Transferring Facilities?

CamYZ125

Well-Known Member
Hey guys-

I'm sure this is posted somewhere, but I've been reading through these threads and haven't really seen it.

Can someone explain to me what all is involved in changing/transferring from one facility to another? Let's just say that you're selected for a terminal position at one facility, and after a few years at that facility, you want to move to another terminal facility. Is this possible? How does it work?

How does the pay work in this case? I understand that your pay is based on being checked out at your facility- so does your pay go back down when you transfer facilities, then you have to build it back up by checking out in your new facility?

How common/likely are transfers?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hey, thanks for the help. Most of those other threads were talking about changing facilities before ever starting the training in OKC. I'm curious about actually going to a facility, getting checked out, staying there for a few years and then deciding that I'd like to live in a different area of the country, for whatever reason.

If I understand it correctly (from the small amount of info I've read), you can put in for a transfer once you're a CPC, and then its all based on whether your current facility will let you go, and the facility you want to transfer to has any openings. Correct?

Does anyone have any experience on transfers? i.e. does it happen a lot? Is it likely to happen, given the above circumstances are met?
 
I don't remember where I saw it...I thought it would be in one of those threads. I think I remember someone saying that it depends on A: Your current manager (or whoever) being willing to let you go. and B: Wherever you are wanting to go having a spot open and wanting you to come there.

In a nutshell.
 
Does anyone have any experience on transfers? i.e. does it happen a lot? Is it likely to happen, given the above circumstances are met?

I'm just an OTS applicant, but when I toured the Atlanta En Route Center I asked the training manager that specific question. He told me it was going to be a lot herder to switch in the coming years than in years past. He said most moves were hardship transfers, i.e. to take care of a sick relative. The FAA plan is to bring people in at a specific facility and have them work there for a while.

That being said, he told me it wasn't impossible. The advice he gave me was to maintain a decent relationship with your supervisor, bust ass for at least five years and scope it out after that.
 
As for the pay, once you are a CPC at your current facility and you transfer to a higher facility...you will maintain the pay level for your old facility until you become fully checked out at your new facility. Only after that will your pay go up.

If you transfer to a lower facility, I'm not really sure what the sequence would be.
 
Does anyone get transferred after their FOL, but before they go to their facility? (I mean involuntarily, or without request)

I thought someone on here said that they were switched to a higher level facility at OKC because an instructor thought the larger terminal was more appropriate for them.
 
Does anyone get transferred after their FOL, but before they go to their facility? (I mean involuntarily, or without request)

I thought someone on here said that they were switched to a higher level facility at OKC because an instructor thought the larger terminal was more appropriate for them.

I don't remember if it was someone on here or one of those friend of a friend of a friend things, but I remember someone saying that too...
 
At my PEPC I was asked by a manager if I was happy with my facility I was like meh and he said the best thing I can do is to stick with it, go there & work my ass off, certify, and then transfer....which he said was not common in the past but something we'll be able to do as a result of the systemwide shortages (it may be a double-edge sword though)
 
When you transfer you lose you seniority, also you have to put a bid in for the transfer, meaning first there has to be an opening at the facility you want to transfer to. And from what I can gather, from my friend at Long Beach, a friend of the family at NCT, and my teachers at Mt. SAC, it is done via a point scale, more points for high educates, then you get points for commendation letters and years of service. Even if the facility you transfer to wants you, if your manager will not let you go, then you are up the creek without the paddle. I have heard that the key to a transfer is to be educated and to be good at your job, but attempt to not stand head and shoulders above the rest, only a head higher. If that makes any sense.


<Disclaimer>
This information is only heresay, therefore I am not responsible for any misleading, misquoted, or misinformation presented here.
 
When you transfer you lose you seniority

I think someone explained this a while ago, but can anyone explain how seniority works if you're switching facilities? Let's say I'm fully checked out at a facility and I transfer to another. I start the day after some kid straight from OKC. He has seniority over me?
 
Seniority is not based upon facility time. Your seniority is the first day in which you report to your first facility after leaving the academy. There are some exceptions, like if you report to your facility prior to going to the academy (which doesn't happen too often anymore), and once you're at your first facility any "bad time" (staff or supe time) doesn't count and is deducted if you return to the bargaining unit. But when you transfer from one facility to another, your seniorty date remains unchanged, you simply merge into the seniorty list at your new facility wherever your date falls in their current list of bargaining unit members.

As for transferring, at a Center its very difficult to get out. In the terminals much easier. And in recent months there have even been bids open with big incentive money plus a paid move offered for those at slower facilities wanting career progression. With a promotion, your facility manager cannot hold you back, even if the facility is short-staffed. They can keep you for awhile, but cannot stop your progression. I have seen managers give really unrealistic release dates and discourage the gaining facility from picking folks up, but once selected, they can oly hold you for (I think its) 90 days or so (I could be off on the exact amount of time, but its something close to that).

When bidding on controller jobs, you get points for:

(1) the level of the highest facility you've worked at (multiplied by 3: for example if your highest level facility was an ATC-10, then you get 30 points)

(2) you get one point for each of the following up to 5 points, if you have them: private pilot cert, comml pilot cert, instrument rathing, CFI, dispatchers license

(3) 2 points for each full year as an ATCS-2152,
less one point for each years since CPC level was lost (if that applies, and/or less one point for each full year since you worked in a terminal or center facility (if that applies)

(4) Education in 3 parts
(a) Formal education - the highest point value of the following, not commulative:
1 yr college - 3 Points
1.5 years of college - 4 Points
2 years college - 5 Points
Associates Degree - 6 Points
2.5 years college - 7 Points
3 years college - 8 Points
4.0 yaers college - 9 Points
Bachelors Degree - 10 Points
1 year grad work - 12 Points
2 years grad work - 14 Points
Masters Degree - 15 Points
3 years grad work - 17 Points
Doctorate - 20 Points
(b) FAA Correspondance Courses (You must be an FAA Emplyee to take these, cannot do it prior to being employed by the FAA): you get 1/4 point per each course up to a maximum of 2 points
(c) Long-term training: You won't get this EVER in your career. I do not know anyone who ever has during my 22 years in the agency. It does not include the time you spent at the academy for those of you trying to figure out how to manipulate it.

and finally (5) Up to 10 points for a variety of awards that you may earn during your career in the FAA (old exceptional and superior ratings, time off awards, incentive awards, quality step increases, etc).
 
Thanks for the clarification, DR... it didn't make sense that you'd lose seniority by transferring to a new facility, but not everything the FAA does makes sense :crazy:
 
Sunburn
I am a MSAC grad....back in 1984. I heard Wayne Lutz retired a few years back. Does he ever come around anymore?
DR
 
So if I'm a CPC (years from now) at a level 10 center and want to bid on a level 11 or 12 center opening, is that considered a promotion for transfer purposes?
 
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