Well I think that attitude is going to have to change pretty quickly. What attitude? It is a matter of fact that no OTS hire, with no air traffic experience has ever become fully certified at A80 according to released reports. It was only a year ago or maybe a little more that we could say that NO OTS trainee, withe no previous ATC experience, has EVER checked out ANYWHERE, wasn't it? Really? I am sure that OTS applicants were hired in the early 1980s after President Reagan fired a great number of controllers who went on strike. By the way, some OTS applicants from the past few years have already become fully certified at some facilities across the country, but NOT at A80 according to released reports that you can find on this website. So it's not really fair to say that one hasn't checked out at A80 specifically. It is fair because there are FAA and NATCA reports to back that statement up. Search this site for the article. Better yet, ask CJ, or Chris, or anyone who knows anything about A80...Since the OTS thing is so new, I'd almost say that no OTS with no previous experience has even had the time to go through training and be able to check out anywhere in the country. Again, the OTS thing isn't 'new' It has been around for many, many years but has only recently been brought back on a large scale because former military controllers, CTI, etc are not filling positions fast enough. If the FAA is going to be as short staffed as they say they are, they must be able to train people for every position that has a shortage. Well duh they need to train people for every position that has a shortage, but the FAA is wasting time and money to send an OTS hire, with no previous air traffic control experience, to somewhere like A80. It would help the FAA and the controller more to send them to an easier facility to let that controller get more experience before putting them somewhere like A80. Why do you think the FAA is offering HUGE 'bonuses' for qualified controllers to go somewhere like N90? Maybe the OTS hires, CTI hires, etc. are not cutting it...This will include A80 and ATL, and everywhere else in the country that's difficult.
This is my only point, I believe that they can train someone at A80 with no prior experience just as well as they can train someone in SAV with no prior experience. No they cannot. The complexity of those two facilities isn't even in the same league. Training someone OTS at SAV is easier than trying to train someone OTS at A80. It isn't the trainers who are at fault, it is the fact that some applicants have no reason to be at some of these facilities right off the bat. Heck, some people who are hired OTS, CTI, etc. may never be able to work efficiently at somewhere like A80. Going to ZTL is easier than A80 on a large scale. Why? There is more room for error at ZTL, there is more time to think at ZTL, the traffic isn't as complex compared to the area of the airspace, etc. Same thing when you compare SAV with ATL... roughly 300+ operations a day versus roughly 3,000+. Which one is easier to train an OTS applicant at?
