ATLANTA, GA – On Oct. 4, Atlanta-based AIR, Inc. signed a one-year renewable agreement with Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) to conduct up to 36 pilot applicant screenings and simulator evaluations per week for the Delta Connection carrier. The agreement came about as a result of a planned increase in hiring by ASA over the next year. AIR, Inc. will conduct the testing portion of the interviewing process in Atlanta, allowing ASA time to focus on the training portion.

“Working with Atlantic Southeast Airlines is a perfect fit for AIR, Inc.,” AIR, Inc. President Kit Darby says. “We see this as the start of a long, mutually beneficial arrangement that should make the pilot hiring process more convenient for both the airline and its pilot applicants.”

In order to streamline the interview process, AIR, Inc. will administer and score cognitive tests and sim checks before sending the results to ASA. Only successful candidates in testing will advance to an interview at the airline’s headquarters, also in Atlanta. Once a pilot is hired, AIR, Inc. will then conduct background checks, and drug testing will be handled on-site by Dr. Robert Harshman’s Medical Review and Wellness company.

Upon being selected for interviewing, ASA pilot applicants will be directed to attend one of three pre-hire testing and sim evaluation locations in Atlanta.

Atlantic Southeast had been using its EMB-120 Brasilia sims for most pre-hire testing, but “determined it was taking up too much simulator time,” ASA chief pilot Capt. Nelson Debardeleben, explains. “We couldn’t afford to keep evaluating everybody in our own simulator because to hire 50 or 60 a month, you have to interview well over 100, and it was taking up so much of the sim time that we couldn’t get our training done on time.”

AIR, Inc. will use its recently purchased AST 300 twin-engine simulator for the evaluations. The AST 300 features a full-color visual system with a “smart” plotter that simultaneously plots localizer and glide slope paths. Pilots flying the AIR, Inc. sim will adhere to an ASA-designated profile.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines currently operates a fleet of 59 Brasilias, 12 ATRs, and more than 24 CRJs. The airline will be putting 7 new ATR-72s on line in January next year and is accepting new CRJ deliveries at a rate of one a month. It translates to steady pilot hiring of 50 to 60 per month “well into the foreseeable future,” Debardeleben predicts.

For more information about AIR ACES (Airline Career Evaluation Services), please call Allen Nix at 800 JET-JOBS (538-5627), ext. 167. To be considered for employment by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, fax your résumé directly to Pilot Recruitment at (404) 767-2326.