Can you guys believe this?

Urge 80 said:
It's a scam. They may teach you things but they are not an accredited CTI school. If you notice in the FAQs it says at the end of your training you get a certifracate of completion (which means absolutely nothing) and a CTO license following sucessfull certification by the FAA (which they will not give you from this as its not a CTI school)..It also said the average salary for controllers is 122k...even at the lvl 10 facitlity it is not possible to make that under the current pay scale...
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CTI and CTO are different things. These places do offer a CTO certificate.

CTI = Collegiate Training Initiative. Extra college stuff you can do at a few places to skip a tiny bit of OKC and get some extra announcements to apply to.

CTO = Certified Tower Operator. A license that you can get that comes with a facility rating attached. Does NOT replace the training you have to do at OKC, but you get some experience, I suppose. You're still in the OTS group, but it might give you a little edge. Not really worth the exorbitant prices.


I've seen a few people mistake what these schools are doing... they're not claiming to be CTI schools, so if you're going to knock them, don't do it for that. Instead do it for huge amount of money it costs without really doing much at all towards getting you a job... or their "job placement assistance" which just tells you to apply on ASAP... or their false claim that the FAA promised to hire their first 100 graduates, which is blatantly false. Or their false numbers when it comes to income, as you already pointed out. I love how often those have gotten passed around lately.
 
You're right. I should have been more clear. I guess my beef with them is that they said the FAA was garunteeing to hire the first X ammount of graduates from them and that they earn more money starting out then regular applicants. Apparently the FAA has since said that they have made no garuntee's of the kind.
 
FYI you don't actually get the CTO license from these schools. You take the CTO exam, but you do not get your license until you make CPC at a tower.
 
Urge 80 said:
It's a scam. They may teach you things but they are not an accredited CTI school. If you notice in the FAQs it says at the end of your training you get a certifracate of completion (which means absolutely nothing) and a CTO license following sucessfull certification by the FAA (which they will not give you from this as its not a CTI school)..It also said the average salary for controllers is 122k...even at the lvl 10 facitlity it is not possible to make that under the current pay scale...
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You actually do receive a CTO...it is not a scam, neither is Advanced ATC school...it is just like the old Silver State program (70,000 for that tuition) that went belly up last year because of the flight school.

You attend a course for 10 - 12 months and then you actually work live air traffic control in a control tower and get "checked out" by a representative of the FAA...probably one of the instructors are designated to check you out, or the FAA will send someone from a neighboring FAA facility to monitor the developmental and then if they pass, they get issued a CTO...control tower operator license. They are now fully qualified to work traffic in that control tower and furthermore, they can apply to a CTO or PUBNAT announcement...or they can apply to work for a contract tower or city owned tower. Their resume may not look all that good...not much experience, but I've seen a guy who had 4 years of controlling in the military, been out for 10 years, score a job with a contract tower.
 
Yeah I was talking to a Controller at KAHN (Athens,GA) and he knows the CEO personally and was telling me about the program. He highly recommended it because you can come out with your CTO certificate which qualifies you for FAA or Private facilities. I have the CEO's phone number and info so im going to call and get more information about the program.
 
Urge 80 said:
You're right. I should have been more clear. I guess my beef with them is that they said the FAA was garunteeing to hire the first X ammount of graduates from them and that they earn more money starting out then regular applicants. Apparently the FAA has since said that they have made no garuntee's of the kind.
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I agree, it's still suspicious.

LawnGnome said:
CTO is actually Control Tower Operator
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Dangit. Too many acronyms to keep track of.

Kmaceri said:
Yeah I was talking to a Controller at KAHN (Athens,GA) and he knows the CEO personally and was telling me about the program. He highly recommended it because you can come out with your CTO certificate which qualifies you for FAA or Private facilities. I have the CEO's phone number and info so im going to call and get more information about the program.
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Qualifies you for the FAA? No it doesn't. You still have to take the OTS route into the Academy.
 
It seems like a waste of money. Assuming the FAA is still hiring OTS why spend $50,000 on tuition? This program just doesn't seem right for some reason.
 
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