ghilis101

I would imagine community service helps, but there's no real place to put it on the application, so I cant see how it helps your "scoring." You can try to somehow squeeze it in somewhere else, like maybe under accomplishments or something, but I still can't see where they'd be able to sort through 10,000 applications and find your community service. They did seem to like that I had community service on my resume when I talked to them at WAI, but since an applicant can't upload a resume, I think that's as far as that goes. I agree that a good GPA from a good college carries a lot more weight since that's something they can set as a filter on airlineapps, and I think that may have helped me get my interview. But who knows really, seems like there are multiple ways to get noticed.

gloopy

Or it means they're out of RJ pilots already and have to troll for single engine steam gauge time. The pilot shortage just got real!

BlaneO

I had one of my Recs mention volunteer work, FWIW. I'm skeptical of how much it mattered or how it would get scored.

Flycameron

Can I ask you when you got your invite and how much total time you have? Also how long ago did you apply? My Buddy has a great GPA but I wouldn't call it one of the best schools. Have you ever failed a checkride and did you have any internal LOR ?

Razor

Gloopy, you wound me! The steam gauges left the U-2 years ago. The current setup is three MFDs. No doubt nicer than the steam gauges but having the drift sight was cool.

ghilis101

Got the invite mid March for a June interview, which has now been moved up to a mid May interview. App on file since 2007. Met with AK two years in a row at WAI, have a very senior chk amn who helped me out as well, and 3 LOR's on file. 4200TT split evenly between air force and 121, no checkride failures.

Flycameron

Good for you and good luck with the interview next week. I only applied in November and failed a check ride so my time might not come for another year or so.

ghilis101

Thanks! I would guess that how long your app has been on file has little to no impact on your chances. There are plenty of retiring or separating military pilots that put their app in and got the call within a few months, for example. As far as check ride failures go, my buddy was hired at DAL in 2010 and had 1, and that's just one out of many people who I'm sure have. I think what's most important is the networking aspect. The obvious example of that being family legacies.. Just about everyone who is a family legacy has been called (I know several), which is awesome, I like that they literally keep it in the family. So the goal would be to figure out how to get as close to that as possible, and that's where networking sets you apart. I'm fortunate enough to have a check airman who I've known nearly 15 years help me out, and I'm certain he got my name pulled out of the stack. If you have outstanding qualifications like the high time IP/EP/check airmen out there, networking isn't as big of a deal, those pilots are getting calls from multiple airlines just by looking great on their apps. Otherwise it's all about putting in the effort to network.

badflaps

I don't see the LA ATC switch...

badflaps

While I'm being a d**k, which altimeter do you use?