FAQ

Johnsc81

New Member
Ok, so I have been getting pretty sick of all the bickering about questions being asked to many times, and newbies not searching for Answers first. Well, the Search function is not that helpfull, i.e., say you serach for FEBOTS, you will get hundreds of posts with "FEBOTS" and only one or two in a sea of a thousand gives you the defnition.... see my point. Anyway, lets try and make a one stop shopping experience for all of the patrons on here.

If you post in the thread, Keep the Format as a Question and Answer Format:
Q. Blah Blah blah.....
A. Talk talk talk.......

Rules of this Thread:

1. DO NOT post a question with out already knowing the Answer.
1a. Post the Answer in the same post as the question
2. Do not post any New Questions.
3. Do not post any new Information.
4. Do not Hijack the Thread for any reason, not even for one post!
5. if the anser is a Hyperlink to another Thread, make sure that the thread is short and requires MINIMAL effort to find the answer.
i.e. if the question is "how long from the Close of an announcement to getting to you facility", DO NOT refer them to the PUBNAT 1 Thread with 50 some odd pages, that is just cruel.
6. if at any time any of these rules do not make 100% sense and you have a question about the etiquette of this thread please PM me and I will clearify by an edit. DO NOT Post The Question or Suggestion in the Thread.

My intent is to keep this thread as short and sweet as possible and make it as easy as possible to find answers to Common Questions that people have.


Thank you all for your help in keeping this as simple as possible
 
How about when people ask a question, we just answer it? That would probably be easier. Yeah, I'm gonna go with that.
 
Q: What is the Difference between VRA and Veterans Preference?

A: VRA stands for Veterans Realignment act (or something similar to that) .... the wording of it basically says that if you served in a Combat zone or recieved one of several specific medals then you are eligible to be selected for a government job, non-competitively.... as some understand it it means a guaranteed Government job if we meet the eligibilty criteria....... However..... the FAA interprets it as if you were a Prior Controller in the Military, THEN you will be hired Non-competitively, that is why on ASAP you see separate Announcements for VRA than OTS.

Vets Preference is used in Competitive Bids for jobs. If you served in the Military during certain time periods and are discharged Honorably, then you get a certain amount of points added to your application. Either 5 or 10 points depending on several criteria. Normaly the government, when they set out to fill a job vacancy, they pull all the applications together and score everything on your resume, so many points for this, so many for that, and so on, then the Veterans either get a 5 or 10 point bonus added to their score, and then the person with the highesst amount of points wins...... Now, as we all know, the FAA does not follow the rules, they make their own, so what they do is group all the Well qualified together and the when the boards meet, they flag all the Vets, and the files for the Vets get put on the top of the stack and get hired first.
 
Q: How much does a controller make?

A: Consult the payscale
https://employees.faa.gov/employee_services/pay_perf/pay/media/ATSPPpaybandswithlocality08Rev.xls
Find your facility level (shown below) and look at the appropriate column. Your pay during training is at the bottom (AG). Then as you checkout on parts of your facility, increases to D1 up to D3. When you are fully checked out (1-3+ years), you attain Certified Professional Controller (CPC). At this point, your pay will start at the min CPC rate, and slowly progress towards the max (if you ever reach that), through yearly raises.
Your pay is increased through an additional locality payment. Multiply the base pay times the locality rate (shown below) to find your actual pay (i.e. In expensive San Francisco, you get 32% locality payment, so multiply 1.32 by your base wage.)

Q: What level is my facility? Or, What is the locality rate for my facility?

A: Consult the following
http://faaimposedpayrules.natca.net/localityratesrev13.xls
Your facility level is listed under "ATC level July 2007"
Generally speaking: the more traffic, the higher the level, and the higher the pay.
Your locality rate is located to the far right "08 Loc". The more expensive the area, the higher the locality payment.
 
And you REALLY think this new thread is going to eliminate the annyoing things you are trying to eliminate? There have been several attempts to do the same thing, but to no success.
 
Q: My announcement just closed on ASAP, how long wil it be until I get hired?

A: Count on about a year. A year seems to be the trend. A few weeks after the Closing of the Announcement you will be contacted, via E-mail, and told that you are selected to take the ATSAT. From the start of the Testing Cycle to the end has normally taken around 2 months, it usually takes 1-5 days for your test scores to show up in ASAP after your test date. About a week after the end of ALL the Testing in your cylce, you will be e-mailed a Link to another website where you will enter your top to Geographical Preferences and at the bottom of the page is a place to put note. It is still debated whether or not any comments requesting specific facilities works. The preference Website stays active for a couple of weeks, they will give you a end date for your preferences. Shortly after the end date to you preference, about 1-2 weeks, there will be a board that meets and picks who get offered to go further and to what facility. Afterthe Board, the send out e-mails offering you an invite to one of several PEPCs (Pre-Employemnt Processing Center. Pronounced Pepsi) that convene over the next couple of months. At the PEPC you will find out your Actual facility and given a tentative start date at OKC. Those havebeen ranging from several week ahead to 6 months.

Right now, there seems to be a rather sizable backlog of applicants that the FAA can't keep up with so the later PUBNATS the wait time are getting extended a little with ever PUBNAT that gets released.

Key Phrase: BE PATIENT. with what is going on in the FAA, pretty much every one that applies and passes the ATSAT withing the next 5 years will get hired.....
 
Q: Are all controlled airports staffed with FAA controllers?

A: No, military bases are staffed by Dept. of Defense (or other agencies). Most civilian airports are staffed by FAA controllers, however there are 239 towers staffed by FAA Cotract Towers, run by private enterprise. Most contract towers only hire experienced controllers (usually through military experience).

The following link lists contract towers (starting at page 24):
http://www.contracttower.org/Ctaannual/USCTAAR07.pdf
 
I got PM'd for breaking rules. My Response:

I think your new thread is stupid and I will break whatever "rule" I want, when I want. Here's why:

I'm guessing your idea is to put questions that people going through the hiring process might have in one location. Notice the stickys. Problem solved there.

Also, The forum serves as a place to discuss these issues. Not every member of jetcareers is in the same spot in the long process of getting hired or carrying on a career. Just because they showed up later than you does not and should not mean that they can't discuss the situation as it applies to them. The forum will always keep revolving, and the point of it is to communicate with people in a personal way, not in a FAQ sheet kind of way.

You won't eliminate your problems. If someone asks a question you know an answer to, but don't feel like answering, DON'T! Someone else will.

Jetcareers new motto: Reduce the ###### (be nice).
 
Q: Is there a payscale that already includes locality pay for the different areas?

A: Yes, https://employees.faa.gov/employee_services/pay_perf/pay/media/ATSPPpaybandswithlocality08Rev.xls

At the bottom of the spreadshee you can select different "sheets" that are labeled for their region. This will show you the payscale chart with the locality included.

Q: Where can I find more detailed information on how my pay will be determined.

A: This link will give you the different formulas used to determine pay. https://employees.faa.gov/employee_services/pay_perf/pay/atspp/media/atspp/ATSPPRev032508.pdf
 
I got PM'd for breaking rules. My Response:

I think your new thread is stupid and I will break whatever "rule" I want, when I want. Here's why:

I'm guessing your idea is to put questions that people going through the hiring process might have in one location. Notice the stickys. Problem solved there.

Also, The forum serves as a place to discuss these issues. Not every member of jetcareers is in the same spot in the long process of getting hired or carrying on a career. Just because they showed up later than you does not and should not mean that they can't discuss the situation as it applies to them. The forum will always keep revolving, and the point of it is to communicate with people in a personal way, not in a FAQ sheet kind of way.

You won't eliminate your problems. If someone asks a question you know an answer to, but don't feel like answering, DON'T! Someone else will.

Jetcareers new motto: Reduce the ###### (be nice).


Here is the Whole story:

In answer to your question, I am trying to keep the thread as obvious as possible. if you just start answering question there then 15 peole will try and chime in and it will make finding an answer all that much harder, then add more posts that people have to read and them it will loose all of the advantage of having questions answered in one place. From now on , follow the guidelines posted.

Just to mess with you.... you already broke rule #6...... the first post and you are already breaking the rules.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin538
I think your new thread is stupid and I will break whatever "rule" I want, when I want. Here's why:

I'm guessing your idea is to put questions that people going through the hiring process might have in one location. Notice the stickys. Problem solved there.

Also, The forum serves as a place to discuss these issues. Not every member of jetcareers is in the same spot in the long process of getting hired or carrying on a career. Just because they showed up later than you does not and should not mean that they can't discuss the situation as it applies to them. The forum will always keep revolving, and the point of it is to communicate with people in a personal way, not in a FAQ sheet kind of way.

I will also be posting this in the forum. I'm sure that violates a rule.


Man, you have it all wrong.... Yes, I a trying to make it convienent to everyone so they have easy access to information.

And apparently the Stickys do not cover all Common questions, sure they solve a few, but if you wanted to put a sticky on everything that gets asked more than a couple of time, you would have 3-4 pages of nothing but stickys.

All I am doing is trying to create a nice simple thread that people can go to so they don't get flamed by asking question that multiple people have already asked and been answered.

In no way am I trying to limit what people say or do on the Forums.... Far from it.
 
And you REALLY think this new thread is going to eliminate the things you are trying to eliminate?

al-gore.jpg



Here's a better idea:

Why not make a "King Sticky" that simply has a list of the most relevant "FAQ". Combine all current stickies into one post in "title-link" format.

Then call that FAQ so when you click on the post, you see a list of the FAQ and the corresponding post with the answers.

Okay, you're not getting it. Example:

Post:
_______________

"FAQ"


FAA Shift Work and Schedules -
LINK

**EVERYTHING*** you wanted to know about the AT-SAT -
LINK

PEPC Interview Questions Here -
LINK


. . . and so on, you get the idea. I'll even let you take credit for it.

Thus, you have all relevant info combined in one master sticky called "FAQ" and when folks ask redundant questions you can say "Check the FAQ". And, unlike this waste of time post, you dont have to scroll through every single post looking for an answer, just look at the original post. If it's not up there, then what's the harm in letting folks ask a redundant question? It's not the friggin USSR here.
 
What's the best way to perform a search on Jetcareers?
PROTIP:
1) Click on Search.
2) Click on Advanced Search beneath Tag Search.
3) Type in keywords to your heart's content.
4) Select specific forum to search in: i.e. "air traffic control".
5) Select sort-results type: i.e. "relevancy".

The forum is useful because while some terms, and processes remain wholly unchanged, there tend to be slight variations that we can notify one another of during each announcement. Kind of like a support system, when we're left hanging for two months.
It's still draining to give each individual person a timeline, the payscale, or to tell them what a "PEPC" is.
Big difference.
 
I have an even better idea!!!

Just answer a question when someone asks it! I believe someone smart once said "the only dumb question is the one that isn't asked" or something like that.

Now, when this FAQ thread gets to 40 pages and someone asks a question and you say, "refer to the faq stupid"

Nothing will have changed.
 
Now, when this FAQ thread gets to 40 pages and someone asks a question and you say, "refer to the faq stupid"

Nothing will have changed.


Correct. If you want to conserve space, I suggested combining the bazillion stickies into ONE singular post called "faq". Then, when a redundant question is asked, the answers are readily available.

Otherwise, i'm not sure why a few dumb questions on an internet message board throws people into tizzyland.

Having said that, isnt this the point of message boards? As opposed to Johnny Stalin making "rules" that must be followed and enforced with an iron fist. :)sarcasm:)

:crazy:
 
Correct. If you want to conserve space, I suggested combining the bazillion stickies into ONE singular post called "faq". Then, when a redundant question is asked, the answers are readily available.

Otherwise, i'm not sure why a few dumb questions on an internet message board throws people into tizzyland.

Having said that, isnt this the point of message boards? As opposed to Johnny Stalin making "rules" that must be followed and enforced with an iron fist. :)sarcasm:)

:crazy:

Q:Am I breaking a rule?

A:yes, but not all of them (unfortunately)
 
Everyone wants to be the alpha male on this forum. The only official answer to ANY question, is the one that comes from the FAA themselves. If you start something like this, people will post questions and answers that relate to their specific situation, which may or may not be true to everyone else. There's also alot of situations where people think they know they answer, but are way off.
 
Q: Will God forgive me for the sins that I committed last night with my fiance?

A: Nope! Your butt is going straight to hell!
 
ding. ding. ding. (!)

Also, boards have people like me on them with one goal: Disrupt the natural flow

Also, I want to be an alpha male, but more in a beta way.
 
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