Wednesday, October 31, 2007

AT LAST. . .SKY WEST!!!




Well everybody, the day has finally arrived that I can say that I am officially a SkyWest pilot! The interview yesterday couldn't have gone much better. . .but talk about a long day.

Three of us from UVSC were interviewing, so we car-pooled up there at 6:00 am just to be sure not to be late for the 8:00 am interview. It only took us about 45 minutes to get to the SkyWest hangar, so we had about an hour to do some last minute cramming. The SkyWest interview process is known to be one of the most grueling interviews out of almost any other airline. To put it into perspective, the JetBlue interview process is pretty much a BBQ in a park where they evaluate if they would be able to stand flying with you. That would be nice.

Anyhow, the SkyWest interview has four parts:
1. A Simulator session to evaluate your instrument flying skills. I was the first one to do the sim. They had me fly to Ontario California and do an instrument approach. I wasn't perfect, but I was able to do a lot of preparation prior, so I felt content with my performance. The interviewer seemed to be pleased with my flying. . .I think.

2. A technical oral exam where they ask you anything from thunderstorms, to the systems of the aircraft you are currently flying, to navigation charts etc. They can pretty much ask you ANYTHING during this portion of the interview, so you better know your stuff! I have been studying for this part of the interview intensely for months, so I felt prepared. But they dig and dig until they hit your knowledge limit. So there were a couple of questions he threw out that I didn't know. But all and all it seemed to go well.

3. An HR portion, where they ask you questions like, "What are your worst attributes?", or "Tell me about your favorite flight." This portion of the interview is probably the most important part because they really see if you are the right fit for the company, and if they would like to fly with you. Being cooped up in the cockpit with a complete jerk for three days straight would not be the most fun thing in the world. So they have to like you.

4. The last portion is what they call a Crew Resource Management scenario. They put you in a simulator-type cockpit with another applicant and give you seven minutes to work your way through some problem they give you. The one I got was that there was somebody who had been in the lavatory for a while who refused to get out. Strange, but not much to worry about right? Well, the next curve ball they threw in was that our dispatch called us up and alerted us that there was a possible terrorist plot involving two passengers on our aircraft.
Anyhow, they don't care if you resolve the problem or not, they just want to see how you work your way through it, using all resources available. That seven minutes goes by pretty quick!

Anyhow, there were six applicants altogether. Two of them seemed to have a hard time with the simulator. One of which is already an airline pilot at another regional airline. I don't think he is going to get the job, because he had a pretty bad attitude. He didn't come all that prepared either. He seemed surprised at some of the basic questions they asked him. I don't know why people come to these interviews unprepared. Waist of time if you ask me.

The interview went until about 5:30 before we were all finished. The two that had a hard time with the simulator were told that they would be getting a letter letting them know if they had gotten the job or not. After they left, they told the remaining four of us that they wanted us to come to the November 19th CRJ class, which means that we were HIRED THERE ON THE SPOT! The CRJ is a jet like the one here. . .
I'm happy that all three of us from UVSC got hired, or it would have made for a pretty crappy ride home if one or two of us didn't get hired. I can't believe that it's finally here! I have been looking forward to this day for ever it seems. So maybe the next time you fly SkyWest, I will be at the controls in my awesome pilot's hat.

When I got home, Julie, Brooklyn, Mom and Dad were waiting for me with balloons, flowers, signs, and all sorts of nifty celebratory paraphernalia. That's right, I said nifty celebratory paraphernalia. Here are some pictures of the celebrations.






















Anyhow, thank you all for all the help and support you've given. You know who you are. And Kyle, they told me the only reason they hired me was because my suit was so sweet. We'll keep you all posted on what goes on from here. The next 8 weeks are going to be crazy. They do all their training in 6 weeks, so as you can imagine, it's going to be pretty intense. I'm going to be living in SLC literally during training.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah baby!!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

My Turn!


Four TV Shows I watch:
1.The Office ( Pam & Jim Forever!)
2. 30 Rock
3. Scrubs
4. Grey's Anatomy

Four Jobs I've Had:
1.Lady Foot Locker
2. Chevy's Tex Mex
3. Cougar Kids Club gymnastics teacher
4. Jenny Craig


Four Favorite Foods:
1. Ice cream
2. Any thing with smothered cheese
3. Bacon
4. Garlic Sirloin at Tucanos

Four Movies I Love: ( This was hard. I love a lot of movies)
1. The Count of Monte Cristo
2. Bandits
3. The Notebook
4. The Wedding Singer

Four Websites I visit Daily:
1. Hotmail
2. Wells Fargo
3. All the Bigler families blogs
4. Craig's list ( Provo & O.C)

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. In California at Table Rock ( The most beautiful beach in Laguna)
2. In Hawaii some where
3. Getting a full body massage
4. In a newer home ( our 1936 house is wearing on me)

-Doing all these things with my love, of course

Now since Matt and I are kinda losers and none of our good friends or my family have blogs, we are going to tag the men in the Bigler family ( those who are bloggers at least). Their voices need to be heard too! Plus, i want to know more about them.

Tag, your it:
Kyle
Dave
Dan

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Matt got an Interview!!

Tuesday,October 30th is the date. And now that there is a date, this next week and a half is going to be the longest! We know that he will get hired (at least I am beyond sure), but it is just a matter of hearing the words "your hired" to make it official, and then we can finally relax. It looks like he will start his training sometime in the beginning of November, either on the 5th or 12th and then the training last about 5 weeks. Which means I will be a single mom for Thanksgiving and possibly even Christmas. Sad. The holidays won't be the same, but everyone has got to put their time in at some point and we knew this was coming. It is so worth it though. Matt can't be more excited to finally be with the airlines and to fly the big jets all the time. And I can't wait for the travel benefits-FLY FOR FREE. I will finally be able to go to CA to see my family more often. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for Matt's interview. Even though I know Matt will do great, every little bit helps.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

1000 AND SKYWEST BOUND!


Matt did it. He finally hit 1000 hours of flight time! This has been the biggest goal he has had since day one of flying. He has worked very hard for this and we couldn't be more proud. And to make this week even better, yesterday he turned in his application for SKYWEST. This is the airline he has wanted to work for the most for as long as I can remember and I think he is a shoe in for it. We hope we will hear from them soon so we don't lose our minds. Please keep him in your prayers this week. We will keep you all updated.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

UPDATE TIME:

Sorry about the gap we've had the past couple of weeks. I'm sure you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats wondering if Brooklyn will survive her Nurse-Maid elbow wound. Good news for you all. . .she is alive and well. It took a couple of days until she started using it fully, but now it's like it never happened.

The Bigler home is coming down with a cold. Julie is on the tail end of hers. . .hopefully, and it seems to be just beginning for me. I'm pumping in the Vitamin C like it's going out of style. If any of you have suggestions on how to avoid a cold besides plenty of fluids, rest and a bunch of chicken soup, please let me know.

Right now I'm sitting on about 985 hours. 15 MORE UNTIL I CAN TURN MY RESUME INTO SKYWEST!!!! I still haven't heard anything from ExpressJet, so I don't think we're headed off in that direction.

Anyhow, we'll try to keep this thing updated more often. I hope we can all still be friends.