United Airlines pilot interview questions, with the answers that pass

100 questions written for United Airlines’s actual selection process. Below are 5 of them in full — the prompt, what the panel is really probing, a model answer, the red flags that fail it, and the follow-ups that come next. No account, nothing to sign.

These are our questions, written from United Airlines’s published process and from candidate reports labelled as such. They are not leaked interview material — nobody selling you that has it either.
Question 1 of 100·technical

Define V1, Vr and V2, and tell me what changes if the runway is contaminated.

What they are really probing: The opener in almost every technical interview. They are checking you can define terms precisely and then apply them, not recite them.

Model answer

Define each one as a decision or a state, not as a speed on a card. V1 is the maximum speed at which the first action to stop must be initiated for the aeroplane to stop within the accelerate-stop distance available; past V1 you are going flying. Vr is the speed at which rotation is initiated so as to reach V2 by the screen height. V2 is the takeoff safety speed — the minimum speed to be achieved at 35 feet with the critical engine inoperative, giving the required climb gradient. Then apply it: on a contaminated runway the accelerate-stop distance grows because braking action is degraded and reverse credit may be limited, so V1 reduces, and the gap between V1 and Vr widens. That means a longer period where you are committed to stopping, and a rejected takeoff near the new V1 uses far more runway than the dry case. Say what you do with that: on contaminated performance you brief the reject decision more carefully and you set your threshold higher — above 80 knots the reject list is short, and on a contaminated surface you want it shorter still. Finish with the airmanship point rather than the number: the risk after V1 is not the engine, it is the pilot who tries to stop anyway. A board will accept a definition delivered slightly imperfectly; they will not accept a candidate who cannot say what the number is for.

What fails this question

  • — Reciting V1 as 'decision speed' with no mention of the action having to be initiated by then
  • — Saying V2 without reference to the critical engine inoperative or the screen height
  • — Not knowing which way V1 moves on a contaminated runway
  • — Treating it as a memory test and never connecting it to the reject decision

Follow-ups they ask next

  • — What is your reject policy above 80 knots?
  • — What happens to V1 if you use reduced thrust?
  • — Who calls the reject on your current aircraft, and why that person?
Question 2 of 100·technical

What is ETOPS, and what does it actually constrain on a EWR–LHR sector?

What they are really probing: United is a widebody operator across the Atlantic and Pacific. They want to know whether you understand ETOPS as a planning discipline or just as an acronym.

Model answer

Start with what it is: Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards, an approval that lets a twin operate further from an adequate aerodrome than the baseline 60 minutes, expressed as a diversion time at the approved one-engine-inoperative speed in still air. Then say what it constrains, because that is the real question. It constrains the route: the track must remain within the approved diversion time of an adequate ETOPS alternate for the whole segment, which is why North Atlantic tracks bend towards Keflavik, Shannon, Gander and the Azores rather than flying the geometric great circle. It constrains the aeroplane: specific maintenance standards, dual dispatch checks, and MEL items that are ETOPS-significant even when they are otherwise deferrable. It constrains the fuel: you carry critical fuel for the worst-case diversion scenario — engine failure, or depressurisation, or both at the critical point — which is often more than trip plus reserves. And it constrains the crew: the ETOPS entry point briefing, the alternate weather monitoring before entry, and the decision to continue or turn back that has to be made before you enter the segment rather than in the middle of it. On EWR–LHR specifically, the exposure is modest — you are rarely far from Iceland or Ireland — so make the point that the discipline matters more on the Pacific sectors. That shows you understand the principle rather than one route.

What fails this question

  • — Defining ETOPS only as 'flying twins over water'
  • — No mention of critical fuel or the worst-case diversion scenario
  • — Not knowing that the decision point is before entering the segment
  • — Missing that MEL items can be ETOPS-significant when otherwise deferrable

Follow-ups they ask next

  • — What would make you not enter the ETOPS segment?
  • — Which is more limiting on a Pacific sector, fuel or diversion time?
  • — What does an adequate aerodrome need that a suitable one does not?
Question 3 of 100·technical

Walk me through the difference between MEL, CDL and a NEF, and who may defer what.

What they are really probing: A procedures question dressed as a definitions question. They are checking whether you would fly an aircraft you should not.

Model answer

Take them in turn and keep the authority question central. The MEL — Minimum Equipment List — is the operator's approved list of equipment that may be inoperative for dispatch, with the conditions and the repair interval attached. It is more restrictive than the manufacturer's Master MEL, and it belongs to the operator and its authority, not to the crew. The CDL — Configuration Deviation List — covers missing secondary airframe parts rather than systems: a panel, a fairing, a seal, usually with a performance penalty attached. A NEF — Non-Essential Equipment and Furnishings — covers items that do not affect airworthiness at all, cabin furnishings and the like, and is administered under its own programme. Then the part that matters to a board: the crew does not defer anything. Maintenance raises the deferral, applies the (M) and (O) procedures, and signs it. The commander's job is to accept or refuse the aircraft in that condition, taking into account the accumulation of deferrals, the route, the weather and the alternates — and to know that two individually acceptable deferrals can be unacceptable together. Close with the point they are really testing: the pressure to take an aircraft is real and it is usually polite. The answer to it is not defiance, it is asking maintenance to show you the deferral and reading the (O) procedure before you sign for it.

What fails this question

  • — Saying the crew can defer an item
  • — Confusing CDL with MEL — systems versus missing structure
  • — No mention of the (M) and (O) procedures
  • — Ignoring the cumulative effect of multiple deferrals

Follow-ups they ask next

  • — Give me two deferrals that are fine alone and not fine together.
  • — Who decides if the repair interval can be extended?
  • — You are told the deferral was raised at the outstation and the paperwork is coming. What do you do?
Question 4 of 100·technical

You get a TCAS RA that conflicts with an ATC instruction. What happens, and what do you say?

What they are really probing: Everyone knows to follow the RA. The board is listening for the communication and the recovery, which is where candidates actually lose marks.

Model answer

Say the rule first and without hedging: follow the RA. The resolution advisory takes priority over the ATC instruction, including when ATC has just told you to do the opposite, because the other aircraft's TCAS has coordinated with yours and departing from the RA breaks that coordination. Then the mechanics: the pilot flying disconnects the autopilot where the aircraft requires it, flies the guidance promptly and smoothly to the edge of the green band, and no further — over-response is the common error and it can create a second conflict with an aircraft above or below. The pilot monitoring makes the RT call: 'TCAS RA' to ATC, and once clear, 'clear of conflict, returning to' the assigned clearance. Say those two calls in order, because a board notices when a candidate never tells ATC anything. Then the recovery: return to the clearance, or the amended clearance, and expect ATC to be behind you — they do not see your RA. Finish with the reporting: an RA is a reportable event under the operator's safety programme, and filing it is not an admission of error. That last point is where you show a just-culture mindset without having to claim you have one, which is worth more than any adjective you could use about yourself.

What fails this question

  • — Any suggestion of following ATC over the RA
  • — Forgetting the 'TCAS RA' and 'clear of conflict' calls
  • — Over-flying the RA rather than flying to the edge of the green
  • — Treating the safety report as optional or as self-incrimination

Follow-ups they ask next

  • — What if the RA is in the opposite sense to the traffic you can see?
  • — What changes if you are in RVSM airspace?
  • — Who files the report at your current operator?
Question 5 of 100·technical

Define a stabilised approach, and tell me the last point you would go around from.

What they are really probing: United's technical scenario leans on approach discipline. The second half of the question is the real one.

Model answer

Give the gates as criteria rather than a list: on the correct lateral and vertical path, in the landing configuration, at the target speed within the operator's tolerance, with a rate of descent within limits, thrust set appropriately and checklists complete — all achieved by the stabilisation height, which is typically 1,000 feet in instrument conditions and 500 feet visual, though say that your operator's figure is the one that binds. Then answer the part they care about: the last point you would go around from is after touchdown, up to the point of reverse thrust selection or as your type limits it. A go-around is available late, and the number of accidents caused by a late go-around is very small against the number caused by continuing an unstable approach. Make the airmanship point explicitly, because it is the answer they are listening for: a go-around is not a failure and it is not an admission that you flew badly. It costs fuel and it costs a slot. Continuing an unstable approach costs more, and every candidate who has ever said 'we were just about stable' in an accident report thought so at the time. If you have a real example of a go-around you called, put it here in two sentences — it is the strongest evidence available for this question.

What fails this question

  • — Quoting gates but not knowing which height applies in which conditions
  • — Saying you cannot go around below some arbitrary height
  • — Framing a go-around as a failure or an embarrassment
  • — Never mentioning that it is a call either pilot can make

Follow-ups they ask next

  • — Your first officer calls unstable and you disagree. What happens?
  • — What is the go-around policy at your current operator, word for word?
  • — When did you last fly one for real?

The other 95 questions

Same depth as the 5 above — model answer, red flags and follow-ups on every one. You just read a twentieth of the pack; if those five were not worth your time, the rest will not be either, and you should not buy it.

— Explain what happens to the flight controls on the 777 as you lose hydraulic systems.

— What are the standard holding entries, and how do you decide which one to fly?

— What is RVSM, what does it require, and what do you do if you cannot maintain it?

— Talk me through windshear: how you would recognise it, avoid it, and recover from it.

— You are approaching a line of thunderstorms with a gap on the radar. Talk me through your thinking.

— Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for someone.

— Tell me about a time you disagreed with a captain.

— Tell me about a mistake you made that had consequences.

— Why United, and not Delta or American?

— Tell me about a time you had to give someone difficult feedback.

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Not affiliated with United Airlines. Process details are sourced and dated; candidate-reported detail is labelled as reported.