The thing that I find most intriguing about all of this is how they claim that people are not psychologically qualified to be at mainline. So it's just fine to haul our passengers around on the C-scale partner operation, but when you want to actually have a career, oh no we can't allow that.

Rumors of approval rate hovering around 30%. Mixed reviews for what exactly they are looking for in an applicant. I believe this program is truly geared towards grooming college students to be United, and rather a formality for current regional guys.

If they believe the majority of the 10k pilots they are hiring over the next 10 years will be current college kids then UA is pretty clueless of the rigors each individual person goes through, and shows that they don’t value experience until something inevitably goes wrong (I.e the 757 in EWR accident).

Here we go again with this tired old story. It isn’t a test to see if you are psychologically or otherwise qualified. A resume and stack of logbooks show that you are qualified to fly the jet. The purpose of the entire interview process, from the Hogan to the final review board, is to see if the applicant has the personality traits that they are looking for, and to hire people who will fit into what ever their view of the company culture is. If it was just about qualifications they would simply pick names out of a hat to fill classes.

This would be fine if they held the standard across the board of what it is to be qualified to move a United passenger. They have plenty of people moving around on aircraft operated by places that have little to no standards. The mainline pilots have the gumption to speak down to those that go to places like Norwegian. The previous poster said the acceptance rate on this sham is around 30% . What are they supposed to do? Live off of their parents forever.

Again, it has nothing to do with who is qualified to move a United passenger. It is about who United wants working for United. You are not selected because you are qualified, but because they feel that your personality will fit the corporate culture. Everyone on interview day is qualified to move United passengers, many currently are for their respective employers, however the interview process is to select those who they feel will be the best fit to be employed by United. I don’t know exactly what they are looking for, but when an applicant goes in thinking that the program is a sham, or that they already work for United because the company that they really work is contracted by United, those conducting the interview pick up on questionable attitudes pretty quick and it doesn’t end with a job offer.

As to your last point, take your labor where you can. If United was your first choice and you weren’t selected, move on to the LCC’s or something similar while you hope for a call from Delta, Fed Ex, American, etc. Don’t rot in the regionals. Try to get somewhere that you could be happy if United or Delta never calls. There are plenty of people at United who were shot down somewhere else. The same is true at Delta, American, etc. Apply everywhere, don’t beat yourself up if someone says no, and be grateful for the one that you land.

The worst part is they have thousands of guys and women who are grossly overqualified with thousands of hours of 121 PIC. They think the solution to the future is to head to the flight schools and hire the CFI's. And no as Delta says they won't be bad FO's because of their experience. I'm still not sure who came up with that idea.

They are looking years down the road. They want to encourage people to enter aviation to provide a long term supply of pilots.

Having a ton of quality flight time isn’t the biggest factor. Lots of people have thick logbooks. They are going after individual personalities who also meet the standard. There have been a couple of exceptions, but the vast majority of people who were hired have been excellent pilots and employees.

United Aviate
 

Same is true of all the regionals, no? I fly with excellent fellow pilots that are also excellent employees. There’s diversity of opinions but I simply do not see the logic in thinking that regional pilots would do any less well of a job at a mainline. It’s a job. We follow procedures. We are standard. Company culture? Huh? How different is “mainline company culture” different from regional company culture? As a leader myself, I realize that this is quite absurd, and choose to not recognize it as a valid metric.


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The vast majority of the regional pilots that I meet commuting seem to me to be cut from the same cloth as every other pilot in the industry. I have no idea why United picks who they do. The point was that their selection isn’t decided by qualifications only. Just because one is hired by one company, doesn’t mean that that same individual would be hired by another.

Got a TBNT today. Nov 6 interview. 4900 TT, 700 TPIC, 4-year degree, 121 Captain, no negative history. Another guy I know got turned down too. Sounds like AVIATE is a marketing tool.