How to you explain to people that you work at an ARTCC?

I usually don't like to talk about it or don't desire to explain it mainly because of all of the questions, fascination people have, and/ or the incorrect public perception.

When people ask what I do for a living, "I work as a cashier at Wal-mart." Everybody knows what that is and the questions stop there. I am proud to be an ARTCC controller but am past trying to explain it.
 
I work in a tower and I was kinda wondering the same thing, what do center controllers do? I always heard they exist so the pilots have someone to talk to between real controllers??
 
chrisesp said:
I work in a tower and I was kinda wondering the same thing, what do center controllers do? I always heard they exist so the pilots have someone to talk to between real controllers??
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I'll remember you said that the next time some little approach facility asks a center to hold planes or do flow control...
 
Haha whenever we call the tower on the shout line some of them answer "primary air traffic control facility" so if nothing is really going on we just say "oops i must have the wrong number" and hang up :laff:
 
Alpha Lima said:
Haha whenever we call the tower on the shout line some of them answer "primary air traffic control facility" so if nothing is really going on we just say "oops i must have the wrong number" and hang up :laff:
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Haha, that's a good one. You could even try, "I don't think I dialed the center," ha. I thought everyone knew the ARTCC is the most important facility... Just kidding of course, obviously we're all a major part of the air traffic system.
 
darli328 said:
Haha, that's a good one. You could even try, "I don't think I dialed the center," ha. I thought everyone knew the ARTCC is the most important facility... Just kidding of course, obviously we're all a major part of the air traffic system.
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That's right we are all the NAS. (I should make a bumper sticker like the army, yo soy el NAS)
 
nathanw said:
Or... "A NAS of one..."
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Hey Nathanw, what facility in Seattle are you going to? I noticed you just wrote SEA... I take it you implied the tower? The reason I'm asking is because I have a class date of January 13th for Seattle ARTCC.
 
darli328 said:
Hey Nathanw, what facility in Seattle are you going to? I noticed you just wrote SEA... I take it you implied the tower? The reason I'm asking is because I have a class date of January 13th for Seattle ARTCC.
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SEA is the 3 letter code for Seattle ATCT (or Seatac airport more accurately). ZSE means Seattle ARTCC and S46 is Seattle TRACON. And I have a picture of the tower as my avatar.
 
nathanw said:
SEA is the 3 letter code for Seattle ATCT (or Seatac airport more accurately). ZSE means Seattle ARTCC and S46 is Seattle TRACON. And I have a picture of the tower as my avatar.
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I know you're right... I just thought it was funny you were posting in a center thread when you're going to a tower. I actually wanted a tower in Seattle (SEA or BFI) but am happy with getting ZSE over GEG or PAE... Baggers can't be choosers I guess.
 
darli328 said:
I know you're right... I just thought it was funny you were posting in a center thread when you're going to a tower. I actually wanted a tower in Seattle (SEA or BFI) but am happy with getting ZSE over GEG or PAE... Baggers can't be choosers I guess.
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Yeah, Paine would be boring. Spokane would have been nice, I like it over there. The bad places are MWH & PSC. Bleh.
 
nathanw said:
Yeah, Paine would be boring. Spokane would have been nice, I like it over there. The bad places are MWH & PSC. Bleh.
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Ha, couldn't agree more about MWH and PSC. Spokane is nice, just not for me I guess... So did you want ZSE or were you just interested in what people have to say about enroute?
 
darli328 said:
Ha, couldn't agree more about MWH and PSC. Spokane is nice, just not for me I guess... So did you want ZSE or were you just interested in what people have to say about enroute?
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Eventually. But I'd rather start somewhere else and then transfer 5-10 years down the road. To either ZSE or S46. Or are you asking me why I am reading this thread? I read all the threads in here.
 
nathanw said:
Eventually. But I'd rather start somewhere else and then transfer 5-10 years down the road. To either ZSE or S46. Or are you asking me why I am reading this thread? I read all the threads in here.
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Ha, I wasn't asking why are you reading the thread. Sorry if it came out that way. I was just interested in what someone going terminal in Seattle thought about enroute (or ZSE to be exact). You'll have to find me in 5 to 10 years because I would be interested in switching ZSE for SEA after getting to CPC and having a few years under my belt. I would like to get my CTO someday...
 
darli328 said:
Ha, I wasn't asking why are you reading the thread. Sorry if it came out that way. I was just interested in what someone going terminal in Seattle thought about enroute (or ZSE to be exact). You'll have to find me in 5 to 10 years because I would be interested in switching ZSE for SEA after getting to CPC and having a few years under my belt. I would like to get my CTO someday...
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That's a difficult direction to go. Once you're enroute you're pretty much stuck there. As far as ZSE goes, I toured the facility and it looks like a really cool place to work.
 
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