The 10 days to get ready for the interview were not too much. In fact the only reason I had all the required documents ready for D-Day is because I had been planning for this moment for the last couple of years. Every candidate is asked to bring, among other things, driving records from all states listed as a residence in the application and all the college transcripts. Now imagine trying to gather this information during the end of year holiday season and it easily becomes a tedious and complicated task. Surprisingly enough, I think my biggest challenge was to update my paper logbook and making sure the numbers match the application and also my electronic logbook. I only had been procrastinating for about a year and a half… but considering I flew about 1500 hours in that period, this meant I had a lot of catching up to do, between writing the numbers in the right column, adding everything up and cross checking. About 15 hours later, I of course realized that there was 0.1 hour missing somewhere, or I thought. After sleeping on it, It became obvious that I just didn’t know how to add using a calculator. I had everything packed, organized, labeled, highlighted, filled out and more at least 5 days prior to the interview, but sure enough, the evening before leaving for Dallas, I noticed something missing in my choice of outfit. Shoes ! Good thing in this country you can buy pretty much anything 24/7. On my way to DFW, the following afternoon, I actually got to meet a check airman for Eagle who was on the same flight, and I got to pick his brain about life at eagle. He was very honest and open about the good and bad things and reinforced my decision to consider AE as a future employer. After a short night, I was ready to give it all and hopefully interest the panel enough to get an offer. I must say, I was very impressed by their organization. Everybody was very welcoming and professional. The process, which included an H.R and technical interview as well as a simulator check, was very smooth and efficient. I felt it was very straight forward and having reviewed all the necessary materials, It seemed fairly easy and I was confident that I could meet their standards. By early afternoon, I was done with the various stages and was given a meal voucher to be used in their cafeteria. Then after what seemed like a long time, I was asked to go to another room where, one of the interviewer, told me that American Eagle was giving me a pre-offer. I felt extremely relieved and excited and even though I could not really show it in an over obnoxious way like Tom Cruise jumping on a sofa on a talk show, I definitely quickly told the representative that I was very appreciative. With step one completed, I now have to wait for step 2 which includes a review of my information and interview grades by a board and step 3, which is the company medical examination. I am being told it can be more than a month before being done with step 2. The wait is going to be long, but on the late flight back to my home, I am already dreaming about flying the jet out of Chicago or Dallas and wonder if this Texan based company requires uniform to include shiny big belt buckle and boots