ChasenSFO
hen teaser
I've been asked to recruit controllers to both of my company's ramp towers at SFO. First off, I'm going to be very blunt. The pay is non-negotiable for the most part, and you can expect to start on the lower end of the pay scale and get passed over for a raise every year. I want to be clear about that. These are the two lowest paid ramp towers in the country in an area with a very high cost of living. However, what we lack in income, we make up for with an unheard of amount of freedom compared to other towers making this one of the best jobs you'll ever have. I've been here 2 years and I still love every second I spend on the clock, if you love commercial aviation and don't need this as a primary source of income, this is a dream job. Keep in mind SFO is very backed up for badging these days, and you can expect 1.5-2 months between the interview and day 1 of training. This isn't a "I NEED MONEY NOW" kind of gig. If you might be interested, here are the job postings and some info about both towers:
Ramp Tower 'D', the "Shadow Tower" Part-time:
They will most likely pay you $14/hr in this tower, and that is where your pay will stay. Training is very flexible, but once you're trained, the shift will be Fri-Sat 1430-2330. The shifts are considered 10 hours, so part time is a 30 hour work week. However, since you get no lunch break, you work 9 hours and get paid for 10. The AM shift is from 0545-1445, there are 2 fulltimers(4 days) and 2 part timers(3 days) running this tower all week, so there isn't much flexibility and when people go out, you have to pick up the slack. So you must be committed to the schedule, though you can try and swap AM for PM shifts. Everyone up there is an awesome guy and it's a total team effort, you very rarely hear from the company at all and you work alone. Having the former FAA control tower to yourself free to take pictures in your downtime, bring up visitors, ect. is unreal and never gets old. The bathroom situation is "interesting" as you need to have United ops pick up the mic for you and go several floors down to the nearest restroom. This tower is on a contract with United and you will control all ramp traffic using "the Shuttle ramp"(named after the Shuttle by United days in the 90s when the 737s parked here) which is gates 67-77C. United and Skywest make up all the traffic, it's usually slow with lots of downtime, but you don't have much space to work with and when you're holding airplanes, you had better think fast and get on the line with the FAA if you can't take then next inbound BEFORE it touches down. It is a great way to network with United ops(a great gig) and the FAA as the FAA tower is a few floors up and with a little effort, you can be on a first name basis with all the ATC guys. There is opportunity to transfer to the A-tower(there will be more openings) for slightly higher pay and fulltime work. You will park at Lot D(great for photos) at the end of runways 10R/L and take a shuttle bus to the terminal. It is the easiest job I've ever had, once you're comfortable. And man, you can NOT beat the view. A 747-400 rotating right below you never gets old. The boss is a real character, one of the most interesting people you'll ever meet, and a great guy.
Ramp Tower 'A', full-time:
If you want to know more, post here or PM me. Because we need people ASAP and my personal weekends off is on the line, I'm sorry but you need to come here knowing at least HOW to talk on the radio but no experience directing planes is needed. Ideal would be either a PPL or an ATC buff who knows the game. This is NOT the right job if you have a family to feed and this is your only source of income. But if you can stomach the pay and want a really cool job with awesome perks and more time off than the typical 9-5, this may be for you. You just have to love what you do, liking it won't be enough, and if you take the job, go thru badging, then leave us hanging and I have to pick up a bunch of OT. I'll cut you.
Ramp Tower 'D', the "Shadow Tower" Part-time:
They will most likely pay you $14/hr in this tower, and that is where your pay will stay. Training is very flexible, but once you're trained, the shift will be Fri-Sat 1430-2330. The shifts are considered 10 hours, so part time is a 30 hour work week. However, since you get no lunch break, you work 9 hours and get paid for 10. The AM shift is from 0545-1445, there are 2 fulltimers(4 days) and 2 part timers(3 days) running this tower all week, so there isn't much flexibility and when people go out, you have to pick up the slack. So you must be committed to the schedule, though you can try and swap AM for PM shifts. Everyone up there is an awesome guy and it's a total team effort, you very rarely hear from the company at all and you work alone. Having the former FAA control tower to yourself free to take pictures in your downtime, bring up visitors, ect. is unreal and never gets old. The bathroom situation is "interesting" as you need to have United ops pick up the mic for you and go several floors down to the nearest restroom. This tower is on a contract with United and you will control all ramp traffic using "the Shuttle ramp"(named after the Shuttle by United days in the 90s when the 737s parked here) which is gates 67-77C. United and Skywest make up all the traffic, it's usually slow with lots of downtime, but you don't have much space to work with and when you're holding airplanes, you had better think fast and get on the line with the FAA if you can't take then next inbound BEFORE it touches down. It is a great way to network with United ops(a great gig) and the FAA as the FAA tower is a few floors up and with a little effort, you can be on a first name basis with all the ATC guys. There is opportunity to transfer to the A-tower(there will be more openings) for slightly higher pay and fulltime work. You will park at Lot D(great for photos) at the end of runways 10R/L and take a shuttle bus to the terminal. It is the easiest job I've ever had, once you're comfortable. And man, you can NOT beat the view. A 747-400 rotating right below you never gets old. The boss is a real character, one of the most interesting people you'll ever meet, and a great guy.
Ramp Tower 'A', full-time:
This position is full-time, 40/hrs a week with 10 hour shifts so you get 3 days off per week...when we're staffed. While we do work full 10 hour days, we get 11 paid "floating holidays" we can take whenever we want(staffing permitted but it usually works out) plus we can shift trade. Thus, most of us never touch our vacation time and it stacks up. However, the pay is straight pay and this allows the company to NOT give us holiday pay on real holidays. You can expect to start between $15.25-$15.75 and stay there. It takes up to 6 months to get people trained in this tower, and many are leaving, so there may be times you work 70 hour weeks with lots of double time, but that is far from the norm. This tower is a 24/7 operation. Training will be weekdays either from 0700-1700 or 1000-2000, then a few night shifts later on. There are various shifts, the common ones being 0500-1500, 0700-1700, 1430-0030, and 1930-0530. The graveyard guys rarely do other shifts, so other than training and a shift here or there, you will rarely work them. Otherwise, until we're fully staffed long enough to have a bid which won't be anytime soon, you'll have "normalish" days you work, but your shifts will be all over the place(both days worked and hours) with 3 days off and you'll know a month in advance. Most shifts have 2 controllers on duty, and on weekdays the manager is in from 0700-1600 or so. You work two job sets, the obvious one being ramp control. Our control area covers just over 1/4 of the ramp area at SFO, it gets crazy sometimes. It's a ton of fun to get to talk to all the big boys, come this summer we'll have 3 A380s (Air France, British, and Emirates) coming in and out. You work very closely with the FAA as when you can't take planes in, they stack up all the guys trying to depart on the 01s and guys will enter all the time without calling and almost go nose-to-nose so you have to pay attention. The other part of the gig is FIDS Administration. We are the controlling authority for all common-use areas in the International Terminal. All the gates, ticket counters, baggage claims and make-up areas, and several random domestic common use assets are under our control as well as over-night parking spots. This position updates all the screens in the terminal so you are essentially the operations for every tenant airline passing information on to them with every change. You are also responsible for coordinating any gate or equipment closures and keeping the tenants updated while working around the issue. There are times where you are alone, and you are controlling airplanes and on the 2 phone lines which can be very stressful depending on your personality. I personally love craziness and like it best when I'm alone during heavy traffic periods, others can't handle both and let the phone ring and ring when the ramp is busy(planes have priority of course). It's up to you how efficient you want to be. This job will put you on a first name basis with Airfield Ops, Airport Duty Managers, police and fire fighters, operations agents and station managers from just about every carrier, homeland security, and many other important people. It is fantastic for networking and many move on to airline middle management from here, we just had a guy leave for jetBlue ops who is then hoping to transfer to dispatch. Important visitors pop in semi-regularly, airline CEOs have come up when I was working to ask questions about our operation(mainly why they have to hold in the gate 7 minutes so a lumbering international 747 can get to the gate with no delay). You will start parking in Lot D most likely, BUT, for $111/quarter, you can take premium parking in the domestic central garage which is a 6-7 minute walk to the tower. When I travel I routinely get to the airport 20 minutes before my flight departs and make it every time between the parking and employee security. There is a lot of downtime, especially at night, and I get most of my online college courses done at work. Everyone who works here is awesome, we have a great time, and if you aren't chill, you won't last. A sense of humor goes a long way here, and there is a tendency to not trust the more up-tight as history has taught us the hard way(remember, snitches get stitches). This is far and away to coolest job I've had in my life, I love every second of it.
If you want to know more, post here or PM me. Because we need people ASAP and my personal weekends off is on the line, I'm sorry but you need to come here knowing at least HOW to talk on the radio but no experience directing planes is needed. Ideal would be either a PPL or an ATC buff who knows the game. This is NOT the right job if you have a family to feed and this is your only source of income. But if you can stomach the pay and want a really cool job with awesome perks and more time off than the typical 9-5, this may be for you. You just have to love what you do, liking it won't be enough, and if you take the job, go thru badging, then leave us hanging and I have to pick up a bunch of OT. I'll cut you.
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