How about starting thinking with this little poll?
Click here and you will read and listen to the interview of someone who wants to become a pilot. It can sound pretty basic but it's ice breaking.
To get prepared, you could read the article on Hiring and Training Pilots on the "Reading for Pilots" page.
Part 1 – Warm Up
From time to time, think of a number from 1 to 76 and answer that question.
16. As a pilot, what are the things that you still need to learn and why do you need to learn them?
17. When you were a student pilot, what was the most difficult subject for you? Why?
18. Pilots need to have a clean bill of health to maintain their license. How do you keep yourself healthy?
19. What was the most exciting moment as a pilot?
20. Which route would you prefer to fly, domestic or international? Why?
21. Describe your most memorable flight.
22. As an airline pilot, do you still enjoy flying small, two-seat conventional aircraft? Why or why not?
23. What have you learned in actual flight training that you did not learn or experience during flight simulator training? Why?
24. As a pilot, what’s the most difficult part of your job?
25. When you were a student pilot, how did your first-ever solo flight turn out?
26. Now that you are a commercial pilot, what else do you need to get or learn in order to further your career?
27. Who was the most supportive of your decision to become a pilot and how did he or she express his or her support?
28. Aviation technology is changing at a fast rate, how do you keep yourself updated?
29. What was the most difficult part of becoming a pilot?
30. What do you do to improve your flying skills?
31. What were your expectations when you first started working as a pilot?
32. What are your expectations now in your career?
33. Please tell me, why did you become a pilot?
34. As a pilot, what’s the most difficult part of your job?
35. What changes have you experienced since you started working at your company?
36. If you were given the freedom to make your own work schedule, what would that schedule be like?
37. As a pilot, what was the most difficult decision you have made so far?
38. What do you think when you hear about an accident involving a passenger airplane?
39. As a pilot, what are your weak points, if any?
40. What motivates you to do your job as best as you can?
42. What would you do if your company closes due to bankruptcy?
Interview by Mark Huber - December 9, 2009
These questions and answers could be of some inspiration for the warm-up oral test.
The whole interview is available from Business Jet Traveler here.
Why did you decide to go into the Air Force after high school instead of acting?
I wanted to be a jet pilot and fly F-86s. I was an electronics technician. I worked on [ground-based early warning] radar.
When did you decide to get your pilot’s license?
I have a business partner who had a [Piper] Seneca and we started flying around. One day he wanted to go up and take pictures of the [Mississippi] river and he said, “Here, hold the plane while I take some pictures.” He told me how to bank it over and hold it in a bank so he could take photographs out the window. And I did and I said, “This isn’t super hard. It’s hard to hold altitude but the rest of it is OK.” And he said, “I can’t teach you how to fly–you have to get a flight instructor.” So in July 2002 I got a flight instructor and that October I got my license.
What planes do you own now?
Right now we have a [Cessna] Citation II and a Cessna 414.
You have a new jet on order, an Emivest Aerospace SJ30. When did you become interested in the SJ30?
When I started flying from my home, from Mississippi to California, I first used the Cessna 414 and that was a nine-hour flight–about four hours a leg and then an hour for fuel to land and take off. I needed something quicker so we got the Citation II, but again we are talking a long time flying. So I started looking around. This is when they were coming out with the Eclipse and the [Cessna Citation] Mustang and the Embraer [Phenom 100]. I got very interested in the Eclipse there for a minute. And then I read about the SJ30 and I said, “Here’s the airplane.”
What attracted you to it?
Distance and speed, primarily. It could go coast-to-coast nonstop, it has a 550-mile-per-hour speed–it flies at Mach 0.83 max, cruises at Mach 0.79. The Citation II cruises at maybe 0.60. So the SJ30 is quite a bit faster and you can go quite a bit farther in it. It sips fuel and has sea-level cabin pressure to 41,000 feet so you are a lot fresher when you hit the ground after a long flight.
You have a production company, clubs and a restaurant, and you do commercials. You’re an open-ocean sailor, an accomplished equestrian and a pilot, and you do a lot of films. Most people would find this schedule exhausting. How do you maintain your energy?
It is not a question of energy; it is a question of time. For a while, I actually had a lot of time. If I did four movies a year–and I don’t do that often–but if I did four a year, they were quick movies. And you have time off in between for the most part. So when I am home I have time to ride my horses. In the winters is when I went to the boat and got my sailing in. So it is really a question of having the time to do it, rather than the energy. The energy is always there. You gotta keep moving, gotta keep on dancing.