Virtual On-boarding and Online Basics

Yeah I just don’t want to be working at my other job if they were wanting me to suddenly start... I don’t think that would be the case, but you never know.
Even the FAA knows most places require 2 weeks notice, so I wouldn't worry.
 
When I was onboarded we were told we would receive a start date within 3-4 weeks. On monday I received an email saying I would receive a date within 4-5 weeks of onboard date, so who knows
And we’re getting paid the whole time we wait right? I’ve asked this numerous times but i just wanted to quadruple check.

i onboarded the 27th. Im curious when I’ll receive my first check.
 
And we’re getting paid the whole time we wait right? I’ve asked this numerous times but i just wanted to quadruple check.

i onboarded the 27th. Im curious when I’ll receive my first check.
That is correct and pay day is this coming Tuesday. Keep an out out for a nice little present from Santa!
 
Would someone whos recently/currently done the online basics process give me a rundown of pertinent facts so I can add some info to the FAQs on it.
Things like hours, if there's an option on hours (east/west coast/etc), anything about the course that you think would be helpful for someone looking for info
 
Would someone whos recently/currently done the online basics process give me a rundown of pertinent facts so I can add some info to the FAQs on it.
Things like hours, if there's an option on hours (east/west coast/etc), anything about the course that you think would be helpful for someone looking for info
Online Basics is 18 days. Still 5 Block tests with an EOC. Before the class starts you will receive emails inviting you to join Huddle and DRS/Blackboard. Huddle contains the 5 Block PDF's as well as a detailed class schedule that breaks down what you will cover each day. DRS/Blackboard is used to click through the lessons, play "games", take ELT's and block tests; none of which count for the final grade. It is also used to take the EOC which you still need 70% to pass. Basics was from 9:00am - 5:30pm central. There was only one timeslot for everyone to attend. You get a 45min lunch and multiple 15 min breaks (fluctuates by day). After the EOC they will email you your score and then "someone from the FAA" will join your zoom and vaguely explain the phases leading up to academy.
 
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Online Basics is 18 days. Still 5 Block tests with an EOC. Before the class starts you will receive emails inviting you to join Huddle and DRS/Blackboard. Huddle contains the 5 Block PDF's as well as a detailed class schedule that breaks down what you will cover each day. DRS/Blackboard is used to click through the lessons, play "games", take ELT's and block tests; none of which count for the final grade. It is also used to take the EOC which you still need 70% to pass. Basics was from 10:00am - 6:00pm central. There was only one timeslot for everyone to attend. You get a 45min lunch and multiple 15 min breaks (fluctuates by day). After the EOC they will email you your score and then "someone from the FAA" will join your zoom and vaguely explain the phases leading up to academy.
Thanks. What about the interm between finishing basics online and starting at mmac? are there any check-ins, requirements, etc?
 
FWIW our Basics was 9am - 530pm Central so I dont know what decides that seeing as we had people in all time zones. My class passed on 10/8 and now we have Virtual Initial En Route Qualification Lessons for 2 weeks starting on the 16th. It runs 10am to 230pm Central.
 
FWIW our Basics was 9am - 530pm Central so I dont know what decides that seeing as we had people in all time zones. My class passed on 10/8 and now we have Virtual Initial En Route Qualification Lessons for 2 weeks starting on the 16th. It runs 10am to 230pm Central.
anything required during the months time between the 2week portion and starting the real course?
 
anything required during the months time between the 2week portion and starting the real course?
That part Im not sure about. My OKC date is 1-5-21 but we were told there would be some form of Zoom class up until 5-7 days before OKC. So I dont know what happens after this 2 week course.
 
Thanks. What about the interm between finishing basics online and starting at mmac? are there any check-ins, requirements, etc?
My understanding is that this varied slightly by class, so I can only tell you from my perspective (Terminal). One thing that I can say is nothing after basics/before academy is graded. After basics, we had one day off before we started the next portion. We were put into a two week "Proof of Concept" course that covered the first ~17 Virtual Initial Tower Cab lessons via DRS/Blackboard (These lessons are identical to the ones we will eventually be taught and tested on at the academy). It was very rough and still need ironed out; slides were out of order, videos wouldn't play, and the ELT's had wrong answer choices. This class was from 10:00am - 2:30pm central. You got a 30 min lunch with multiple 15min breaks. Once you are done with the two week course, you begin a ~6 week course that goes over all 28 Initial Tower Cab lessons. This is not on DRS/Blackboard; you just get access through Huddle to all the lesson PDFs. In this phase you simply go over all the material and occasionally take EOL tests. There is a lot of focus on phraseology practice that they try and fit in most days. This is the course where you are given two different time slots to choose from: 8:00am - 11:00am or 11:30am - 2:30pm central; you will get two 15min breaks most days. You are required to attend each day, but you can attend either one or both on any given day. You will also receive an email breaking down the schedule of what lessons you will go over on which days for this course. Upon completion of the Virtual Initial Tower Cab, you join a pool of students waiting to get called to the academy. I haven't reached this phase yet, but from what we've been told, it is just a rolling review of the Initial Tower Cab lessons that you take until you are contacted to go to academy. Unsure of the time slots available.

Our instructors have been sharing some rumors that they've been hearing. There is currently roughly 30 students in the pool waiting to go to academy (for terminal) because it is bottlenecked due to class restraints at OKC. They are trying to up the amount of classes at OKC sometime in November to ~4-5. This would get rid of all the students stuck in the rolling course. All speculation, but it seems that they are trying to get rid of the rolling review phase.

So to make it simple:

Basics (18 days): 9:00am - 5:30pm
Proof of Concept (11 days): 10:00am - 2:30pm
Virtual Initial Tower Cab (31 days): 8:00am - 11:00am or 11:30am - 2:30pm
Rolling Review (Until you receive academy date): 8:00am - 11:00am or 11:30am - 2:30pm

*This is from a Terminal class, I don't know how Enroute varies.
*You might get 1-3 days off between each of these phases
*You are paid 40 hours/week the entire time
*Central time
 
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My Basics class was 12:00 - 8:30pm Central due to OCONUS time zone spread. There have been some others that have had later times but 9-5:30 is what they shoot for. Everything else sounds about right. I'm in the Virtual Initial Tower Cab right now.
 
For Enroute classes. After virtual basics, there’s 3 virtual phases. First phase, two weeks of lesson plan academics. Second phase, next block of lesson plan academics for another two weeks I think. Third phase is a continous repeat of phase 1 and 2 until you are told to report to the academy. We’ve had zero breaks inbetween phases. Everything we’ve been learning, will be gone over again, formally, at the academy
 
Terminal rolling class is either 8-11am or 11:30am-2:30pm central. Just like the phase before you only need to attend one session or you can choose to attend both. 5 hours of self study on top of the 3 hour zoom session
 
Is this so that they can move back to in-person basics?
Pure guess, but to me it seems that they just want to close the gap from completion of virtual basics to academy. Virtual basics has been going well, high pass rate, cheaper, and quicker, I don't see why they would go back to in-person. The way it's going rn, people are getting to academy 4-6 months after they complete basics. That's the crowd they are trying to get rid of imo.
 
Upon completion of the Virtual Initial Tower Cab, you join a pool of students waiting to get called to the academy. I haven't reached this phase yet, but from what we've been told, it is just a rolling two week review of the Initial Tower Cab lessons that you take until you are contacted to go to academy. Unsure of the time slots available.

Our instructors have been sharing some rumors that they've been hearing. There is currently roughly 30 students in the pool waiting to go to academy (for terminal) because it is bottlenecked due to class restraints at OKC. They are trying to up the amount of classes at OKC sometime in November to ~4-5. This would get rid of all the students stuck in the rolling course. All speculation, but it seems that they are trying to get rid of the rolling review phase.
The rolling initial tower cab class review where they keep adding students to is about a 6 week long course. So when you finish the 2 week online tower cab course (which is something new that I didn't have to do) and the 6 week virtual initial tower cab course, you go into the rolling class and review the material on repeat until you get your welcome letter. When I first joined the rolling class there were about 45 students in total waiting for an academy date. Just last week there were 18 left and we just had a new class join this week.

I've heard the rumor about them adding more classes but never heard the exact month when they were going to start that. Is it instructors that are telling you this? It looks like they added more dates for Jan and March so just figured they were waiting until the new year.
 
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