B720,
The DB is made up of reps from all 7 Chief Pilot offices. Can be CP but could be Asst CP. Regardless of who comes, each CP rep will have with them the LORs, notes, comment sheets from the pilots at their base on each pilot recommended by one of their pilots. These "cheat sheets" are what can weigh heavily for those trying to get hired. Other reps include folks from the HHQ Chief Pilot office, Training, People Dept. A lot of folks who have input.
The more CP or reps who have your name with attaboy's next to them, the better off one can be. However, even without those type of comments (for those worrried you have to have insiders) there aren't any guarantees for or against. Factors into the decision is your interview (all 3 interviewers must give a thumbs up or down on each applicant they interview), the background checks & assuming they all went well this isn't usually a big factor but there can be surprises.
The interview scores (I use this term without fully knowing the details so pls don't ask for an explanation), the strength of your LORs you sent in with your package & background info are all evaluated & the DB votes. Don't know if it is a majority vote or what.
Results are released within 2 weeks. Letters bad, phone calls good. Phone calls come from PD saying "don't quit your day job", "here is where we stand with your package, everything looks good...", confirm availability & then sit some more while the process works it way to an eventual class date. Only a guess on when to expect a class date with a 20 Feb DB. Late spring, summer timeframe. Only a guess.
hope that helps,
