FAA Hiring Controllers starting Tomorrow!

[matt711]

The FAA has been filling up my work (Army) email with these announcements. I suspect that many young Army ATC folks will be hitting the door running. Starting salary is about 3X what they are making in the Army. Of course they will be working a whole lot more for the FAA than they are for the Army. The FAA is casting a wide net. The e-mails must be going to everyone as I am not now nor have I ever been an ATC in the Army.

[911_Dude]

All the decent looking women in the FAA work in ATC.
Just sayin'

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by 911_Dude

All the decent looking women in the FAA work in ATC.
Just sayin'

That's sorta like saying "decent looking female engineer". I suspect the bar is set pretty low.

[speeder]

That compensation is fantastic but the responsibility is huge, so it makes sense. There are plenty of people busting their asses for a fraction of that pay, though.

A couple questions, just out of curiosity: 1) If the person relieving you is late or does not show up, (car accident/overslept/whatever), you don't leave, I'm assuming? 2) Does every pilot in the world have to speak/understand English? How does that work?

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

That's sorta like saying "decent looking female engineer". I suspect the bar is set pretty low.

That's kinda what I was thinking... Does that mean those are the ones with less facial hair than me?

[911_Dude]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

That's sorta like saying "decent looking female engineer". I suspect the bar is set pretty low.

Originally Posted by porsche4life

That's kinda what I was thinking... Does that mean those are the ones with less facial hair than me?

LOL. Correct on both counts. I should have specified "when compared to Thatcher, Albright type looks." But a scale is still a scale.

[atcjorg]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

That's sorta like saying "decent looking female engineer". I suspect the bar is set pretty low.

LOLOLOLOL that is what we call TRACON ( radar room that is dimly lit) pretty lol, but as discussed earlier good gig if u like it, if you like chess this may be for you, if you like to think on your feet and be adaptable this may be for you. Are you able to think not where they are now but where they are going to be in the future then this may be for you, someone asked about the pension(which I am currently enjoying) look up TSP thrift savings plan and the retirement plan is called fers. Not for the shy or meek. You don't have to work in the busiest places but that's where the money is.

[atcjorg]

Originally Posted by speeder

That compensation is fantastic but the responsibility is huge, so it makes sense. There are plenty of people busting their asses for a fraction of that pay, though.

A couple questions, just out of curiosity: 1) If the person relieving you is late or does not show up, (car accident/overslept/whatever), you don't leave, I'm assuming? 2) Does every pilot in the world have to speak/understand English? How does that work?

1) correct under rare circumstances that could happen, work until relieved or the facility closes, if it's a 24hr facility you are rarely alone. 2) english is the international language of atc however lets say their grasp of the english language is limited at times so speak slowly and clearly and leave extra room for something "unexpected"

[futuresoptions]

[Embraer]

Originally Posted by 911_Dude

All the decent looking women in the FAA work in ATC.
Just sayin'

there's hot. then there's aviation hot. I will say though...there are some girls at the center who are hot-hot. and some women who are totally hot cougars. for the most part though...it's aviation-hot

[Embraer]

Originally Posted by speeder

That compensation is fantastic but the responsibility is huge, so it makes sense. There are plenty of people busting their asses for a fraction of that pay, though.

A couple questions, just out of curiosity: 1) If the person relieving you is late or does not show up, (car accident/overslept/whatever), you don't leave, I'm assuming? 2) Does every pilot in the world have to speak/understand English? How does that work?

Yep, where I work, there are several hundred controllers employed there.

There are six "areas" at LA center. Each area is broken up into 6-8 sectors of airspace. During a given day shift, each area has about 11-12 controllers working it. At night time, the numbers are lower...maybe 7-9. On the overnight shift, we have two controllers work in each area.

I've only had one time where I got stuck on position because somebody didn't show up...and it was late at night. I had to stick around an extra 30 minutes. You can't just get up and walk away from it.

And yes, English is the international language for aviation. We have to be deemed "English Proficient." (Both pilots and controllers have this. I have this stamp on both my pilot ratings and my controller credentials).

The biggest English issues are Russian pilots and IFTA trainees. IFTA students are Asian pilots being trained here in the US. Very hard to understand and tend to have issues with following instructions properly. Oh yeah...and whenever I work VFR aircraft, I usually take extra care to go slow with them and to make them not feel intimidated. Even guys with fine English get nervous when they check onto a busy sector. Sometimes they get nervous when they check onto my frequency and they hear me rattling off clearances every 2-3 seconds while working a push of LAX arrivals.

[Nate2046]

Originally Posted by Embraer

Oh yeah...and whenever I work VFR aircraft, I usually take extra care to go slow with them and to make them not feel intimidated. Even guys with fine English get nervous when they check onto a busy sector.

Thank you for that, I wish every controller had that same attitude. I can't tell you how many times I've been in JFK and the controllers are just railing some poor foreign crew. I know they're supposed to be proficient but how does it help the situation to get the guy even more flustered?

I'll have to check in as 'Pelican' next time I fly into LAX to see if you're on freq. Do you work approach, tower, both?

[Embraer]

I work at LA Center. I work from the surface up to the moon. you can catch me on 133.55 if you're on the RIIVR2 or 133.2 if you guys come in on the SEAVU2. those are two of my 6 sectors. Initials are PB. basically I work the airspace from Boulder City to Needles to Blythe west to LAX

[Nate2046]

I would check in as 'Giant Pelican' or 'Polar Pelican' but I'm thinking we may have gotten in enough trouble in your sector recently

[oldschoollear]

Are there any waivers for the age cuttoff? Considerations for aviation experience?

[Embraer]

unfortunately, no. Because of the mandatory age retirement of 56 (unless you were previously hired in a 2152 series position before age 31), 31 is the age cutoff.

...you need to be able to get 25 years federal service to qualify for retirement.

[lowyder993s]

Paging Ted...come in Ted...the only man I've met w/ shorter finger nails than mine. Retired...atcjorg must know him from SAN.

[Embraer]

I think atjorg was at SoCal Tracon, but I might be wrong.

[atcjorg]

yes SoCal tracon for me, my plan towards the end of my career was to go to SAN (Lindbergh tower) with 3-5 yrs left and enjoy the view, unfortunately it didn't work out that way but that is all history
no regrets

[Embraer]

did you know Jim Kasara?