Interview at Pinnacle next week..what to expect?

S

stickks

Well-Known Member
Ok, got the job at another regional, but I am going to go on the interview I allready had setup at Pinnacle if nothing for the interview experience. What can I expect on the interview there?

Thanks..
 
I was asked the typical tech questions regarding operational control and such as well as a few situational questions. Know your wx and notams. Finished up with a few candidate questions (ex: why pinnacle? why you?...) You will more than likely be taken out on the floor and seated with a dispatcher on duty to check out the operation after the sit down portion. I don't know how much has changed since I was there since the merger with Delta, but they were using exclusively Northwest's dispatch clients which were actually pretty sweet and user friendly once learned. It was a cool place to work, but unfortunatley I have nothing good to say about Memphis. Good luck.
 
double_d said:
I was asked the typical tech questions regarding operational control and such as well as a few situational questions. Know your wx and notams. Finished up with a few candidate questions (ex: why pinnacle? why you?...) You will more than likely be taken out on the floor and seated with a dispatcher on duty to check out the operation after the sit down portion. I don't know how much has changed since I was there since the merger with Delta, but they were using exclusively Northwest's dispatch clients which were actually pretty sweet and user friendly once learned. It was a cool place to work, but unfortunatley I have nothing good to say about Memphis. Good luck.
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Is Memphis that bad?
 
Do a search for America's most dangerous cities. Detroit and Memphis consistently rank on top...and are ironically 2 or Pinnacle's 3 hubs.
 
double_d said:
Do a search for America's most dangerous cities. Detroit and Memphis consistently rank on top...and are ironically 2 or Pinnacle's 3 hubs.
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Or better yet send a PM to Kellwolf since he's a resident of that city...
 
killbilly said:
Or better yet send a PM to Kellwolf since he's a resident of that city...
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Well, maybe so...But Phoenix isnt any better. I havent gone on the interview yet, but im allready kinda nervous about it, as there is no written exam, you sit in a room with people and they ask you questions...
 
The town of Memphis is a s*#&hole. Even my friends that live there say that. You get outside of the city and it is dramatically different. Alot of folks live in MS or AR even though they work in MEM.
 
I interviewed there.

One thing I didnt like about their operation is that the dispatchers have to also do the load planning for each flight, and with their flight workload on the desk to begin with, how about dumping load planning on top of that.

For the interview specifically - sit down with their Director SOC and a SOC Manager, read a metar and taf, a few tech questions, why pinch-a-nickle, etc.

They use 2 flight planning systems - for their CRJ9 operations they use the Lufthansa LIDO system; for everything else they use the NWA Dispatch GUI.

They also use LIDO charts, NOT Jeppesen.

But I echo everything else said above; MEM looked like a hole. The airport doesnt even have a Mickey-D's.

As for commuting, while its nice that the FDX hub is there; but from what I understand, OAL dispatchers are not welcome on big purple.

I LOVED PHX, but my crashpad was in Fountain Hills way out past Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, so it wasnt like the area around the Grayhound Bus Station, or the street that YV's HDQ is on - hooker and ho street.
 
Pinnacle will be dumping LIDO in February.

I have jump seated on FEDEX several time and have always been warmly welcomed. I will admit it wasnt into MEM, mainly the DEN-IND-DEN run and a few way back of IND-CDG. (Before 9/11)

F9DXER
 
dispatchguy said:
I interviewed there.

One thing I didnt like about their operation is that the dispatchers have to also do the load planning for each flight, and with their flight workload on the desk to begin with, how about dumping load planning on top of that.

For the interview specifically - sit down with their Director SOC and a SOC Manager, read a metar and taf, a few tech questions, why pinch-a-nickle, etc.

They use 2 flight planning systems - for their CRJ9 operations they use the Lufthansa LIDO system; for everything else they use the NWA Dispatch GUI.

They also use LIDO charts, NOT Jeppesen.

But I echo everything else said above; MEM looked like a hole. The airport doesnt even have a Mickey-D's.

As for commuting, while its nice that the FDX hub is there; but from what I understand, OAL dispatchers are not welcome on big purple.

I LOVED PHX, but my crashpad was in Fountain Hills way out past Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, so it wasnt like the area around the Grayhound Bus Station, or the street that YV's HDQ is on - hooker and ho street.
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More specifically, what do you mean by load planning? Im pretty sure we do that at Mesa as well.
 
Calculating the weight and balance for each flight. You know, bags in bins, actual fuel load, that kinda thing, CG location. Some airlines have load planners, some let the crew do it, at PCL YOU do it on top of your flight following and flight planning responsibilities.

For F9DXER -

Will PCL also be dumping their LIDO Flight Planning system for the CRJ9s? With the demise of the NWA Flight Planning System at NWA/DAL, and their Single Cert expected to happen by the end of the year, what is PCL going to do for a flight planning system? I cant see NWA maintaining the NWA DUI if they cant use it once they complete their move (mainline) to the DAL Flight Planning System.
 
Hey if you get the interview and you want some more info about the Bartlett area let me know.

Memphis violent crime has been dropping, hopefully it will continue to fall. Memphis has some rough spots but the suburbs and MS and AR are fine as was stated earlier.

Kellwolf is a pretty big authority on the place in my opinion, I believe he's in Southhaven.
 
I lived in Cordova which is next door to Germantown. By far one of the nicest areas in the Mem area. As far as the load planning goes, they did actually have load planners at one time who monitored all of the flights, but were removed due to cutbacks. When I was there it was pretty much automated. You're responsible for limting seats and determining min/max payload as well as labeling flights which were weight or balance critical. Unfortunatley, if they do run into a problem with a flight that is overweight or nose-heavy, etc, the dispatcher is the one to find the solution. Those CR2's are finiky little jets when it comes to balance. As long as you pay attention in training, it's no sweat. But you're really hustling on combo bad weather days with heavy loads. That is of course if they are still using NWA's Worldflight and DUI systems.
 
Concerning Pinapple -I mean Pinnacle and LIDO, when the LIDO project was cancelled at F9, I talked to there LIDO guru, he told me that they were dumping it in Feb as the were going to be using the NW for the whole side. Now that was a couple of months ago.
 
Stickks, Compass is hiring. I won't say any more, but... yeah--- Compass is hiring. Don't sign anything.
 
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