jobs before ATC

Stinger

Well-Known Member
Okay, so if all controllers have to go through the Oklahoma City test school, and nobody gets hired before going through Oklahoma, would it help your chances of getting hired if you had some kind of an aviation-related job experience? Or do previous jobs not matter at all for ATC?
 
They don't really play much of an impact. The FAA has taken in ATC wannabees who were once lawyers, and who were also once McDonald's burger flippers. It doesn't play much of an impact at all.
 
:yeahthat:

It doesn't much matter what you do before getting into ATC... having some aviation knowledge helps initially. I would say that having a PPL would most likely be the best thing coming in... the PPL gives you basic knowledge of the NAS. Runways, airways, VOR's, etc. I think it also makes a controller understand GA a lot better, at least in my case. Getting my PPL really opened my eyes to a lot of things.
 
I should probably put this in another thread, and i still might, but I cant believe the FAA is taking people off the street when there are plenty of graduates of 4 year ATC B.S. degrees that are waiting for their call-backs.
 
I should probably put this in another thread, and i still might, but I cant believe the FAA is taking people off the street when there are plenty of graduates of 4 year ATC B.S. degrees that are waiting for their call-backs.

I believe it... the FAA DOES NOT CARE !!! They don't care about safety, they don't care that they lied to thousands of CTI students... they simply do not care. This agency... led by Maid Marion has an agenda that has nothing to do with the good of the FAA. From day one they had an agenda to stick it the controller workforce every which way they could and this is just another example. I hear ya Andrew... your frustration is shared by many that I speak to. Read the following memo for an idea of what is running the FAA...

http://themainbang.typepad.com/blog/files/BustedOnStaffingAgain.pdf

My advice to you and anyone else is to write your congressman, write your senator... let them know about the bait and switch the FAA pulled on you. Let them know that you will note vote for a politician who does not support fairness in the FAA.

Hang in there... there are some things in the works.
 
Anybody interested in working ATC would be well advised to study the history of the FAA and ATC. A while back I ran across a pretty good college paper written about the PATCO strike, and it does a pretty good job of looking at the overall relationship and is very pertinent in many ways to the situation today. Knowing the history of the struggles between management and controllers can help shed light on the current problems.

The Pressures of PATCO: Strikes and Stress in the 1980s
 
I should probably put this in another thread, and i still might, but I cant believe the FAA is taking people off the street when there are plenty of graduates of 4 year ATC B.S. degrees that are waiting for their call-backs.

Pretty disgusting isn't it? It's the reason I turned down the slot, that and the ignorance of the administration during the non-tract no-gotiations a year and a half ago.
 
Im doing the ATC-CTI thing right now, as well as getting my PPL from Miami Dade College. For me, it will boil down to what I enjoy most, so I really don't have a hard decision to make!
Well with ATC I would start out with 38k, and full benefits, and a pension. With piloting, I love to fly, and well...
I'd rather be happy than misserable. IF I can work it, By the time I am 31, which is the ATC cut off, I will have been flying with a regional for a couple of years, will be able to make my decision then.
 
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