Pilot Interviews a. During periods of hiring, United will offer competitive Qualified Pilot Candidates a guaranteed pilot interview at United based on the following criteria being met:
Pilot Interviews. During our one-on-one sessions with the five pilots, we identified two main coarse-level observations that have informed the technical architecture and overall plan outlined in this deliverable. The first observation was the high diversity and lack of uniformity between the pilots in terms of their technology stacks and maturity levels. This observation is neutral and not pejorative. In fact, the lesser-established parts of some pilots allow for a higher level of flexibility and the opportunity to align with and test a more unified view coming from the FAIR-EASE project work. The second observation was a diverse mix of expectations on the data lake (DL), which is the main focus of this deliverable. The expressed expectations for the DL were as follows: it should provide access to datasets, enable sharing of datasets for community and other tools/pipelines, provide download management for large datasets, manage metadata, provide accessibility to the Earth Analytic Lab (EAL), manage user authentication seamlessly, and be agnostic to the location and format of the datafiles. Although discovery of datasets is a recurring core element of any interoperability effort, it is interesting to note that it did not emerge as a practical need for any of the pilots2. These pilots operate in a context where all experts around the table already know the data they want to work with, and the required datasets have been selected and identified upfront. Nevertheless, discovery remains an essential part of any interoperability exercise to enable access to additional data and services, and support additional users and use cases beyond the Pilots, and we will ensure that our DL supports the discovery of datasets. On a communication level, the pilot interviews also highlighted the added value of open and direct dialogue. Despite the fact that the various pilots had different goals, ambitions, and intentions, we were able to find alignment between them. These interviews also provided an opportunity for representatives from the technical work packages to enter the conversation as one entity which enabled them to discuss freely with each other and exchange ideas. This open dialogue was quite revealing and helped us to progress towards our goal of interoperability. We will continue to encourage and facilitate these kinds of conversations among the pilots. In a similar fashion we hope that this deliverable will provide an opportunity for the pilots to learn from each other.
