Been qualified for a couple of months now and just not enjoying the shiftwork and 6 day work weeks when I was a trainee or now that I am a CPC at an up/down. After seeing that I may need to wait 5-10 years to get to my home state as an FAA controller I'm contemplating just quitting, taking an opening at a contract tower and waiting for the base near my home to have an opening and trying for that. I haven't seen much recently on the DOD side of the house and was wondering if anyone could give me some insight onto the transfer process from the FAA or direct hire to a DOD facility and any tips on getting selected.
FAA/contract to DOD questions and quality of life
- Thread starter MrNoodle
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I am fortunate to be at a DoD facility in paradise with a Monday-Friday schedule and 0630-1430 with weekends/holidays off. Search my post history for information on Key West DoD. It might help you a bit, though each DoD facility is different as others on here will attest, the ability to transfer and bid other facilities with far greater success than the FAA. In the long run with the FAA you will make more money, with DoD you’ll live to spend the money you earn and have a better quality of life.
ajmezz
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Didn’t you just start? Must be pretty damn bad lol. Not hatin bc I know how it can be.
TushingPin
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I'd advise not to go contract. At the minimum keep building your time in the FAA until you can transfer. Mind mentioning what DOD facility you're interested in? The biggest downside of leaving the faa and doing contract is it stops the retirement time. Some contract towers are significantly better than others as well, but even the good ones you work your ass off for a fairly insignificant pay.
D-Dub
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My FCT is part of NATCA, so that's a help, but OP also don't forget, with contract you get virtually no leave until your one year anniversary with the company.
TushingPin
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I'm referring to retirement. That sweet sweet 1.7%. Your NATCA seniority date is cool and all, but personally I'd rather retire earlier (or with more retirement money) than higher seniority.
DOD retirement is the same as FAA. I was prior FAA went to DOD but will be going back to FAA.
DOD pros: 1.)way better work schedule we are week of days, week of nights, and you can choose if you want to work a weekend shift don’t have to.
2.) leave is easy to get whenever
3.) amount of work per dollar. My facility can get busy but I make more money than I did at my level 8 and do WAY less work.
CONs 1.) less premiums, you get Sunday pay and night diff, you get holiday pay. No premium for training or CIC, I get even money 1/1for an overtime shift not 1.5
2.) less money. Been stated already but there are only a few GS 13 controller jobs more 11/12 jobs so look up the pay and see
3.) less locations, if you are wanting to live on one of the coasts there are plenty of places, but if you are looking in the Midwest there are not a many locations
4.) look to see if it is a DoD training facility. If you don’t train service members at your facility great. In my personal opinion/experience you get 1-2 out of 10 that want to put in the work to be a good air traffic controller. Young 18-22 year olds that want to do as little as possible. Yes I know I will get the FAA has lazy controllers too but again I have done both and this is my opinion.
DOD pros: 1.)way better work schedule we are week of days, week of nights, and you can choose if you want to work a weekend shift don’t have to.
2.) leave is easy to get whenever
3.) amount of work per dollar. My facility can get busy but I make more money than I did at my level 8 and do WAY less work.
CONs 1.) less premiums, you get Sunday pay and night diff, you get holiday pay. No premium for training or CIC, I get even money 1/1for an overtime shift not 1.5
2.) less money. Been stated already but there are only a few GS 13 controller jobs more 11/12 jobs so look up the pay and see
3.) less locations, if you are wanting to live on one of the coasts there are plenty of places, but if you are looking in the Midwest there are not a many locations
4.) look to see if it is a DoD training facility. If you don’t train service members at your facility great. In my personal opinion/experience you get 1-2 out of 10 that want to put in the work to be a good air traffic controller. Young 18-22 year olds that want to do as little as possible. Yes I know I will get the FAA has lazy controllers too but again I have done both and this is my opinion.
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All the above are well stated, especially CON #4.
D-Dub
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Oh, I'm with you! I'm waiting for med clearance. FCT is hopefully temporary for me.
TushingPin
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That's only relevant if you're a 12. 11s get OT.
Another pro you're missing (depending what service you're in) is the Air Force is pushing a 10% increase in the SSR rate. Rumor has it they're trying to make it effective 1 Jan.
Training is..... training. I find people either enjoy it or not. My facility is fairly understanding with you wanting or not wanting to train. But my facility is also fairly short staffed. So I suppose it's more up to your ATM/CCTLR than it is every DOD facility. Also, at the guard base I'm at, the majority of trainees we get are fairly hard chargers (they had to select ATC themselves)
Raz
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but dod retirement doesn’t take into account ssr. Your high 3 would be calculated off of the local locality and your base pays. Basically if you’re in a radar position it’s about 14% less than what you are making.
Other than that I loved working for the Air Force as dod. If my location would have been somewhere more ideal I would have stayed longer.
Other than that I loved working for the Air Force as dod. If my location would have been somewhere more ideal I would have stayed longer.
Raz
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I didn’t have any downtime either direction. I worked for one agency on a Saturday and Sunday I worked for the next. I did get change of station leave when I got back in the FAA.
I have a question about going from faa to dod. I quit the FAA this year and have applied to 2 dod tower jobs. I was not referred for either, they both said I was ineligible. I was faa for 10 years and cpc at an 8 up/down. Am I missing something on the eligibility questions, or how does that work? They said because I'm prior excepted service that I didn't qualify. Any advice on how I can qualify for did as a former faa cpc?
Gotta look at the qualifiers. Some are like only excepted, only competetive, have veteran options, spouse of veteran, etc. Just gotta look at what you qualify for. I was cert at a DoD spot as active duty, but couldn't apply because it was competitive service and no vet option
Slarti Bartfast
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To add to what sixty said, what you want to look for on their questionnaire is this:
That interchange agreement is here:
FAA-wf - Sign In
FAA-wf - Sign In
This is from the Iwakuni bid from a couple weeks ago, I applied as a CPC at a level 5 for over a year, they said I'm not qualified but according to this I should be. It does specify that you have to be GS11 or equivalent for a year, which I wrote a cover letter saying I make $72,000 and GS 11 is around $70,000. Worth a shot... I just sent an email to the hiring manager for clarification, haven't gotten a response yet. Only thing I notice in your case that could be a problem is that it seems to specify you've been separated for less than a year.
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Thanks for bringing that up. So going by this, I can't use an interchange agreement to get hired by dod because I am a former federal employee.
I know I see people leave the FAA and get on with dod later on, so I'm assuming it has to be possible. I just haven't seen one recently and can't figure out what qualification they're applying under.
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