Colgan Air

• updated 06/19/11

• Initial phone screening after application
  • Verification of application/resume information
  • Why do you want to work for us?
  • Are you prepared to relocate?
  • Tell me about yourself?
  • How did you get into aviation?
  • If successful, offer to interview live.
• Non-rev travel provided to interivew site. Most recenlty held in MSP using Mesaba personnel.
• Part 1- Personality assessment test (Wunderlick)
• Part 2- Written test
  • 25 question Multiple choice test covering FAR Part 91, FAR Part 121, Aerodynamics, Airports and Airspace, IFR regulations, weather, Jepp approach plates, and en route charts. Review these sections in the Gliem
  • Must pass with 80%, or they send you out on the next flight
• Part 3- logbook review (sometimes done in during HR/Technical interview) 
  • With a current pilot, captain or FO.
  • Be prepared to explain failed checkrides, more than 2 is disqualifying.
  • Don't lie or cover up because since the accident, they dig up everything.
  • You'll get asked about your current job
  • General questions about your flight time, the a/c you've flown.
• Part 4- Interview covering Technical and Human Resource areas
  • With one pilot and one HR representative
  • See questions bank below
  • Must pass to move on to simulator
• Part 5- Simulator Evaluation (see comment on 4/22/11 for possible changes to sim eval) 
  • Given Sim Profile to study thourghout the day prior
  • Listen to the sim instructor when he gives you advice on how to fly the sim!
  • Raw data (no flight director)
  • Simulator evaluation is conducted in a computer-based sim set up like a baron
  • You will be paired with another applicant and will switch seats with them, coordinate with them and use them as non-flying pilot as much as possible
  • Given briefing sheet with checklist, configurations, airspeeds, throttle settings
• Part 6- Drug Test + Fingerprinting
• Notification comes 2-3 weeks after interview

Get 187 more Colgan Air interviews and 104 more Colgan Air study guide questions

• Human Resource director= Cathy Angelo, V.P. Safety and Compliance= Dave Vance, Chuck Colgan=Chuck Colgan (11/02/07)
• Don't forget to talk to your interviewers during lunch (11/02/07)
• Interview begins as stated with a phone interview, with an interview offer. If accepted, they fly you non-rev positive space to the interview site LGA, MCO, wherever. Turn in logbooks and paperwork in the order they asked for it. If that all looks good to them you stay and take the 50 question ATP written. (REGARDLESS OF HAVING DONE THE WRITTEN OR EVEN HAVING YOUR ATP). If you pass the written you stay for the technical/HR interview. If you pass that you stay and fly the Beech 1900 SIM around a little. We left without knowing the final results and were told 2 weeks before hearing anything, which could be better or worse or the same as those sent packing early with a definitive "No Thanks". Very nice people, honest, enthusiastic to hire you, and generally want to hire you.  (02/19/10)
• I think you have to take the written even if you have the ATP written completed.  Not sure though. (06/21/10)
• Interviewed in July, 2010. Offered the job. If you are considering Colgan, you know they don't pay much, so stop whining already. That being said: Everyone there seems very nice and friendly toward each other.It is a growing company and most want to be a part of it, especially now! The following are things we were told. You will know everyone you work with at your base by name. Colgan is taking delivery of 15 new Qs and has options for many more. There are many pilots transferring, upgrading...etc. so the high time new hires will go to the Q and the lower time new hires will probably go to the saab, IAD probably. Houston is a senior base, don't expect it.
• Get all the paperwork done ASAP! Make sure to cross all your T's and dot all your I's or they will send you packing. Stay at a hotel close to LGA, one of the ones on their list. If you get in early on the first day, it can end up being a 1 day interview, if not AND you make it to the sim session, it ends up being a 2 day interview.
• For the multiple choice test get the "Sheppard Air" software, it is worth the money.
• You have to fly the SIM perfectly!! 30-40 interviewed and not a single person was offered the job. Experience ranged from CFIs to furloughed airline pilots. Good luck, we're all counting on you (12/11/10)
• If you can get into a B1900 sim and practice the profile ahead of time, I HIGHLY recommend it! Most applicants get sent home because they don't pass the sim. Not for procedures, but because they aren't use to the handling of the sim and have trouble getting stablized/maintaining altitudes/airspeeds/etc. (12/13/10)
• Prepare some non-selfish questions to ask about the company or the job.
• Good luck, they want to hire you!
• Don't pay attention to the things mentioned here for colgan it's not correct. However be a professional pilot and know what you need to know and you'll do fine. Don't know if I was hired yet but I did well. There's a standard 25 question test the wuerlick exam and hr and brief low alt enroute chart items and approach plate items. Be yourself and you'll do fine. Sim is equivelant to b-58 and is straight forward. Good luck to all. They are very kind and curtious (03/01/11)
• Good experience. Company unsure how integration will pan out exactly, but everyone is positive and there seems to be a lot of opportunity now. (03/03/11)
• Very good experience. Everyone is friendly and positive. They want you to be comfortable throughout the whole experience. The interview is nothing like it says above. Its all very straight forward. The feeling I got, is that this is a company you should try and get on with at this time. Good things are happening! Good Luck to all. (03/17/11)
• Interview process is no longer conducted by Colgan Air HR representatives. Candidates are being sent to Mesaba in Minn. for the interview. Process now includes a Wunderlick test and the simulator evaluation uses a Frasca-type fixed-base trainer configured similar to a Baron. (04/22/11)

• Mesaba is conducting all interviews on behalf of Colgan.  If you meet the Colgan minimum requirements (1,000TT/100 Multi), you will probably be interviewing for a Colgan position, but there is no difference between how they conduct the interviews.  The previous Mesaba gouges were spot on, so I would also study those.  Interview was conducted at Mesaba HQ in Eagan, MN.  They positive spaced me on United to MSP the day before and put me up in a Country Inn & Suites very close to their headquarters.  When you get to the airport, make sure you are getting on the shuttle for the right Country Inn, as there are multiple Country Inns in the area.  When you check-in, be sure to sign up for the hotel shuttle to Mesaba HQ the next morning. The hotel is just OK.  For dinner, there is really only a McDonald's and Subway within walking distance but the hotel shuttle driver said that he would be able to give me a ride somewhere with more food choices if I so desired.  Typical free hotel breakfast is available in the lobby in the morning. All 8 of us that were interviewing took the shuttle at 730AM, and it gets you there in 5 minutes, perfect time to arrive for a 745AM interview.A CRJ-900 Captain for Mesaba came out to the lobby to meet us and take us to a conference room where he showed us a brief powerpoint presentation and told us some very basic information about the company.  He was very nice, had a good sense of humor and really put us all to ease.  After this, we were asked to fill out a sheet of paper with your checkride history (pass/fail) and flight times such as total, multi, last 6 months, and last 12 months.  He then gave us a quick tour of the Operations room where Dispatch, Maintenance, and Scheduling all do their business.  He then took us to the simulator that we would be using later for our sim evaluations.  It was an ATC 810.  He told us that he would be conducting the sim evals and that he wouldjust be looking for basic instrument skills.  He gave us the general profile of the sim eval and told us that all the radios would already be set and that really all we would have to do is use the HSI.  He also said that after basic maneuvering, he would pause the sim, we could brief the approach, and then he would unpause it and we would fly the approach (BEWARE if he tells you this, because this is not necessarily true - i'll explain further when I get to the sim eval).He then took us back to the conference room where we first took a Wonderlic test.  These questions have nothing to do with aviation and I recommend trying to find sample tests on the internet to practice with.  There were 50 questions and a time limit of 12 minutes.  I only finished 35 which is pretty normal, so don't feel rushed to try to finish them all.  They tell you if you don't know something, then don't guess because this will hurt your score if you get it wrong.  Next was the 25 question IFR/FAR test.  This was multiple choice and was a piece of cake.  Some questions that I remember include speed limit under Class B, decoding METARs and TAFs, cloud clearance requirements in Class D, hold entry procedures, and basic questions about a couple approach plates.Next they took us all to the cafeteria where we waited to be either taken to get finger printed, or be called in to do the HR and Tech. portion.  They schedule all the HR and Techs. based on when your flight out departs.  If you have an earlier flight out, expect to be one of the first ones to be called in.  I had one of the latest flights out so I had to wait around in the cafeteria for almost 4 hours before I was called i... [Continue Reading]