How to Get a Job as a Test Pilot at Boeing
By Zara Kessler | December 5, 2016

Cheat Sheet is a regular series that takes you inside the hiring process. This week: A flight simulator isn’t part of every interview process, but buckle up if you want a job as a Boeing test pilot.
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Interview Cheat Sheet #32
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The Job
  • Position:
  • Production or Engineering Test Pilot
  • Oversees Hiring Managers:
  • Craig Bomben
  • Chief Pilot and Vice President of Flight Operations
  • Description:
  • Boeing has test pilots around the world, flying commercial and military aircraft, though there weren’t any openings in the U.S. at press time. Test pilots certify aircraft, making sure they’re safe and fully functional. They fly planes hard, going “to the very edges of the envelope that the airplane is actually capable of doing, which is well outside of what the flying public will ever see.” They define an aircraft’s flying characteristics and performance and collaborate with engineers on design modifications. Test pilots help develop new aircraft and systems and fly experimental and prototype craft. The job could take you to places like Yakutsk, Russia, for cold-weather testing, Alice Springs, Australia, for hot weather, and La Paz, Bolivia, for the high altitude. If you’re working with commercial aircraft, you usually start in production—flying planes that come off the line to ensure they’re built as designed and work right—and may move on to engineering after about six months to five years. A production pilot may progress from co-pilot to pilot in command to customer demonstration captain. In engineering, the work ranges from mild (checking a radio) to risky (doing “flutter expansion,” expanding the aircraft’s envelope). “You wear a hat as an engineer, so you work with the engineering teams. You’re a pilot, so you get to fly the airplane. And you also get to sometimes put a hat on to represent the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] when it comes to certification.”
  • Qualifications:
  • FAA Airline Transport Pilot or commercial certificate required. Degree—bachelor’s, master’s, or doctor of science—from an accredited course of study (ABET preferred); engineering is preferred, though computer science, math, physics, or chemistry will do. This is about more than just flying. “We really need the pilots to help with the design of the aircraft, the flight deck. When we have engineering issues, we need the pilots to go over with the engineering teams and work in the simulator” to figure out how changes to the aircraft will affect “the aerodynamics, the flying qualities of the aircraft.” Experience in flight testing preferred; experience with Boeing aircraft a plus. Test pilot school is helpful. “We could go to the military and hire all military-trained test pilots, which would come with probably the highest credentials,” but Boeing also seeks “people that have an airline background. We look to have some people that have maybe different OEM [original equipment manufacturer] backgrounds, maybe people that have previously worked for other aircraft manufacturers.”

The Method

Pre-First Round:

Online application, which is screened for minimum requirements. A recruiter may contact you to clarify information on your application. Boeing selects a small group to advance in the hiring process.

First Round:

Phone interview, usually with three or four people—probably the hiring manger, someone from human resources, a pilot who isn’t a manager, and the person you’d work for. You’ll be asked questions such as “Describe a time when you were working on a team project and you had to motivate a teammate to accomplish their task” or “Tell me about a time when you had to meet multiple deadlines: What was the situation, what did you do?” Make sure you’re on point. You want to tell “an interesting story” you were part of “and how you actually interacted in this scenario and what your role was, and what the outcome was and how you affected that outcome.”

Second Round:

Usually about three candidates

In-person interview, ideally with the same interviewers as on the phone interview, and a flight simulator evaluation. You probably won’t get technical engineering questions in the interview, unless you go in that direction, but be ready to talk about the job and your ambitions. “It’s not just us evaluating them. It’s also us kind of explaining what the job description is, showing them around.” In the flight simulator evaluation, you won’t do test maneuvers, but “basic aircraft maneuvers that an airline pilot would fly.” Especially if you haven’t previously flown a Boeing, “we don’t expect them to be the master of the aircraft,” but are looking for general aptitude, such as the ability to work with another crew member and to process information. You don’t have to have, say, the best landing, but you’ll want to get better as you go. “In an hour, most good pilots, decent pilots, you’ll see them adapt to the aircraft pretty quickly.”

The Score:

They choose the candidate who “best matches the culture of the office and can execute the job.” Your background, how well you interviewed, and your time in the flight simulator are all taken into account. They take consensus seriously. “Ultimately the hiring manager has to make the decision” but “should have some pretty good reasons for not going with what the group suggests.”


How to Ace It

Do be you. “That’s the most important thing, because if you’re fake in who you are, you might end up with a job you’re not happy with.”

Do ask for clarification. “Ask to have the question repeated if you don’t understand it. We’d rather have you understand the question than answer the wrong one.”

Do pose your own questions “at the end of the interviews to make sure you understand what the job is and if you’re a good fit for it.” Inquire about Boeing’s culture. “I think the culture of the organization is going to determine whether you’re happy or not.” Ask what “potential opportunities there are going forward. It’s a big organization,” buzzing with pilots and type-A’s. “If you’re the kind of individual that wants to be CEO in three years, maybe this isn’t a good fit for you.”

Do some homework. After your in-person interview is scheduled, you’ll receive an information package describing the hiring process. Read it. “Do some research on the company, understand what the job description is. … Some companies really focus heavily on technical, and they’ll ask technical equations and stuff like that. We don’t do that. We figure if you’ve made it through the screening process, you’ve got the technical background you need to have the job.” Boeing wants to know “if you’re going to have the right thought process, you’re going to develop into a good leader.” Don’t overprepare either. “When I got hired, I think I got my information packet, like, at midnight the night before my interview. And I was feverishly going to try to read it. And I just gave up on it and rolled in cold turkey, and I think I did pretty well.”

Do build that résumé. “Get as much test experience as you can, get as much varying different kind of aircraft experience you can get. Get some time in our models. Get some time in Airbus.” They like to know what the competition is up to.

Don’t drag the past along with you. “Don’t complain about your prior job or boss. That’s always a bad one. Don’t be negative. Don’t reveal any confidential information about your prior employer or any prior experience you’ve had.”

Don’t make the interviewers dig. “Don’t rely on the panel to pull information from you. Make sure that you answer the question, you answer it fully.” Don’t bore the interviewers, but take your time. “Expand upon the points that highlight your skill set.”

Don’t be rude. They’ll probably take you on a walk around the office. “Treat everybody that you come in contact with with respect. And if you’re going to meet one of the [office assistants] or secretaries, and you treat them badly, that may come back. That word may get around, because we’re a pretty tight-knit group.”