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Good questions for a pilot interview?


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I'll be interviewing two rather senior gentlemen, who flew the F-84F in the RNLAF. It's part of my research into the weapons and stores of the Dutch F-84F (see here). Apart from questions on that subject, of course I also want to ask them about their flying careers. I've come up with a question list, but I'm not too impressed with my questions, they are a bit bland. Does anyone have a suggestion for a surprising question? Thanks in advance!

 

Rob

 

f84f-152.jpg

 

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Tell me how and why you became a pilot, what drew you to it and held your interest? (What flying means to you and how it changed your life)

 

What advice would you offer to someone who is considering a flying career?

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I'll second habu2's question re: how did flying change your life, with a bit of a twist. When we interview prospective hires with flying experience, I always ask "how has flying influenced the way you think?" (About solving problems, overcoming challenges, planning for the unexpected, etc.)

 

I have found that pilots (especially retired military pilots) have a different mindset that comes from the procedural aspects, safety culture, training coupled with advancing a little before you're ready, and personal accountability that comes with the Pilot-in-Command role.

 

I'll also add that don't be surprised if they don't their hardware as well as you 🙂 I work with a retired Intruder/Prowler pilot who had 26 years in the Navy and he always makes fun of me for knowing more about his planes than he does - I was "Fanboy" way before Top Gun 2 because I was the first person he ever met outside of the Navy who actually knew what the A-12 Flying Dorito was (he worked on the crew integration portion of the project at one point).

 

Have fun too - sounds like an awesome opportunity!

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9 minutes ago, Nate said:

I'll second habu2's question re: how did flying change your life, with a bit of a twist. When we interview prospective hires with flying experience, I always ask "how has flying influenced the way you think?" (About solving problems, overcoming challenges, planning for the unexpected, etc.)

 

I have found that pilots (especially retired military pilots) have a different mindset that comes from the procedural aspects, safety culture, training coupled with advancing a little before you're ready, and personal accountability that comes with the Pilot-in-Command role.

 

I'll also add that don't be surprised if they don't their hardware as well as you 🙂 I work with a retired Intruder/Prowler pilot who had 26 years in the Navy and he always makes fun of me for knowing more about his planes than he does - I was "Fanboy" way before Top Gun 2 because I was the first person he ever met outside of the Navy who actually knew what the A-12 Flying Dorito was (he worked on the crew integration portion of the project at one point).

 

Have fun too - sounds like an awesome opportunity!

 

Those are deeper questions than I ever considered asking! 🙂 My problem is that I know absolutely nothing more than that he flew the F-84F. It sounds a bit bold to go so deep in a first meeting. I think it would be better to save it for a second one.

 

A-12? Oh! Here's mine, Anigrand 1/72, resting in a box between buidling spurts.

 

avenger-36.jpg

 

Rob

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Oh man - the old Anigrand kit? You are brave.  I don't think all the resin I own adds up to the resin mass in your photo...

 

I'm hoping ModelCollect will release their A-12 before he retires, I think it would be a unique addition to his collection that is a pretty good representation of our weird friendship 🙂

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5 hours ago, Nate said:

Oh man - the old Anigrand kit? You are brave.  I don't think all the resin I own adds up to the resin mass in your photo...

 

I'm hoping ModelCollect will release their A-12 before he retires, I think it would be a unique addition to his collection that is a pretty good representation of our weird friendship 🙂

 

Nerdishly, I weighed it: 153 grams 🙂 I had plenty of troubles with the model: warped main parts, tons of air bubbles, huge steps, bad panel lines. But I think I'm over the hump, and it's starting to look nice. How would you finish it? I'm bouncing between some ideas.


Rob

Edited by Rob de Bie
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On 8/11/2022 at 5:44 PM, Rob de Bie said:

 

Nerdishly, I weighed it: 153 grams 🙂 I had plenty of troubles with the model: warped main parts, tons of air bubbles, huge steps, bad panel lines. But I think I'm over the hump, and it's starting to look nice. How would you finish it? I'm bouncing between some ideas.


Rob

 

The idea I had was to portray a hypothetical "rollout" scheme for prototype #1.  Trim was based on the blue & gold scheme of the original F/A-18, but without the gold (figuring the press would have a field day on how 'gold-plated' the program was...)🙂 :

 

 

IMG_8659.jpg

IMG_8660.jpg

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8 hours ago, arg said:

 

The idea I had was to portray a hypothetical "rollout" scheme for prototype #1.  Trim was based on the blue & gold scheme of the original F/A-18, but without the gold (figuring the press would have a field day on how 'gold-plated' the program was...)🙂 :

 

 

Thanks, very nice! I too was thinking of a roll-out scheme, but I focused more on logos, and could not decide on a color / camouflage scheme. One idea was to make a 'digital' camouflage, then new I think, now pretty well known.

 

Rob

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