ATC classes

[mikea]

The maiden flight of the first air-traffic control school in Illinois will take place in the fall at Lewis University in Romeoville, officials announced today.

...

The school's participation is welcomed by the government because the demand for controllers is outpacing the FAA's ability to recruit and train applicants, officials said.

Twenty three college and universities are accredited to teach air-traffic control, which requires a minimum of two years of coursework and additional training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City before the students can be hired as controllers, where additional training is needed to become a full-performance controller.

Most of the approximately 15,000 controllers in the U.S. are expected to retire or quit the profession over the next decade.

The median annual salary for a controller hired in 2007 is almost $50,000 a year, increasing to about $94,000 by the end of the fifth year, according to the FAA.

But the stress that goes with that paycheck requires a special temperament, a mind that works in 3-D and reflexes that would make a video-game wizard envious.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ebnov28,0,3842848.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

Jason!

I had a random thought that I might do good at being a controller because I do pretty well occasionally, when required multitasking on the job and handling impossible high-stress crisis situations. I wouldn't relish being in the boiler room every workday though. It's gotta shorten your lifespan.

Now that I think about it, it was every workday on my job for quite a while but I get a break for the holidays.

 

[KennyFlys]

Controllers may start twice or more a regional pilot but they sure as heck earn it. I admire these guys a great deal. I can be patient but not THAT patient.

 

[EdFred]

I'd do it, but I'm supposedly too old.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

Jason!

I had a random thought that I might do good at being a controller because I do pretty well occasionally, when required multitasking on the job and handling impossible high-stress crisis situations. I wouldn't relish being in the boiler room every workday though. It's gotta shorten your lifespan.

Now that I think about it, it was every workday on my job for quite a while but I get a break for the holidays.

Hehe... I'm also laughing at the salary figures the FAA gave the Chicago Tribune. According to those FAA figures, the new hires make a whole lot more money than they really do. Starting pay out of the academy at OKC is roughly $34,788 nationwide and after five years goes to $56,198, no where close to what the FAA publicly releases.

I can assure you my previous thoughts about becoming a controller have throughly gone down the pipes...no sense in working for the "Failed Aviation Administration" as many controllers call it.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I'd do it, but I'm supposedly too old.

Me too.

 

[rottydaddy]

Think you might enjoy being a controller? Try this. It's probably harder, in a way, than the real thing, because you have to type the commands rather than say them.
But I find it very addicting...

http://www.atc-sim.com/

 

[ScottM]

I hear that Lewis University is going to start working closely with local air traffic facilities to get their students real life experience before they graduate. I have seen one of the course description beign offered with the C90 people. It is called 'GA VFR and Chicago TRACON operations'. It is a short one hour course that consists of signing in, learning the phrases "Unable FF" and "Did anyone hear that?".

The course is a prerequisite to the follow up course 'How to give 121 operations priority at Chicago O'Hare airport while ignoring all other traffic within a 40NM radius of the KORD"