Hiring Bid Air Traffic Control Specialist - Trainee: FAA-ATO-18-ALLSRCE-57792

If I could give you guys any advice, it would be to get the phraseology DOWN. Repetition, repetition, repetition. You can’t be fumbling on how to spit out a point out, manual handoff, emergency steps, etc. I’m a more visual learner, so non radar was more difficult for me, but I did enough to survive to give myself a good chance going into radar.

Know the SOP’s, LOA’s, and airspace without question. It’ll give you a small, small taste of what they’ll be like at your facility lol.

Most importantly, find a way to relax. Mine was chewing gum during the problems for some reason. Just find a way to get over those first 5 min jitters and get in a groove. If you prepare yourself right, you can go into evals, rock the problems, and land an awesome career. I’m a year out of the academy, and I couldn’t be happier with this. Ya training sucks and you feel like a idiot learning, but I absolutely could not picture myself doing anything other than this.

Put in the work and you all will do just fine.
Do you or does any one know wher eI can get a list of phraseology that I need to memorize? Want to get a head start on studying before I go to okc.
 
Do you or does any one know wher eI can get a list of phraseology that I need to memorize? Want to get a head start on studying before I go to okc.
They’ll give it to you when you go across the street. I wouldn’t worry about doing anything ahead of time. I’d stick to the schedule they give you for everything. It’s laid out in a specific way for a reason.
 
Do you or does any one know wher eI can get a list of phraseology that I need to memorize? Want to get a head start on studying before I go to okc.
I definitely would not recommend trying to get jump start on anything for Initial Qualifications before getting there. They make changes to the map along with bits and pieces of the material every 90 days specifically to avoid people being able to know everything ahead of time. The FAA wants to see if you can learn the material on their terms and on their timeframe.
 
That is definitely not true.
Yeah, I know it’s not the FAA, but the Navy... I’m sure there’s not a huge difference in how the courses are designed... but you’re not “changing” the course, but constantly evaluating the course, short term and long term, ensuring that the test questions are too easy or too difficult. Instructors that are a little lazier end up just teaching the test.
 
That is definitely not true.
That’s 100% true. Our lead confirmed it in class just other day. The map on the wall has the year and the version posted in the corner. Not saying they completely redo it or anything, they may just change one or two minor things like an MEA or a radial or something, but there’s definitely some type of amendment every few months.
 
That’s 100% true. Our lead confirmed it in class just other day.
They may have said it, but it doesn't mean its true. The last three revisions for terminal: 3/2019, 3/2017, 9/2014. The courses get updated to reflect new material but they don't change meaningfully.
 
If I could give you guys any advice, it would be to get the phraseology DOWN. Repetition, repetition, repetition. You can’t be fumbling on how to spit out a point out, manual handoff, emergency steps, etc. I’m a more visual learner, so non radar was more difficult for me, but I did enough to survive to give myself a good chance going into radar.

Know the SOP’s, LOA’s, and airspace without question. It’ll give you a small, small taste of what they’ll be like at your facility lol.

Most importantly, find a way to relax. Mine was chewing gum during the problems for some reason. Just find a way to get over those first 5 min jitters and get in a groove. If you prepare yourself right, you can go into evals, rock the problems, and land an awesome career. I’m a year out of the academy, and I couldn’t be happier with this. Ya training sucks and you feel like a idiot learning, but I absolutely could not picture myself doing anything other than this.

Put in the work and you all will do just fine.

I have zero experience- don't even know the pheonetic alphabet 100%. I just hope the instructors have the time to answer questions because I like to be very thorough and understand everything.

How long is it taking you to advance/train? Did you land where you want to be or are you transferring in the future? Has being low-seniority been an issue for you? Is someone training you so you can become a CPC?
 
I have zero experience- don't even know the pheonetic alphabet 100%. I just hope the instructors have the time to answer questions because I like to be very thorough and understand everything.

How long is it taking you to advance/train? Did you land where you want to be or are you transferring in the future? Has being low-seniority been an issue for you? Is someone training you so you can become a CPC?
The girl who was first in my class had 0 experience. She studied her ass off and killed it. They’ll be more than willing and able to take any questions. Ask them all. You start off as basic as you can get.

From the start date to D school it was a 7 month wait, including the gov shutdown, filled with maps, LOAs and SOPs, powerpoints, etc. But it was nice to have all that time to learn it. I placed decently in my class, so I like where I ended up.

When you’re in training, we only bid schedules with the other trainees. I’m in a group of three academy grads who got here around the same time, but I got here two weeks before them so I have somewhat of a choice in schedule for now.. After certifying, I’ll bid with all the controllers and be at the bottom of the barrel for while.

Speaking from enroute, you have a training team with three CPCs that match up with your schedule. You’re assigned with one of them per day to train on position with, or a different CPC can train you if none of them are available. I started training in mid March, got D1 mid June, and am on my 3rd sector now. Even with a decent number of trainees, I’m still getting a good amount of training and am on pace, if not a little ahead, of schedule. Still expecting around 3 years to fully check out.

There’s a lot of variables that go into it all, and they’ll all vary from facility to facility, but it’s going smoothly so far. Just have to put effort in to show your trainers you want to work, take criticism, learn from mistakes, and accept the slow process. I’d put all my energy into focusing on passing the academy first. You can worry about everything that comes after later. It’ll be worth it in the long run.
 
If I could give you guys any advice, it would be to get the phraseology DOWN. Repetition, repetition, repetition. You can’t be fumbling on how to spit out a point out, manual handoff, emergency steps, etc. I’m a more visual learner, so non radar was more difficult for me, but I did enough to survive to give myself a good chance going into radar.

Know the SOP’s, LOA’s, and airspace without question. It’ll give you a small, small taste of what they’ll be like at your facility lol.

Most importantly, find a way to relax. Mine was chewing gum during the problems for some reason. Just find a way to get over those first 5 min jitters and get in a groove. If you prepare yourself right, you can go into evals, rock the problems, and land an awesome career. I’m a year out of the academy, and I couldn’t be happier with this. Ya training sucks and you feel like a idiot learning, but I absolutely could not picture myself doing anything other than this.

Put in the work and you all will do just fine.
Lmaooo I did the same thing chewing gum while running nonradar problems. It definitely helped me focus.

As far as difficulty goes, we've had several instructors tell us that initial is like drinking from a firehose and they were right, but as long as you put in the effort, running practice problems as much as you can, not spending every waking moment partying, you'll be fine. I struggled all through nonradar practice but got great scores on my evals. We're in the middle of the book work part of radar right now and half of it is a repeat of basics and the other half is brand new info that seems really complicated and confusing right now but will get easier with practice. Also, as a class, rely on each other! Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses so getting together to study is really helpful.
 
don't even know the pheonetic alphabet 100%

I would definitely get it down 100% before you go. Practice: read off license plates to yourself, read street signs, spell your friends' names. That's one thing you can't really get wrong studying on your own (as long as you study the NATO version) and it's one less thing to worry about at the academy. Get to where you can spit letters out without thinking.

Don't worry too hard about specific pronunciation, especially the weird pronunciation for the numbers, except "9" is always "niner".
 
I would definitely get it down 100% before you go. Practice: read off license plates to yourself, read street signs, spell your friends' names. That's one thing you can't really get wrong studying on your own (as long as you study the NATO version) and it's one less thing to worry about at the academy. Get to where you can spit letters out without thinking.

Don't worry too hard about specific pronunciation, especially the weird pronunciation for the numbers, except "9" is always "niner".
Yeah, "tree" and "fife" are technically things, but nobody will ever call you out for saying "three" or "five" unless you're reaaaaaally on their bad side.
 
Lmaooo I did the same thing chewing gum while running nonradar problems. It definitely helped me focus.

As far as difficulty goes, we've had several instructors tell us that initial is like drinking from a firehose and they were right, but as long as you put in the effort, running practice problems as much as you can, not spending every waking moment partying, you'll be fine. I struggled all through nonradar practice but got great scores on my evals. We're in the middle of the book work part of radar right now and half of it is a repeat of basics and the other half is brand new info that seems really complicated and confusing right now but will get easier with practice. Also, as a class, rely on each other! Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses so getting together to study is really helpful.

All the gum.
 
Just got my start date. I know HR has been asking everyone as of late for their college transcripts, but what do they need this for? I didn't use school info when I originally applied for the bid - just the work experience. Plus, it'll take a while to receive the transcripts. Anyone else with the same situation, what did you say/do?
 
Just got my start date. I know HR has been asking everyone as of late for their college transcripts, but what do they need this for? I didn't use school info when I originally applied for the bid - just the work experience. Plus, it'll take a while to receive the transcripts. Anyone else with the same situation, what did you say/do?
They shouldn't actually need them. You can call and double check, but I doubt you need to send anything in.

What date did you get?
 
Just got my start date. I know HR has been asking everyone as of late for their college transcripts, but what do they need this for? I didn't use school info when I originally applied for the bid - just the work experience. Plus, it'll take a while to receive the transcripts. Anyone else with the same situation, what did you say/do?
I you were pool 2, dont worry about it. And yea, what date did you get?
 
Back
Top Bottom