King Schools introduces 'Airline Pilot Interview Prep Course'

Viewers were treated to a living room conversation with the Kings, who bantered, joked, and finished each other’s sentences while relaying training news and updates. Attendees from as far away as Poland and Costa Rica joined the presentation, and several asked questions via a chat window.

John King introduced Muñoz, and before he finished listing the instructor’s credentials, Martha interrupted. She told viewers that King Schools “saw the real need” for a professional interview course in today’s challenging job environment. “This happens to me all the time,” quipped John, who continued to praise Muñoz, an Airbus 320-qualified airline transport pilot with an easy on-air personality.

Muñoz stressed that acing an interview involves gaining as much knowledge as you can about a potential employer and using interpersonal skills that can be beneficial throughout life.

“Appearance, body language, and other details are really the focal point” of the new course, he said. Muñoz added that turning the tables on an employer to ask them well-thought-out questions shows initiative and can lead to a good first impression. “You can take this through your entire life and apply it to [other] interpersonal situations” too.

“I wish I had Joe’s course when I was first starting out,” confided John King. “It’s very valuable.”

King Schools CEO Barry Knuttila agreed. “One of the great things is that Joe knows how to make things fun. He’s figured out how to deliver to you a picture-perfect performance, he gets attention, keeps attention, and delivers the message so you’ll be able to do that same very thing during the interview.” The King Schools Airline Pilot Interview Prep Course is $179.

Knuttila announced a “comprehensive upgrade” to the Cessna Sport/Private Pilot Course; the Instrument Rating Course; and the company’s companion apps. A cleaner web presentation with scaled imagery, a task bar, graphical updates, a clickable table of contents, and an easier user interface help make topics easier to index and digest. “You can see exactly what the objectives are before showing up at the airport,” he added.

He also said that the courses were redesigned for the typical horizontal orientation of an iPad—and the mainly vertical orientation of an iPhone—so the user interface feels more natural, depending on which type of device is in use.

Space for customer feedback allows users to communicate with King Schools instructors and staff, and Knuttila pointed out that suggestions from customers have driven the new look and feel. “We value that feedback very highly,” Knuttila also said the King Schools team is reshooting courses in high definition format, continuing to grow the flight school and university business, and producing “more video quicker, in the future. That is our number one priority.”

Bob Meder, chairman of the National Association of Flight Instructors, then introduced Nobi Buntin, the Hawaii-based winner of the 2020 NAFI/King Schools Scholarship. The award has an $18,000 total value, with $5,000 cash toward CFI education and free lifetime access to entire King Schools courses and flight instructor refresher courses.

Buntin was recently featured on AOPA Live This Week® for her outreach with Aloha Aviators making and delivering face masks to help medical professionals on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meder said, “Nobi bubbled to the top of the list” because “everybody who knew Nobi considered her a friend. We were looking for someone who would make a contribution to the community and that’s Nobi.” Buntin is a 440-hour commercial and multiengine-rated pilot and plans to use the award to advance her CFI training. Her ultimate flying goal is to become an air ambulance pilot and continue helping others in need. “It’s such an honor to win this” award, said Buntin. “It takes a village to get anything accomplished. I have amazing mentors…and couldn’t have done it alone.”

“She’s a doer, she’s a contributor,” complimented John King. Applications for the 2021 scholarship opened July 21, and “we are intending to award this at Sun ‘n Fun 2021,” Martha King added.