HenryTheAce
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Yep, it’s time from walking in the door to CPC. Houston Tower only gets CPC-ITs so thats why it’s probbaly why their average is quicker unlike STT who gets a lot of AG’s
What facility should I pick?
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Yep, it’s time from walking in the door to CPC. Houston Tower only gets CPC-ITs so thats why it’s probbaly why their average is quicker unlike STT who gets a lot of AG’s
AB19
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Whats the difference between a CPC and CPC IT?
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CPC-IT is a transfer/reinstatement CPC in training.
AB19
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Okay that's what I figured, so for someone in Terminal it would be best to go to the tower with the lowest CPC time right?
rugbydog11
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Depends. If you are just trying to get to CPC as fast as possible, yes. If you have other goals or situations that effect decisions, maybe not. Some people want to go to a facility where they can work radar, some want to be at a place as close to home as possible, and some will base their choice off level, staffing, cost of living.
HenryTheAce
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Yes but also factor in the projected average they’re suppose to be at. If they’re super low staffed and you CPC it could take a while to ERR out of there if you don’t like the location. If a facility is higher staffing projected and you eventually want to get to somewhere else then your odds would be better to ERR out of that facility since they’re well staffed
AB19
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I mean end goal is to go to a higher level tower or tracon
AB19
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So if I want to go somewhere like Salt Lake Tracon as fast as possible it would be best to a high staffed facility with low training times?
Yeah, the same type of facility that rarely if ever appears on academy grad lists.
AB19
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What would you recommend someone to do if they wanted to get to a higher level tower/Tracon then? Just try to find the tower with the most staff?
rugbydog11
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Honestly, find a 4 or 5 tower only. Minimal time to certify and always getting new hires and center washouts so the staffing can almost always let someone ERR... Now that being said, you may be ranked dead last depending on the location you are trying to get to if it gets a fair amount of interest from other CPCs that may be at higher levels with radar and can be released. Its all a total random numbers game every NCEPT panel anyway. I'd suggest somewhere you think you would be happy for a few years just in case.
Top 3 factors if your goal is to move on to greener pastures:
1. Cost of Living- Training sucks on its best day, let alone making AG pay and being borderline-poverty level.
2. Success rate- While very few low level/academy grad facilities have terrible washout rates, a lower success rate might key you in to what type of culture/environment you'll be walking into at your facility.
3. Staffing levels- Learn how to read the PPTs and utilize them to your advantage. Sure you might be able to pick that high level 7 up down straight out of OKC, but who cares if you're going to be stuck there for 5 years. In reality, the agency is doing a decent job constantly refreshing the academy list to adjust academy placements for the ever-fluid staffing numbers now set in motion by ncept.
4. (Optional) Facility type- This is very person-specific. If your only goal is to checkout and move on, find you a level 4 or 5 tower only. If you want a radar ticket, find a cheap cost of living facility with good checkout rates.
Most importantly, don't overthink it. I remember back in my preacademy days I had spreadsheets ranking facilities by many variables, only to find myself on selection day choosing between a level 7 tower only in a place I'd never be able to afford to raise my kids, a level 5 up down in a place I'm certain crackheads outnumber college grads and where you get 3 feet of snow a year, or a level 6 up down in higher cost of living area furthest away from my hometown family. So low and behold, here I am shovelin' snow with the crackheads...
Best of luck...
1. Cost of Living- Training sucks on its best day, let alone making AG pay and being borderline-poverty level.
2. Success rate- While very few low level/academy grad facilities have terrible washout rates, a lower success rate might key you in to what type of culture/environment you'll be walking into at your facility.
3. Staffing levels- Learn how to read the PPTs and utilize them to your advantage. Sure you might be able to pick that high level 7 up down straight out of OKC, but who cares if you're going to be stuck there for 5 years. In reality, the agency is doing a decent job constantly refreshing the academy list to adjust academy placements for the ever-fluid staffing numbers now set in motion by ncept.
4. (Optional) Facility type- This is very person-specific. If your only goal is to checkout and move on, find you a level 4 or 5 tower only. If you want a radar ticket, find a cheap cost of living facility with good checkout rates.
Most importantly, don't overthink it. I remember back in my preacademy days I had spreadsheets ranking facilities by many variables, only to find myself on selection day choosing between a level 7 tower only in a place I'd never be able to afford to raise my kids, a level 5 up down in a place I'm certain crackheads outnumber college grads and where you get 3 feet of snow a year, or a level 6 up down in higher cost of living area furthest away from my hometown family. So low and behold, here I am shovelin' snow with the crackheads...
Best of luck...
DL0509
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If i had to do the academy over again the things I would look at are staffing (how many CPC's they have, and the trainee to CPC ratio) and maybe avg training time. Honestly when it came down to picking facilities all of the locations had somewhat bad staffing and were a ways from family, so my choice was based off of who had the mildest winters.
The most staffing with the fewest percentage of CPC's with active ERR's on file. Say there's two level 5's, both with 10 cpcs. If you go to one and it has 1 of those 10 trying to ERR, when that facility is eligible to release someone you're competing against 1 other person so you have a 50% chance of getting picked. If you go to one with 10 trying to ERR your odds are ~9% of getting picked. You'll also have to ERR to other facilities that are desperate for people so are high on the priority list, instead of where you actually want to be. This is a huge reason that NCEPT is so toxic to a certain subsection of the workforce.
These percentages aren't actually how it works but the gist of this post is accurate. If you want your first facility to be as temporary as possible then the number of current CPCs there with ERRs in absolutely matters. Along with where those other ERRs are submitted to. All of this is information you'll never have access to though.
Eh, curious how you think my numbers are off. Also, you can try calling the facrep to gauge the environment of the facility but be prepared for many of them to lie their asses off. Realize that they're heavily incentivized to try to paint their tower in the best light possible to try to get people to come.
There are tons of variables. If you and 1 other guy have ERRs there's not a 50% chance necessarily. There's not enough information there to say that. Ex. If you go to a 5 tower as your 1st facility and there's only 1 other ERR out and your desired 2nd facility is D01 your chance of getting it is actually ~0% and it doesn't even matter where the other guy put in for.
Only some facilities are guaranteed selections and they dwindle as the calandar year advances.
If you go to X facility and there's 25 CPCs there with ERRs out and your desired 2nd facility falls top 5 then your % chance to have the opportunity to get picked is actually ~100%. But % chance at selection is still unknown.
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Hissmeowra
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Keep in mind also, that if you're selecting a facility based off training success rates and training times, the numbers given are averages over the last 7 years. Obviously some facilities' numbers don't change that much year to year, but some have had a significant change in management and/or personnel that makes current numbers vey different from historical ones. It's worth it to talk to the union rep or another controller there to get an idea of what things are currently like at the facility.
