night. It was designed that way to see you throughout a long day.

Two places to screw up are during the lunch with the management pilots and during the end of day "debrief" at a local resturaunt/watering hole after the sim eval. If you normally are a beer drinker feel free to order one at the end of the day. Just don't let your guard down and become the town lush. Pilots sometimes make the mistake of feeling like the interview is finally over and they can "let their hair down". A few guys have lost the job during this phase;-)

Other than that it is very straight forward. Three interviews ( 1- HR and 2 - Pilot). A short written exam and a sim eval in the 727-100 up at Purdue.

Also....keep in mind the van driver that takes you up and back to the sim in Purdue has his "ears on". Like SWA, be courteous to everyone you meet from the ticket agent on up.

The interviews are straight-forward and are really an extended "get-to-know-you" conversation. When I went through it felt like a conversation between two friends who are catching up after a couple years apart. As the one Chief pilot who interviewed me said, "I'm just trying to see if I can sit next to you in a metal tube for 8 hours a day".

Any questions you might have feel free to PM me.

Good Luck and Congrats.

-ed

 

[reepicheep]

I'm curious how someone could have applied online when every time I've checked the website for months on end I find no evidence anywhere that they are hiring pilots. What have I missed and where do I go to apply?

 

[Mike Bengfort]

ATA interview

Guys: Got furloughed from Sun Country back in Dec . Just got a call from Sasha at ATA for a June 10 interview. I'm psyched Thanks for the good info. MB

 

[miaboeingcapt]

http://www.megaone.com/willfly4food/ has a great review of the ATA interview!

 

[Race Pilot]

Thans for the info ATA75Pilot. I had heard some of that from my friends there. As far as the ticket agent goes, I won't have to worry about that. They politely told me I have to make my own way there. I guess that's because they haven't started up in CLT yet and everything else is too far away from me anyway. I will probably PM you at some point for more stuff.

reepiceep - I'm not sure now how I found it online but the best thing is to mail a resume to:

Capt Dave Lindskoog, Chief Pilot
P O Box 51609
Indianapolis, IN 46251-0609

Good luck

Mike - great to hear you're going to. Wish I could be there that day as well but it just wouldn't work with my schedule. Sometimes it's NOT good to be employed!

miaboeingcapt - thanks! I'll definitely check that one out!

 

[TriStar_drvr]

You can also try www.aviationinterviews.com for information about ATA's pilot interview process. ATA75Pilot was correct. Get ready for a long day. Eat every chance you get, and take a nap when you get to Purdue if there's time available. Finally, I had not one, but two beers at the post sim eval dinner and managed to get hired.

Good Luck,
Brad

 

[HvyjetFO]

Get ready to have some fun

I had the privelege of flying the L-1011 for ATA and it was some of the most fun I have ever had at work. I was fortunate enough to have been hired into the Tristar. Great fun to fly with many "exotic" places to fly to.

As for the interview, it is a totally laid back experience that starts with you filling out paperwork. You'll be called in for a pilot interview and a HR person interview. There is nothing technical about it at all, they just want to you to be yourself. As was stated before, be polite to everyone you talk to. Two guys on my van ride mouthed off to the other that ATA would be a good place to work until the majors called. Needless to say, neither of them got hired.

Have fun with it. It's a great place.

Hvy

 

[Race Pilot]

Thanks Brad and Hvy - I've been studying up on the gouge and it actually looks pretty fun. Under the microscope for nearly 48 full hours. Yeee-haw!! Wonder if they bug your hotel room? I'm actually looking forward to the experience.

Brad - how many L's are left and how long will they stay around? What will replace them? All 72's gone, right? What's the latest with the contract negotiations? If you get the L you have to live in Indy due to short lead time contracts, is that how I read it? How about jumpseat on other carriers?

 

[ATA75Pilot]

I'll take a stab at your questions and Brad can fill in the gaps.

There are approximately 14 L10's. Five of the -500 series and the rest -50/-100. The L10's will be retired as each comes up for their respective "D" check. That means 2-3 retirements a year. The company has said they will keep the five -500's indefinitely.

The 72's are retired.

There are no replacements slotted. Management has expressed thier desire to get out of supplemental charter flying. They may keep fulfilling our Military obligations though.

The current L10 bases are JFK, IND, and a small presence in LAX.

SInce ATA is a Part 121 carrier as well as the 10 th. largest major airline it enjoys reciprical jumpseat agreements with just about anyone you can think of. You may have to explain to the Captain who we are though (the usual question is, ATA? You'all fly frieght right?).

Cheers,

-ed

 

[Race Pilot]

Thanks

Ed - thanks for the reply. Brad sent me some stuff too. I'll have to say, if I get the opportunity to fly with guys as helpful as you guys are, I'll take it. I am looking forward to the interview and hopefully a class. Oh, and the new contract too.