Pilot Interviews at US Airlines

A pilot interview at a US airline is the last part of a selection that starts long before the candidate walks into a room. Every Part 121 carrier hires its first officers against the same federal floor, the experience required for an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate or its restricted version, and then adds its own minimums, its own assessments and its own interview format. The airline also reads the candidate's records: the logbook, the FAA's Pilot Records Database and a background check.

This article describes what is common to US airline selections and how the published processes of the larger airlines differ. The general method of airline selection, including the STAR answer and the simulator evaluation, is in airline pilot recruitment and selection. Airlines change their processes between campaigns, so the details below are dated, and the airline's own invitation is always the authority.

The US hiring pipeline

Under 14 CFR 121.436 a first officer in Part 121 operations must hold an ATP certificate with the appropriate type rating. The full ATP requires 1,500 hours and a minimum age of 23. The restricted ATP under 14 CFR 61.160 lowers the hours to 750 for qualifying military pilots and to 1,000 or 1,250 for graduates of FAA-authorized aviation degree programs, at a minimum age of 21. In practice the type rating and the ATP checkride usually come in the airline's own initial training (see FAA Part 121 air carrier operations).

The usual first Part 121 job is at a regional airline, flying 50- to 76-seat regional jets for a major under a capacity purchase agreement. Regionals such as SkyWest, Envoy, Republic, Endeavor, PSA and Piedmont hire first officers at the ATP or restricted ATP minimums and provide the type rating. Several start the selection before the hours are complete: in October 2026 SkyWest took applications from pilots within three months of the minimum, Endeavor interviewed from six months before it, and Republic's cadet program gave conditional offers as early as the instrument rating or commercial certificate.

Many regionals are tied to a major by a flow agreement. Envoy, Piedmont and PSA flow pilots to American, and Envoy says its pilots move with no additional interview; Endeavor's Career Advancement Program moves its pilots to Delta after 24 months as an Endeavor captain, with no testing or interview, and Delta's Propel program gives its candidates offers from both airlines; Horizon pilots reach Alaska through its Pathways program; and United's Aviate pathway brings pilots to United after 1,200 or 1,600 hours as captain at a participating United Express carrier or Part 135 operator, depending on the entry point.

A major airline hires experienced pilots directly. Delta, United, American, Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue and FedEx all hire first officers only and fill their captain seats from their own first officers by seniority, so a captain from another airline joins at the bottom of the list. Their published minimums sit above the regulation in different ways. In October 2026 Delta asked for 1,500 hours with 250 as pilot in command or second in command and 50 multi-engine, with 1,000 hours of fixed-wing turbine time preferred; Southwest's 2026 posting, as job boards copied it, asked for 2,500 hours total or 1,500 turbine; and FedEx asked for 500 hours as pilot in command of jets or qualifying turboprops. United, American and JetBlue specify an unrestricted ATP, while Alaska, for its own seniority list, accepts a commercial certificate with the ATP experience and a current ATP written test.

Seniority at a US airline runs from the date of hire and does not transfer between airlines, which is why the choice of the first employer weighs so heavily (see airline pilot ranks, seniority and scheduling).

Applications, logbooks and records

Applications are made online and scored first on the numbers: total time, pilot-in-command, multi-engine and turbine time, education, and any flow or referral. Each airline adds its own requirements. In October 2026 Delta said that two members of its Application Review Team read every application. Southwest's careers page describes a Flight Hours grid filled in by aircraft and says it may ask for three letters of recommendation immediately after the application. JetBlue's posting asked for three reference letters from pilots. FedEx keeps pilot profiles in an applicant pool and e-mails a link to apply when it selects one.

The logbook review checks those numbers. Airlines compare the logbook totals with the application, and some sample individual pages and look for endorsements and signatures. Totals that change between the application and the class date, unsigned entries, arithmetic errors and pilot-in-command time logged when the pilot did not qualify for it all raise questions, and falsifying a logbook is a violation of 14 CFR 61.59. Delta asks interviewees to bring documentation of all their flight hours; candidates at American's interview sessions in Dallas–Fort Worth in August and September 2026 described logbooks taken for review on the day; and Southwest candidates' accounts from 2026 describe a logbook review with a company pilot as one of the three parts of the interview.

The records come from a federal database. PRIA records were the training, employment and FAA records an airline obtained under the Pilot Records Improvement Act, whose paper process 14 CFR Part 111 replaced with the Pilot Records Database (PRD); some airline pages still use the older name. A hiring carrier must review the candidate's PRD records, with the pilot's consent, before hiring. They include the pilot's FAA certificates, ratings, medical, enforcement actions and accident and incident history, and records uploaded by previous employers, including training and checking results with any failures, disciplinary actions and the reason for leaving. Southwest's 2026 posting, as job boards copied it, asked applicants for access to their PRD file, and FedEx lists a records evaluation under the Act among its mandatory checks. Pilots can read their own file, and should before an interview.

The HR interview and TMAAT questions

The HR or behavioral interview tests conduct rather than knowledge. Its core is the TMAAT question, short for "tell me about a time": a request for a real past event, such as a mistake on the flight deck, a disagreement with a captain, a conflict with a colleague, an unsafe act the candidate saw, or a decision made with incomplete information. The expected structure is STAR (situation, task, action, result), and the interviewers probe each story with follow-up questions, so it must be true, specific and the candidate's own (see competency-based pilot interviews). Candidates usually prepare eight to ten stories that cover the common themes.

View full schematic

The open questions are predictable: tell me about yourself, why this airline, and what do you know about us. Answers built on the airline's fleet, bases and culture, rather than on pay, show that the candidate chose it. A question on violations, accidents, incidents and failed checkrides is usual. Anything in the PRD or the background check should come from the candidate first, told in full with what changed afterward, because an interviewer who finds it later will assume it was hidden.

The format differs by airline:

The candidate is usually invited to ask questions at the end. Questions about training, the safety programs or support for new first officers serve better than questions about pay or leave, which the contract already answers.

The technical interview

Technical content varies more than anything else. Delta publishes no technical test, and the June 2026 summary of its panel describes none. United's guide describes a technical assessment that checks foundational knowledge, calibrated to the candidate's entry point. Southwest candidates in 2026 described a scenario interview with one or two pilots, and Alaska candidates who interviewed between October 2025 and March 2026 described little technical content (candidate reports).

Where technical questions are asked, the US rules come first: the 1-2-3 rule for filing an alternate, the route and altitude to fly after a radio failure under 14 CFR 91.185, the Part 117 flight and duty limits, Part 121 takeoff minimums, and the restricted ATP and ATP-CTP rules. Weather reports, ILS categories, stabilized approach criteria, TCAS, and the systems of the type flown or to be flown complete the list (see technical questions in airline interviews). A scenario question, such as a diversion or a non-normal in cruise, is answered aloud and in order: fly the aircraft, identify the problem, use the other pilot and the checklist, decide and communicate.

A candidate who does not know an answer says so, then explains what they do know and where they would find the rest. Interviewers score honesty and reasoning before raw knowledge, and a confident wrong answer suggests a pilot who will guess in the aircraft.

Simulator and assessments

Online assessments now open several selections. Delta begins its interview stage with an Aon online assessment of personality and skill-based competencies, adds the MMPI-2 personality inventory in Atlanta and ends with a virtual interview with a Delta psychologist (Delta's published steps, October 2026). United's Aviate Program Guide (August 2026) sends Aviate candidates two online assessments, the Leadership Inventory and Becoming United; United does not say whether direct-entry candidates take the same. Candidates and preparation sites in 2025 and 2026 reported an online aptitude battery at American, the Pilot Skills Test, and FedEx describes remote computer-based testing. Personality questionnaires have no right answers to learn and look for consistency (see pilot aptitude tests).

The simulator evaluation is less common than its reputation suggests. Delta's and United's published selections contain none. For American, Southwest and Alaska the reports conflict: some preparation sites list a simulator check, while candidate accounts from 2025 and 2026 describe none. Where one is used, it typically lasts 30 to 60 minutes in a fixed-base or full flight simulator, and assessors score scan, procedures, callouts and crew cooperation (see airline simulator assessment).

Conditional offers and class dates

A successful candidate receives a conditional job offer (CJO). Its usual conditions are a satisfactory records review and background check, a negative pre-employment drug test, verification of certificates, medical and hours, meeting the ATP or restricted ATP minimums by the class date, and a clean record until then: a new driving conviction, accident or failed check must be reported and can end the offer. A CJO is not employment.

The checks that follow typically include a fingerprint-based criminal history records check under 49 CFR Parts 1542 and 1544, which looks for disqualifying offenses within the last 10 years, the pilot's DOT drug and alcohol testing history with previous employers, the National Driver Register, and verification of education and employment, gaps included. Delta lists a TSA fingerprint-based check and its own background check; JetBlue a ten-year background check; FedEx the records evaluation and an airport security clearance with an FBI fingerprint-based check. Across the industry, the commonest reason for withdrawing an offer is a discrepancy between what the candidate declared and what the records show.

The class date is the first day of new-hire training, and it may come weeks or months after the offer. Training then runs roughly 6 to 10 weeks before the first line flight: indoctrination (two weeks at Delta), often the ATP-CTP course, which 14 CFR 61.156 sets at 30 hours of academic training and 10 hours in simulation devices, 6 of them in a Level C or higher full flight simulator, then systems ground school and simulator training ending in the type rating checkride. Initial operating experience on the line follows: under 14 CFR 121.434, at least 25 hours for a turbojet, and 100 hours of line flying within 120 days to consolidate the new skills (see airline pilot training and checking).

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.