I hear tell of at least a couple of FAA REINST (that'd be FAA CPCs who resigned and are applying back) who didn't pass the BQ. Apparently according to the metrics they'd make horrible controllers. There you have it folks. Millions paid for a 60 question test to weed out who has a resume we should look at. This wouldn't be so bad if they had a legit screen, but they don't. I wouldn't be surprised if my next trainee won't know what a Boeing is.
I intend to be brutally honest on any OJTI forms I write in the future. I'm done with keeping up with the process. If military controllers (or former FAA CPCs) with two enlistments under their belts and vet pref points are being weeded out before anyone even sees their resume, I fully expect those hired in their stead to be on the ball each and every time. I won't be overlooking mistakes because its only their 30th hour on the sector.
To play devils advocate...at my facility I have seen trainees from each line come through and there have been good and bad no matter the "previous experience. "
To me it doesn't matter what your previous experience is because what you will be doing for the faa is not going to be the same as you did before.
For VRA hires this was the biggest issue I see all the time...being able to forget "thats not what we did at so and so place..." Along with that the military is just like the faa when it comes to training. Get em checked out...sometimes even more so.
Now to say a CTI grad has more experience than an off the street hire is ludicrous. You can ask just about any CPC and they will say that your CTI degree does just about nothing for you when you pop radios. It might help wead out a weak stick or two...but just because you have that piece of paper does not mean you will be any better than the person standing next to you.
Off the street hires, good and bad. I am an off the street hire...the good is that the majority had no previous atc experience to gauge against. ..so there is little of the attitude of "I know how it goes jack..." Bad is that they have not been through any weeding out process so to speak compared to the other avenues.
And prior cpc'c. Talk to any controler that trained a patco guy. I am sure that when those guys were working that they knew their crap. However by the time they were allowed back in they had long lost their edge and nearly every rehire found a job for their remaining years not talking to planes. Goes back to the previous experience being a hindrance...they could not adapt and change to the ever evolving game we call atc.
I have had cpc transfers from up down atct's that could not get one d side. ..cpc's from vfr towers power through all their training with no issues...military controllers that cannot understand that we dont do cowboy controlling....cti grads with a chip on their shoulder thinking they are better that others...and off the streets wash out....to everything inbetween.
What I am saying is that you really cannot grade someone on their previous experience. It can be used as a tool to help weed out possible weak sticks but to flat out say...he was a cpc....he should get in is also ludicrous. I dont know about your facility but I am tired of mine filling up with controllers that you have to work around them vs work with them.
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