Mesa Interview - Airline Pilot Central Forums (2024)

buddhapilot

Joined APC: Nov 2017

Posts: 11

I just got an invitation to interview at Mesa and have a few questions I'm hoping some of you will be willing to answer. My background is military aviation (transports) and have been working as a DoD contract sim instructor for the last 10 years - so I have no commercial aviation experience.

1) What interview questions can I expect?
2) What kinds of answers are they looking for?
3) If I get offered a position, do I take CRJ or E175?
4) If I get offered a position I will be commuting. Do you commute on your days off or on the 1st & last days of your trip?

Thanks in advance.

TJBrass

Joined APC: Mar 2016

Posts: 318

calmwinds

Joined APC: May 2017

Posts: 2,145

1. The interview is painless. Know the basics of commercial aviation and Jepp Charts. There are some gouges out there.

2. The aircraft depends on where you want to be based and how quickly you want to upgrade. The Ejet guarantees IAH (for now), but has a slower upgrade.

3. With seniority, you can build a line of flying that is commutable on the 1st and last days. You won’t have it initially and will need a crash pad or hotel rooms. Where are you commuting from?

20sx

Joined APC: Jul 2006

Posts: 737

I don't know about 1 and 2....just be yourself. They really really want to hire you.
3) Think about where you live and what's the easiest base to get to. I don't think there are any more planes coming, so you can't bid to a growing fleet right now. We're understaffed in everything.
4) Once you get a schedule (should be quick), you try to bid trips that start late and end early enough to commute on the day the trip starts and commute home the day the trip ends.

buddhapilot

Joined APC: Nov 2017

Posts: 11

Commuting from Corpus Christi, TX. Houston is closer if I have to drive, but Dallas could be done. Is the CRJ in Houston or just the Ejet?

calmwinds

Joined APC: May 2017

Posts: 2,145

Do the Ejet out of IAH. They still have 4 more Ejets to add to the line. You won’t need to drive unless you want to - you will be able to commute within a few months of getting to the line. We currently have overnights in CRP all the time - so you can give up your hotel room and sleep at home when you have those trips.

The only sucky thing about the Ejet is the time to upgrade is currently 22 months from date of hire.

If you take the CRJ, you will probably have to commute to SDF for a few months until you can get back to DFW. (They just added a base in SDF which appears it will be the junior base).

Won’t you get to count 500 hours of your military time toward upgrading?

buddhapilot

Joined APC: Nov 2017

Posts: 11

Calmwinds,
Thanks for the info. I haven't interviewed yet, so I haven't heard anything about upgrade or how/if my experience will apply. I have over 3500 hrs of flight time, all of it turbine time & most of it multi, but I've been out of the cockpit for 11 years.

calmwinds

Joined APC: May 2017

Posts: 2,145

Military time in a required crew environment in a multi-engine jet? I need to look but I am fairly certain that 500 hours of this time count towards the required 1,000 121 time for upgrading to CA.

buddhapilot

Joined APC: Nov 2017

Posts: 11

I have over 3000 hrs ME turboprop & 170 hrs ME turbojet
- all of it military pilot time - I also have 1700 hrs turbine PIC. Any idea how/if this all will apply?

BoatyMcBoatface

Joined APC: Oct 2016

Posts: 4