Terminal Class pass rate

[Aunah]

Congrats to those who passed from this class. To those coming to FAI feel free to message me with any questions, happy to talk about Alaska, driving/flying up here, apartments, and the job!
If you prefer discord Aunah#1337

 

[pedaNTIc]

Probably too slow, but anyone considering POC it’s a really good facility. Jump on it.

No, I’m not trying to leave.

 

[CCparents]

I don’t remember if you are the same person or not but I feel like when I was reading through at some point you seemed enthusiastic about getting hired.. what changed? Instructors? Evaluators? OKC in general? Better job at home?(which I’ve heard of, people don’t want some level 5 in the middle of nowhere or someplace they can’t afford to live and would rather go back to what they were doing instead)


If an RPO makes an error shouldn’t the evaluators take the plane out of the problem? What probably happened was they thought the RPO made an error but didn’t and didn’t fix the resulting issue correctly and got points off for that and I don’t think they can argue with the evaluator for points back at that point.

Did anybody choose POC? Easy and great place to work. You will not be disappointed.

 

[Charlie Tango]

No one from the class chose POC unfortunately

 

[Acquired Taste]

No one from the class chose POC unfortunately

Bro, I understand POC.... but the fact that 4 of you guys would rather go to FAI than PIA which is going to be a 4 tower only in the continental U.S. with 14/15 CPCs currently and 10 trainees with 1 (could've been 2) more inbound is absolutely mind blowing to me. You could go there and check out in a year (accounting for the massive backlog they are sure to experience) and certify in a year and bid out because they're going to be tripping over themselves, or go to FAI and freeze your ass off for potentially 5+ years.... you guys done goofed up real good
.

 

[boggy]

Bro, I understand POC.... but the fact that 4 of you guys would rather go to FAI than PIA which is going to be a 4 tower only in the continental U.S. with 14/15 CPCs currently and 10 trainees with 1 (could've been 2) more inbound is absolutely mind blowing to me. You could go there and check out in a year (accounting for the massive backlog they are sure to experience) and certify in a year and bid out because they're going to be tripping over themselves, or go to FAI and freeze your ass off for potentially 5+ years.... you guys done goofed up real good
.

You do realize that people who aren't familiar with how things work in the agency (took me years to figure it all out) make the best decisions based on what info they have, yeah? Also, maybe FAI is where they want to spend their lives/careers. It'd be really nice if we spent our time on this site helping and informing fellow / future controllers instead of trying to seem clever to.... feel better about ourselves?

 

[jayinak]

There is a lot of Alaskans in this field. Between UAA and the military. It doesnt suprise me to pick FAI.

 

[Acquired Taste]

You do realize that people who aren't familiar with how things work in the agency (took me years to figure it all out) make the best decisions based on what info they have, yeah? Also, maybe FAI is where they want to spend their lives/careers. It'd be really nice if we spent our time on this site helping and informing fellow / future controllers instead of trying to seem clever to.... feel better about ourselves?

Hot take but PIA might be the best choice in that list. With their 804 going thru soon and looking at the numbers, it's got to be some kind of glitch making their projected numbers so bad. Currently 21/22 aob and 5 trainees, 1 outbound and they are projected 69%? Can't be right. I think for a 24 hour level 4 tower that they are about to become, they're probably looking at a staffing number similar to DAY at 15. TL;DR once their target gets adjusted they, they're going to have hella cat 1 releases.

That's partially my bad because I thought I tried to inform this class that PIA was a potential diamond in the rough. That post was from 7/10. I know this class got delayed for covid so I got lost on my timeline a little. I do wish someone advised me on what to choose when I went through. Would've saved me a lot of trouble and heart ache.

A lot of those big moves in targets were the result of 804. GEG increased by 9 but now PSC is way overstaffed. Same deal with PIA, SPI, and T75. I had a feeling there was a mistake on those PIA numbers. Now they're staffed at 133% AOB, 109% projected, and still have 2 slots on the current academy list. ⚠️ Country club alert ⚠️

I also posted this in the August 2022 ncept thread.

I'd like to extend this offer to anyone who reads it.... if you're ever unsure of what choice to make coming out of the academy or on a prior experience list, shoot me a PM. I will do my best to steer you in the right direction. One bad facility choice can alter your career entirely... ask me how I know.

 

[WavesAndClouds]

If there's an RPO error on an eval, you can argue your points back. Had this happen to a classmate and he passed.

It was me! Haha

 

[pedaNTIc]

Bro, I understand POC....

Why? Because it's in CA? I get that it's not for everyone, I mean I'm from Montana but I like it here. Yeah there's some hobbies that might be difficult to indulge in here (hunting and guns come to mind), but do you let that hijack your life and livelihood?

You could go there and check out in a year (accounting for the massive backlog they are sure to experience) and certify in a year and bid out because they're going to be tripping over themselves, or go to FAI and freeze your ass off for potentially 5+ years....

All this stuff applies to us and then some. We're at 9 of 11 CPCs. Only one with paperwork out. Stats, straight out of the priority placement tool, 94.1% training success rate, no one in training at the moment (hardship inbound in the next pay period tho), 6 mos training duration average. So slightly better than PIA, although that amount of trainees with slots still being issued at AAC is wild. Having worked here when really overstaffed (18/11), I thought it sucked...esp when management gets the TOP burr up their ass again. But anyway this was a chance to go to 12/11 with the two slots at AAC and the hardship, paperwork hasn't caught up for that yet (but will) so now we'll likely only get one more from AAC if that.

I try not to toot the horn too loudly for our place because I don't want to attract douchers, but it's got a lot going for it and there's a number who come here and choose to stay, and they're not all locals. And the nobody in training thing, I've experienced that 4-5 times here, for months and sometimes years at a span. How often do you get that elsewhere? Minimal OT, those few on the occasional 6 day thing are the volunteers on the yes list, it is not a consistent thing. No mids, we close at 9.

...you guys done goofed up real good

Yeah, talk about a missed opportunity all around.

 

[Acquired Taste]

Why? Because it's in CA? I get that it's not for everyone, I mean I'm from Montana but I like it here. Yeah there's some hobbies that might be difficult to indulge in here (hunting and guns come to mind), but do you let that hijack your life and livelihood?

All this stuff applies to us and then some. We're at 9 of 11 CPCs. Only one with paperwork out. Stats, straight out of the priority placement tool, 94.1% training success rate, no one in training at the moment (hardship inbound in the next pay period tho), 6 mos training duration average. So slightly better than PIA, although that amount of trainees with slots still being issued at AAC is wild. Having worked here when really overstaffed (18/11), I thought it sucked...esp when management gets the TOP burr up their ass again. But anyway this was a chance to go to 12/11 with the two slots at AAC and the hardship, paperwork hasn't caught up for that yet (but will) so now we'll likely only get one more from AAC if that.

I try not to toot the horn too loudly for our place because I don't want to attract douchers, but it's got a lot going for it and there's a number who come here and choose to stay, and they're not all locals. And the nobody in training thing, I've experienced that 4-5 times here, for months and sometimes years at a span. How often do you get that elsewhere? Minimal OT, those few on the occasional 6 day thing are the volunteers on the yes list, it is not a consistent thing. No mids, we close at 9.

Yeah, talk about a missed opportunity all around.

I personally would try to avoid POC specifically because the pay relative to cost of living is one of the worst in the FAA and I wouldn't want to try and survive on AG pay or even CPC pay out there for any length of time. Plus I have a negative perception of Cali as a whole, from the politics to the cost of living to the congestion... Even with that I think I would still probably choose POC over FAI but that's just me. There are some benefits like you pointed out but I don't think you have to worry about douchers busting down the door to get in there. Closing at 9, no trainees in the pipeline, and quick checkout times are huge pluses though.

It definitely would have been a good opportunity to get you guys way over the numbers if 2 people went there instead but now you guys wont be up on the academy list for awhile since someone just ERR'd there on the panel and not even counting the hardship, you guys are back down to 153 on the academy list unfortunately.

 

[SlowBimmers]

I personally would try to avoid POC specifically because the pay relative to cost of living is one of the worst in the FAA and I wouldn't want to try and survive on AG pay or even CPC pay out there for any length of time. Plus I have a negative perception of Cali as a whole, from the politics to the cost of living to the congestion... Even with that I think I would still probably choose POC over FAI but that's just me. There are some benefits like you pointed out but I don't think you have to worry about douchers busting down the door to get in there. Closing at 9, no trainees in the pipeline, and quick checkout times are huge pluses though.

It definitely would have been a good opportunity to get you guys way over the numbers if 2 people went there instead but now you guys wont be up on the academy list for awhile since someone just ERR'd there on the panel and not even counting the hardship, you guys are back down to 153 on the academy list unfortunately.

Where can you see where facilities stand regarding academy lists?

 

[pedaNTIc]

I personally would try to avoid POC specifically because the pay relative to cost of living is one of the worst in the FAA and I wouldn't want to try and survive on AG pay or even CPC pay out there for any length of time.

Okay I'm not coming after you specifically with this, just trying to kill a false impression. How do you think I'm getting by, making a living out here? I've been here for a long while, and two other facilities as well. And I've lived here on AG pay. Made it just fine (also btw with 6 mos avg to CPC, people aren't AG very long, and once you have GC it's D3 pay). Own a house. The majority of my coworkers, 7 of 9 own their homes as well, nobody's sweating their mortgages. My spouse does work, but she's done that everywhere else we've lived too. Nobody's working second jobs (unless they want to), nobody's giving ZJs on the streets, etc. Believe it or not I am far better paid here than I was in a region with a lower perceived cost of living. Locality and CIP make a difference, and that's what it's for.

I have a negative perception of Cali as a whole, from the politics to the cost of living to the congestion...

Dude, I'm from Montana. I get it. Some of it is the geography, where we are physically located, nobody from out of the area really knows where La Verne is or that it's an an okay/nice area, reasonable cost of living, good wage etc. We're not Palo Alto or Torrance, you don't have to commute from an hour plus away (unless you choose to, we've had people do that and guess what they whined non-stop but it was their choice). I live 15 minutes from work. Downside, it gets hot in the late summers/fall and if you want to get to the beach (if you're into that) the closest one is like 45-50 minutes away, and others are over an hour. Oh well. Disneyland is 35 minutes away if you want to give the Mouse all your money. I'm three hours by car from Vegas if I want to go, have ONT to catch flights out of 20 mins from my house. Sometimes you have to fly out of LAX (overseas flights or more direct options) and getting there can be heinous. We're right at the foot of the mountains, so if you want to cool off and go into the hills it's right there.

As for the douchers, you'd be surprised.

And what if I told you the NCEPT selection and the Hardship are the same person? Ooof!

"Prices not valid in Alaska or Hawaii" gets old, I've lived that one and know it. The Montanan in me loves the idea of living in Alaska tho, so I don't want to rain on the FAI guys too much, but the wife puts the kibosh on that.

 

[Acquired Taste]

Where can you see where facilities stand regarding academy lists?

ksn2.faa.gov, login with faa credentials, then search ncept public. If you don't have creds, the terminal placement list gets updated on here semi-regularly.

Okay I'm not coming after you specifically with this, just trying to kill a false impression. How do you think I'm getting by, making a living out here? I've been here for a long while, and two other facilities as well. And I've lived here on AG pay. Made it just fine (also btw with 6 mos avg to CPC, people aren't AG very long, and once you have GC it's D3 pay). Own a house. The majority of my coworker, 7 of 9 own their homes as well, nobody's sweating their mortgages. My spouse does work, but she's done that everywhere else we've lived too. Nobody's working second jobs (unless they want to), nobody's giving ZJs on the streets, etc. Believe it or not I am far better paid here than I was in a region with a lower perceived cost of living. Locality and CIP make a difference, and that's what it's for.

Dude, I'm from Montana. I get it. Some of it is the geography, where we are physically located, nobody from out of the area really knows where La Verne is or that it's an an okay/nice area, reasonable cost of living, good wage etc. We're not Palo Alto or Torrance, you don't have to commute from an hour plus away (unless you choose to, we've had people do that and guess what they whined non-stop but it was their choice). I live 15 minutes from work. Downside, it gets hot in the late summers/fall and if you want to get to the beach (if you're into that) the closest one is like 45-50 minutes away, and others are over an hour. Oh well. Disneyland is 35 minutes away if you want to give the Mouse all your money. I'm three hours by car from Vegas if I want to go, have ONT to catch flights out of 20 mins from my house. Sometimes you have to fly out of LAX (overseas flights or more direct options) and getting there can be heinous. We're right at the foot of the mountains, so if you want to cool off and go into the hills it's right there.

As for the douchers, you'd be surprised.

And what if I told you the NCEPT selection and the Hardship are the same person? Ooof!

"Prices not valid in Alaska or Hawaii" gets old, I've lived that one and know it. The Montanan in me loves the idea of living in Alaska tho, so I don't want to rain on the FAI guys too much, but the wife puts the kibosh on that.

Anywhere you where you have to spend more than 1 of your CPC checks on a month of rent for a decent 1 bedroom apartment is no place that I'd want to go personally. Looks like in the surrounding area, you're currently looking at $2300+ to get a decent 1 bedroom apartment and for that reason alone, it's going to be undesirable. Family sized houses currently a minimum of 600k and needs some work done to it. Add in a 6% interest rate on a 30y fixed mortgage and that's almost all your take home pay right there. It just isn't feasible. You can try and convince people to come there all day and quite frankly it makes no difference if you do or don't. The FAA is still eventually going to fill those slots regardless of what I or anyone else says. But to sit here and paint a rosy picture of how it ain't so bad is exactly is disingenuous. If anyone asks me if they should choose my facility, I'll give them the straight up honest answers they're looking for. It has pros and cons and really depends what you're looking for but I personally would only choose it again over about 20 of the other 313 facilities out there.

 

[Tater_Toad]

You do realize that people who aren't familiar with how things work in the agency (took me years to figure it all out) make the best decisions based on what info they have, yeah? Also, maybe FAI is where they want to spend their lives/careers. It'd be really nice if we spent our time on this site helping and informing fellow / future controllers instead of trying to seem clever to.... feel better about ourselves?

You don't belittle people for doing things differently? Are you a developmental?

 

[pedaNTIc]

Anywhere you where you have to spend more than 1 of your CPC checks on a month of rent for a decent 1 bedroom apartment is no place that I'd want to go personally.

But I don't though, and never have. Rent for both places I had was 1200 and 1500/mo, and my mortgage is less than a CPC check. And like I said, people won't be AG long.

The FAA is still eventually going to fill those slots regardless of what I or anyone else says. But to sit here and paint a rosy picture of how it ain't so bad is exactly is disingenuous. If anyone asks me if they should choose my facility, I'll give them the straight up honest answers they're looking for. It has pros and cons and really depends what you're looking for but I personally would only choose it again over about 20 of the other 313 facilities out there.

I wish I had that faith that they would, but that last minute addition of SJU fucked us, what was that about, so much for picks 3 and 5. And how was anything I said disingenuous? Stated our pros and cons as well, and I relayed my experiences and reality. And if you think this is expensive, try living in Alaska or Puerto Rico! 5 people about to find out...

 

[sczarn]

I was in this class. I resigned the day before eval. I just hated ATC and didn’t want this for myself. I also didn’t want to be a contributing factor for someone losing points on the PE and not getting the job.

I believe 1 didn’t pass because of some RPO error which caused him to get a deal. Very unfortunate

How does it work with leaving the academy before the time ends? (Quitting, essentially)

 

[DADDYSbabyBIRD]

Can you pass the academy and then choose to just go home / leave the job (not pick any of their locations offered), so basically quit right after passing the evaluations?

Yes, this is not the military. You can quit any minute you want.

 

[Phanatical]

How does it work with leaving the academy before the time ends? (Quitting, essentially)

Just like quitting any job... complete with security walkouts.

 

[Qwertymnbv]

Can you pass the academy and then choose to just go home / leave the job (not pick any of their locations offered), so basically quit right after passing the evaluations?

Yeah it happened like 2 months ago, finished their last eval and then went up stairs and resigned.