Pilotl1234
Filing Flight Plan
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L.
Preferably someone who is a controller or who knows someone who is? Thanks!
Does anyone know what the average salary is for a controller in Michigan?
- Thread starter Pilotl1234
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Velocity173
It's impossible to give an accurate number on that. A guy working contract at a Class D might be making 50 grand a year while someone at Class B well 150 grand. Also depends on how long you've been doing it. My friend just retired out of DTW last year and I know he was making well into 6 figure salary.
ClimbnSink
Ejection Handle Pulled
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Greg
Google could find the federal payscales for controllers. What I recall from a friend all things being equal seniority wise some urban areas have a COL boost, but not much.
Approach_controller
Pre-takeoff checklist
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Approach_controller
Like the others have said, its pretty impossible to nail down in one state. Our pay is based on facility level (which is a complex formula of traffic count, complexity and tons of other factors). The actual level can be from 4-12. Other factors are CIP (controller incentive pay) given in hard to staff facilities as well as federal locality pay (kind of like cost of living, but not really).
In Michigan, YIP is a level 4, D21 (Detroit approach) as well as DTW tower are level 11's (all with 24.09% locality adjustments). None have CIP that I am aware of in Michigan.
At YIP, a level 4, a fully certified controller brand new makes $59,817 and top out at 80,754. Several Michigan level 5's are "base locality" which is 14.06% and would make a couple grand more than someone at YIP. A Detroit controller would start newly certified (as their first facility) at 122,515 and top out at 165,395.
To temper that, you'll start making about 8.75 an hour. You'll get gradual raises to finally hit the certified controller rate I mentioned. You start at 33,000 as your initial pay if you make it through the academy and see your facility. How long you hit the benchmarks for a raise to eventually certify depend on you, training backlog and facility difficulty. 5 years to fully certify isn't unheard of in Centers and I've seen 4 years at my approach, though those results aren't typical. Its also not uncommon to see someone terminated entirely for taking too long in training. You're allotted X amount of hours in training to certify on a position. Failure to certify by then could see a trainee unemployed or a certified controller heading back to their old facility.
Two last things. My facility is 800 miles from where I called home and 1,200 miles from where I lived before being hired. Michigan is a state in need of controllers, but my advice is always, be open to relocating or don't try this career. The other is, you aren't going to start out at the big time facilities like LAX,JFK or in your case DTW (although with NWA gone....) They've tried that before. If you do get selected for them, keep your resume updated. You don't stand a chance. Focus on learning the job first somewhere slower.
In Michigan, YIP is a level 4, D21 (Detroit approach) as well as DTW tower are level 11's (all with 24.09% locality adjustments). None have CIP that I am aware of in Michigan.
At YIP, a level 4, a fully certified controller brand new makes $59,817 and top out at 80,754. Several Michigan level 5's are "base locality" which is 14.06% and would make a couple grand more than someone at YIP. A Detroit controller would start newly certified (as their first facility) at 122,515 and top out at 165,395.
To temper that, you'll start making about 8.75 an hour. You'll get gradual raises to finally hit the certified controller rate I mentioned. You start at 33,000 as your initial pay if you make it through the academy and see your facility. How long you hit the benchmarks for a raise to eventually certify depend on you, training backlog and facility difficulty. 5 years to fully certify isn't unheard of in Centers and I've seen 4 years at my approach, though those results aren't typical. Its also not uncommon to see someone terminated entirely for taking too long in training. You're allotted X amount of hours in training to certify on a position. Failure to certify by then could see a trainee unemployed or a certified controller heading back to their old facility.
Two last things. My facility is 800 miles from where I called home and 1,200 miles from where I lived before being hired. Michigan is a state in need of controllers, but my advice is always, be open to relocating or don't try this career. The other is, you aren't going to start out at the big time facilities like LAX,JFK or in your case DTW (although with NWA gone....) They've tried that before. If you do get selected for them, keep your resume updated. You don't stand a chance. Focus on learning the job first somewhere slower.
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