ATC Salary?

Flymia

Flymia

Well-Known Member
I was reading Flying Magazine and in one article it siad ATC could make up to $175,000 before retiring at age 56. What is the average start pay for ATC? I thought around $30,000. But how does it work do you start at a small airport and move up, do you decide if you want to work TWR,APR,Center?
Who makes the most I would imagine TWR and APR? How long does it take to get up to the six figure salary range if some even get the high?
Also one last question I would imagine the TWR and APR guys at JFK,ORD,MIA,LAX,ATL,LGA,DCA are the ones making the most money? Or is it just senority?
Thanks.
 
Flymia said:
I was reading Flying Magazine and in one article it siad ATC could make up to $175,000 before retiring at age 56. What is the average start pay for ATC? I thought around $30,000. But how does it work do you start at a small airport and move up, do you decide if you want to work TWR,APR,Center?
Who makes the most I would imagine TWR and APR? How long does it take to get up to the six figure salary range if some even get the high?
Also one last question I would imagine the TWR and APR guys at JFK,ORD,MIA,LAX,ATL,LGA,DCA are the ones making the most money? Or is it just senority?
Thanks.
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I don't know anything about ATC salary but I was told on a Tower tour that everbody in ATC starts in a control tower.
 
Send FoxtrotXray an PM and see if he'll drop in this thread. He's an Air Traffic Controller.
 
Pay is a touchy issue right now, especially with our contract in the hands of congress. The main issue between the union and the FAA is the pay issue.

For a controller to earn 175K one would have to work a significant amount of overtime and premium pay, and work at a high paying facility. Premium pay includes such things as Sunday pay, night differential, holiday pay, training pay, etc. By themselves they are not much (a small %) but together they can add up. Also note that many times when a number such as 175K is advertised they neglect to point out that it includes benefits, as Gov't employees we receive medical, retirement, etc.

We are paid based on the facility level we work at, which off the top of my head currently run from a level 6 through level 12. A facility level is determined via formulas that factor traffic count, traffic complexity, airspace, type of operations, etc. Basically the majority of your towers are level 6-10, with the level 11 and 12 facilities being the busier towers, tracons, and enroute centers (ARTCC's). The top pay is at your big facilities, centers like ZNY, ZDC, ZOB, ZTL, etc. Also tracons, such as N90. In NY the big three towers (JFK, LGA, EWR) are all level 10's. But, a place like TPA in Florida is a level 11 because they are an up/down, tower upstairs with the tracon downstairs. Controllers there are dual rated, they work the tower and the radar.

As for placing new hires they place them where they are needed and that generally is your large busy facilities that are hard to staff. For the last several years new hires have been hired into just about every ARTCC in the country.

A fully rated controller at a level 10 facility and above can make above 100K, especially with the premium pay outlined above. Many of the busy facilities are hard to staff so you also see your share of overtime which is a double edged sword. From the outside looking in it may look like an opportunity to cash in but to be honest it is often blood money. If it is assigned we work it but the time away from the job is nicer, I don't mind the occasional OT shift but the business of having people work 6 days a week at this job is a sure fire way to burn out fast.

For detailed information check out - http://atpayplan.natca.net/
 
How is employment for the future looking, how about training, whats involved, please tell us more about your job Fox, im not sure right now if i should be a pilot or ATC, im interested in both but pilots arent looking too good right now.
 
foretwoone said:
How is employment for the future looking, how about training, whats involved, please tell us more about your job Fox, im not sure right now if i should be a pilot or ATC, im interested in both but pilots arent looking too good right now.
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A lot depends on what happens with this contract. If the FAA gets its way and shoves this contract up our A**'s then stay away from this job. A new hire can expect to spend three months in OKC training on their own dime then go to their facility and be paid less then if you flipped burgers. Members of the present workforce will face some tough years ahead... conditions are already very bad for the workforce and morale is terrible. Just wait until we have to live with this nontract forced on us.

Anyone considering this job pay close attention to what is going on with the contract, if it goes bad find another job in aviation or another field.

If you have any specific questions post them up and I'll try and answer them.

I'm sorry I couldn't paint a better picture for you. If the democrats make some headway in the mid term elections and we see a democrat take the white house in 2 years we may see some improvements.
 
here's one over qualified college student that recently decided ATC wasn't were it's at... I wish it was... but between the pay, new work rules, and being near impossible to transfer facilities, when you barely get to choose where you go in the first place... yeah not for me...
 
That's depressing.

It's going to suck to see what the 'new and improved' ARTCC system is going to look like in a high traffic sector like ATL if the doofus feds get what they want.

"ATL! We've got a cell ahead, can we're going to offset about 15 left"

"D00d that r0x0rs, I was on the land line with my dad trying to score some l00t for the pr0m. Descend and maintain one two thousand, 15 degrees left, direct vulcan when able"

Grrr...
 
Fox Xray said:
A lot depends on what happens with this contract. If the FAA gets its way and shoves this contract up our A**'s then stay away from this job. A new hire can expect to spend three months in OKC training on their own dime then go to their facility and be paid less then if you flipped burgers. Members of the present workforce will face some tough years ahead... conditions are already very bad for the workforce and morale is terrible. Just wait until we have to live with this nontract forced on us.

Anyone considering this job pay close attention to what is going on with the contract, if it goes bad find another job in aviation or another field.

If you have any specific questions post them up and I'll try and answer them.

I'm sorry I couldn't paint a better picture for you. If the democrats make some headway in the mid term elections and we see a democrat take the white house in 2 years we may see some improvements.
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:(
 
They offered to start me at 13,000 a year while at the academy. This was supposed to be a step up for me since it was a VRA appointment. Good luck Foxtrot Xray, although i'm afraid this will all trickle down to DoD.
 
slowandlow said:
They offered to start me at 13,000 a year while at the academy. This was supposed to be a step up for me since it was a VRA appointment. Good luck Foxtrot Xray, although i'm afraid this will all trickle down to DoD.
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The FAA and Gov't as a whole should be ashamed of themselves... A VRA, someone who put their life on the line for their country was offered $13K a year as a starting salary for a job that 10 years ago would have offered you more to start.

It is so disgusting...
 
and my post was not to say I actually think I'm overqualified... just in reference to marion saying this is a job for high school graduates...
 
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