I'm a controller at ONT. My first facility. Been there since March 2014. I'll answer your questions first then throw in my take on the facility and my own experiences. Training takes about 1 year. I showed up March 31, 2014. Certified March 10, 2015. There is pattern work, though not as much as at the local VFR Towers that border our Class C. We are a 24 hour facility, and normally see 5-6 pattern workers throughout the day. Not difficult to work them by themselves, but becomes more complex when the pattern guys show up at night during the arrival/departure rush between 10pm-midnight. Mixing heavies, large and pattern guys. I had 3 in the pattern my last mid shift with a flurry of heavies. Local towers that border our airspace include Brackett (POC), Chino (CNO) and Riverside (RAL). We also have Cable (CCB) just NW of us, a non-towered airport. Further out you have San Bernardino (SBD), Corona (AJO), El Monte (EMT) and Flabob (RIR) which can affect our operation. We do not have automatic releases for IFRs due to the close proximity to these airports. We do have automated data tag transfers with POC, CNO and RAL. Chino is very busy (700 ops daily). We receive many VFR transitions to and from these local airports thru our Class C. Plus three SCT sectors meet at our midfield. Pomona, Norton and Riverside sectors. Have many law-enforcement aircraft that operate within our air space. Ontario PD , Fontana PD and San Bernardino Sheriffs. For a level 5 tower we keep faintly busy being in the LA area. City of Ontario owns and operates the airport now which was just transferred to local control in November 2016 from Los Angeles ownership . Traffic is slowly increasing. We are 2nd busiest city for UPS. Fedex will be moving their LAX operation to ONT in 2020. Amazon Prime has 10 arrivals per day. Southwest is the major carrier followed by American. JetBlue is returning this fall. Airport is the only unconstrained air carrier facility in the LA basin. Tons of room to grow and the airport authority and tends to make Ontario the second busiest airline facility in SoCal ultimately. If they can do it remains to be seen. Air cargo will continue to be put strong point for now it seems. I do have some of the longest run away is in Southern California so we do get an interesting mix of traffic. We are a high-level five and should be level six within a year or so. Those controllers live here in the inland Empire. We currently have 10 CPCs. Fully staffed number is 18. currently five in training and we are getting a sixth person next week from the Academy. We have been working 6 day workweeks for two years now due to being short staffed. Hopefully we can get these people certified and get some relief soon. I'm from OC but like so many in their 20s/30s here, cannot afford an 800k house there. We bought a house in Lake Elsinore late 2016. 45 min commute via the 15 freeway. Closer to Ontario you get the higher the prices. Most people who live closer to Ontario airport bought their house at least five years ago. Renting is a different story . Some of our trainees have gotten really good deals on apartments within a mile or two of the airport. Those of us that have families and in my case 4 kids, have to go out a little bit further to be able to afford a house. Our controllers live in places like Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Fontana, Victorville, Ontario Ranch, and Lake Elsinore. Our trainees rent in Ontario, Canyon Lake, Anaheim Hills and 1 guy makes a marathon commute from San Diego. 1 thing I will add- if you come to ONT, we have one of the best Sim/classroom instructors you could ever work with. Dave Kaufman is outstanding. You will be very fortunate to have had him help start (or restart) your FAA career. Morale currently is lower than avg, primarily due to the 6 days and many of us working a mix of 2 swings, 2 mornings, 2 mids. Mid shift traffic is fun. We run contra flow ops from midnight to 6am. (Arrive 26L/R and depart 8L/R). I love the job and Ontario is been a great place to start. Unsure at this point what will come next but one thing is for certain- this place is starting to get much busier. You can PM me anytime with any other specific questions about the facility. I'd be happy to help you out. -Brian Gleason (BG)
