Basics at NCED in Norman

I think it’s a waste of the governments time, but not the students. I went to basics as I had zero aviation background. It helped me a little bit, but they teach you so much shit you don’t need across the street.

The FAA should send out a PDF for people to study at home, and then test at the same time as ATSAT, or whatever it’s called now. It could save the agency a lot of money.
 
I think it’s a waste of the governments time, but not the students. I went to basics as I had zero aviation background. It helped me a little bit, but they teach you so much shit you don’t need across the street.

The FAA should send out a PDF for people to study at home, and then test at the same time as ATSAT, or whatever it’s called now. It could save the agency a lot of money.

It would also increase attrition by a good amount IMO.
 
I think it’s a waste of the governments time, but not the students. I went to basics as I had zero aviation background. It helped me a little bit, but they teach you so much shit you don’t need across the street.

The FAA should send out a PDF for people to study at home, and then test at the same time as ATSAT, or whatever it’s called now. It could save the agency a lot of money.
You must be a manager, sending out a PDF and asking people to study in advance or at home should require OT pay.

lol
 
I run into this a lot in the En Route world. I know several controllers who couldn’t tell you what an attitude indicator is. I mean you don’t need to know a lot of things about the pilots environment to ensure separation, but There’s more to aviation than 5 miles and 1,000 feet. A lack of empathy is one of the most frustrating characteristics of an air traffic controller from a pilots perspective.
 
Yup so just to confirm, we are the second class to try the online Blackboard under FAA50045001. Hopefully it's different this go-around
 
Do you still get the paper books or is it all online? We were told to focus on the lesson objectives that are listed in each section. That’s basically where all the questions came from.
 
Do you still get the paper books or is it all online? We were told to focus on the lesson objectives that are listed in each section. That’s basically where all the questions came from.
I know bare bones right now. It seems to be all online though. I'll keep people updated on here as it goes on
 
I know bare bones right now. It seems to be all online though. I'll keep people updated on here as it goes on
As others have said it gets tricky without guidance from an Instructor. We focused on objectives and the end of lesson tests/block tests for study material. But I don’t even know what y’all will have access to.
 
Do you still get the paper books or is it all online? We were told to focus on the lesson objectives that are listed in each section. That’s basically where all the questions came from.
I was in the first CBI class where "everyone failed." We got paper books, and access to the books online.
 
Can you provide more of your experience that you had taking that class? How it felt and all that jazz?
It was rough. We had 6-10 people watching us while we just clicked thru CBIs. They took the original basics book and turned them into slides, removing some of the original material. We weren't allowed to ask questions, unless it was thru the "parking lot" (discussion board). The material was filled with mistakes, the tests had questions on stuff we never learned, and some questions didn't have correct answers. The videos never worked, the "games" didn't have correct answers, the quizzes didn't either.
At the end of the day we would have to fill out critiques on each section we went thru. They decided by block 4 that the CBI version was a failure, but didn't inform us until after we took the final test. Only 2 people didn't pass the final test. One was with a 69, but on the instructor version he passed with a 95.
 
We were in basics the same time as that test class was going through the second time. Computer led basics is a joke. The instructors were able to answer questions for us and help to give little memory aids for certain information. Our class even had one person fail from basics. Yes they would save some money by going CBI but the wash rate would be way worse. There are a lot of good foundations in basics.
 
30 days in a small room with no fridge, microwave, or way to cook. The meal plan seems to cost the entire per diem. YIKES.
 
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In addition to the room with no anything, we are also required to get on the hotel meal plan. We will be given no per diem.
30 days at 3 restaurants unless I want to spend out of pocket. Ridiculous. Laundry? Out of pocket. Literally anything else I need at Norman? Out of pocket.
 
Yes, and I don’t know who to talk to this about! I’ve gotten a few calls from great people, and they’ve done what -they- can do. Info, reassuring me that it’ll be an adjustment, etc. I don’t want to sound out of line with this, but you’re right.
Three days ago I had an apartment with almost everything I needed, now I’m in a box for the first month without even a mini fridge? “I don’t want this potato right now, I’ll throw it out!”
And this is all costing the FAA more. Ugh.
 
Not saying that it makes things right but approximately 15 years ago people went to the Academy on just the salary... No per diem at all. They paid for their own housing and their own meals.
I hear ya man. My issue is they changed it two weeks out. Also if this is the cost of entry, I get it. I’ll look back on this probably a month later like “I made it work” but it’s daunting at the moment.
 
Not saying that it makes things right but approximately 15 years ago people went to the Academy on just the salary... No per diem at all. They paid for their own housing and their own meals.
I feel for those people. Without per diem I probably wouldn’t have taken the chance at academy with zero understanding of what the job was lol.
 
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