ONT

MJ

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Staff member
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3,157
ONT
Ontario Tower
Level: 5
Type: Tower with Radar
Facility Info
Address: 1250 Tower Dr, Ontario, CA 91761
Phone: 909-605-0057
Hours: 0000-2359
Region: Western
District Los Angeles
MMAC Travel Days 3

Pay

CPC
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D3
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D2
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D1
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AG
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Locality
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CIP
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COLA
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Differential
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Staffing

CPC Total
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CPC Target
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% of Target
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CPC-Trainee %
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Trainee Total
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Training Time (years)
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Success %
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NCEPT

Category
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Gains (Nat'l Avg)
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Gains (Target)
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Releases
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Projections

% to Target
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Inbounds
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Outbounds
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Losses
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National Averages

Current CPC % to Target
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Projected CPC % to Target
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Updated --/--/----


Operational Info​


External Links​

A/FD

Local Area​


External Links​

 
Just curious about this facility. How long is training typically? Where do the controllers usually live? Is there any traffic pattern work? How does the close proximity of other airports like CNO affect the tower’s operation?
 
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)
 
BG is the truth!

SoCal gets a bad rap for cost of living, people make it sound impossible to afford. 14 million in the LA area and climbing, and they're not all rich. Living inland, it's very doable. Go west, the prices go up.
 
I’m from LA, fingers crossed this is on the list when I finish the academy at the end of August. I see it moved to 100 on the placement list today
 
The guy who posted the long write up hasn’t been around in a while. anyone work here that has a sec to chat?
 
I can relay a message, he's a friend, what do you want to know?
Just wanted to ask about their staffing number. 18 seems like a lot for a level 5 tower only, even one that’s 24 hours. Do they fully staff their mid?
 
They might, their mid is actually fairly busy, it's UPS's biggest hub outside of Louisville and FedEx has pulled their operation out of LAX and relocated to ONT. But I'll ask!
 
Just wanted to ask about their staffing number. 18 seems like a lot for a level 5 tower only, even one that’s 24 hours. Do they fully staff their mid?
Good point, SMF/RNO have 15 for their number, seems more appropriate. My guess is the mid traffic they staff 3.
 
First off, Jumper Bones is a great friend and excellent CPC.

I am still at ONT. We currently have 14 CPCs. 18 is 100%. Currently 9 in training. 3 on LC, 6 on GC. We will be losing 1 to retirement and 1 hardship near the end of the year.

We staff the mid with 2, unlike SDF or MEM which run a full crew overnight. I can see this changing longer term if our cargo operation continues to grow like it is.

As I may have said before, our level 5 status can be deceiving. Since my last post, the airport has embarked on some large construction projects on the airfield. We have been a single runway operation off and on for the last couple years. RWY26R is being upgraded to a CAT3 ILS with new TDZ Lighting being installed. RWY26L will soon be going down for a long term closure to rebuild portions of the runway and construct new taxiway high speed & new regular exits. FedEx completed phase 1 of their new air hub last year, with phase 2 coming soon. UPS is getting ready to add 7 new gates along TWY S on the SE side with a new parallel taxiway. The reason for level 5 is our very slow weekend traffic (Reduced cargo schedule). We are fairly busy beginning Monday nights thru Friday mornings. Fri night thru Mon mornings are much slower, especially Sat & Sun when our surrounding VFR towers are busy. Our mornings are busy, especially when we run Contra Flow ODO operations for noise abatement. Lots of intersection departure rules applied with mix of B748, B744, B763 types down to C208s and BE99s. Good about of PD helicopter traffic and complexity with surrounding VFR towers on our Airspace boundaries in all directions.


Breakdown of Flights (Mo-Fr)—

UPS: 50-55/day
FDX: 13-15/day
FDX Feeder: 12-13/day
UPS Feeder: 6
Amazon: 9-10
US Mail: 2
SWA: 28-30
AAL: 11-12
DAL: 10
FFT: 7-9
ASA: 6-7
UAL: 5-6
VOI: 1-2
HAL: 1
JBU: 1
TAI: 4xWeek
CAL 2xMonth
FBO Traffic: 10-15/day
Pattern Ops: 30-40/Day
Overflights/Transitions: 40-50/day

PM me anytime with any questions and I’ll try to reply in a timely manner ?

-BG

First off, Jumper Bones is a great friend and excellent CPC.

I am still at ONT. We currently have 14 CPCs. 18 is 100%. Currently 9 in training. 3 on LC, 6 on GC. We will be losing 1 to retirement and 1 hardship near the end of the year.

We staff the mid with 2, unlike SDF or MEM which run a full crew overnight. I can see this changing longer term if our cargo operation continues to grow like it is.

As I may have said before, our level 5 status can be deceiving. Since my last post, the airport has embarked on some large construction projects on the airfield. We have been a single runway operation off and on for the last couple years. RWY26R is being upgraded to a CAT3 ILS with new TDZ Lighting being installed. RWY26L will soon be going down for a long term closure to rebuild portions of the runway and construct new taxiway high speed & new regular exits. FedEx completed phase 1 of their new air hub last year, with phase 2 coming soon. UPS is getting ready to add 7 new gates along TWY S on the SE side with a new parallel taxiway. The reason for level 5 is our very slow weekend traffic (Reduced cargo schedule). We are fairly busy beginning Monday nights thru Friday mornings. Fri night thru Mon mornings are much slower, especially Sat & Sun when our surrounding VFR towers are busy. Our mornings are busy, especially when we run Contra Flow ODO operations for noise abatement. Lots of intersection departure rules applied with mix of B748, B744, B763 types down to C208s and BE99s. Good about of PD helicopter traffic and complexity with surrounding VFR towers on our Airspace boundaries in all directions.


Breakdown of Flights (Mo-Fr)—

UPS: 50-55/day
FDX: 13-15/day
FDX Feeder: 12-13/day
UPS Feeder: 6
Amazon: 9-10
US Mail: 2
SWA: 28-30
AAL: 11-12
DAL: 10
FFT: 7-9
ASA: 6-7
UAL: 5-6
VOI: 1-2
HAL: 1
JBU: 1
TAI: 4xWeek
CAL 2xMonth
FBO Traffic: 10-15/day
Pattern Ops: 30-40/Day
Overflights/Transitions: 40-50/day

PM me anytime with any questions and I’ll try to reply in a timely manner ?

-BG
To follow up again, just because we are a 5 doesn’t mean we don’t need the number of people on board. We staff LC, GC, CIC and often split CD during the morning departure rush. Our # was 15 until a year or two ago then it was raised to 18.
 
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