BoeingJetPilot

I'd sure appreciate hearing from anyone who's had their Flexjet phone interview recently. I'm doing mine on Monday afternoon.

It's scheduled for just 30 minutes; I'm guessing it's going to be mainly general HR questions, but it's been a long time since I last interviewed with anyone and any feedback is helpful!

I'm winding down my airline career and Flexjet looks to me like a really good next place to hang my hat.

Thank you.

mimark

The phone interview is mainly just a review of your resume and qualifications, and "Why Flexjet?"

Pretty laid back.

cactusmike

I interviewed with three fractional operators and a 135. Flexjet was first and it could have gone better. I wasn't prepared for interviewing after decades since my last job interview. I was fortunate in that I got three offers after Flexjet but I felt bad about not being better prepared with answers to question relating to customer service.

You would be well served by going to the airline interviews web site and looking it at what is current. It's not expensive and worthwhile.

You may also want to really research just what you will be doing flying fractional/charter. I really enjoy it but it's not 121 airline flying. And you will be hands on dealing with a lot of mundane things that were taken care of for you. Catering, cleaning, flight planning, there's a lot more on you and your captain. And that's another thing to get used to, the right seat. I work for a place where we are splitting PIC duties (unless we are flying with F/Os) but at Flex you will be right seat for a few years. Be ready to answer how you will accept flying with a much younger, less total time captain. Of course, recognizing that he/she knows more about the operation than you do helps.

We have lost a few guys who didn't realize that 91k/135 is a whole different world. And you will be working harder than you were used to as a senior airline guy if you get on with Flex or NetJets.

500RVR

Good post. A couple of thoughts.

I believe at Flex the flying pilot is in the left seat. But you are correct that’s it’s currently a few years as SIC before upgrading to CA.

It’s a huge change and possibly a culture shock coming from 121 to fractional. Especially if you’re coming from a legacy as a senior pilot even more so coming from legacy widebody flying.

if you haven’t interviewed in a long time. I agree that a through review of the interview websites is really a must. Additionally, I strongly suggest paying for interview prep at one of the interview prep companies There are several good ones to choose from.

Having video mock interviews and prep will definitely help significantly, especially if it’s been a long time since your last pilot interview.

Best of luck!

AA717driver

8 months to Phenom 300 PIC. Maybe 17 months to Praetor/Challenger PIC. Wouldn't be surprised to see it slip to 24 months.

Aviation interviews.com had the exact stuff you need. Good luck.

ETA: You swap seats every day. Most guys let you do what you want when flying but they are PIC and you are SIC and you just deal with it. I've only flown with one guy I refuse to fly with again. Most guys (gender neutral term) are awesome.

7321

How did it go?

BoeingJetPilot

It went very well. It was mostly a chance for me to answer "why Flexjet" and provide a story about when i've gone above and beyond to provide excellent customer service. She also asked some general questions about my background. All in all a very pleasant, friendly, low-key interview. I have been advanced to the next stage of the process and will be heading down to DFW soon for the next interview and the sim. She said the sim will either be the Lear 45 or the Challenger 601.

Thank you for the excellent info and advice provided in response to my original posting. I know it's going to be a very different job from what I've been doing and more work, but I'm looking forward to it.

AA717driver

Be prepared to go into a lot of 4-5000' runways. I've had so much fun seeing different out of the way, rural airports lately. Beats doing the Hollywood arrival to 25L for the sixth time this month.

You meet a lot of nice people at the small FBO's. And, you'll learn how to DIY single point refueling from the self-serve pump at some of these places.

AirBear

At NJA we could do 3500ft runways in the Citation Ultra/Encore and also the Phenom 300. Fortunately that was pretty rare.

I spent over 12 years at NJA and even near the end of my time there it was very rare to fly a tour and not see a new airport. Verses the "Groundhog Day" of the airlines.

I've had to dig rocks out of a ditch to chock the nosegear with at an unattended airport with no chocks to be found. I've also had good deals like when we broke at the old Roosevelt Roads Naval Station and stayed in a $700/night luxury hotel for 3 nights.

At NJA we weren't allowed to do single point refueling because we weren't trained on it. But we could do overwing fueling since that wasn't much more difficult than fueling your vehicle.

I did 15 years at airlines before NJA. I really liked not having to commute plus getting the airline miles and hotel points.

Oh, and the small FBO's were nice. My favorite sign was at a small Texas FBO. It said "unattended children will be given a 6-pack of Coke and a free kitten". 😂

MilSmooth

The in person interview was very similar. The sim required a brief of the ILS that you going to fly and then a takeoff, hand flown vectors, and landing. You broke out above mins and the “FO” was directive on speeds and when to configure for the approach. After landing you did a repo and a V1 cut.

The face to face was an HR/recruiting rep and a pilot. It was very conversational and relaxed. You won’t be told if you got the job until later. I don’t know when other folks were notified but I found out before I got on the plane home.