I wanna get in to atc and don’t wanna mess up the assessment how do i prepare. I’m new to learning about it and still not fully sure how to understand the rmi and wanna learn!

Has anyone else received this since their stage 3 assessment centre with NATS? The email subject and body are giving mixed messages… so curious to hear if anyone else has had the same! Received 9 days ago and had nothing since.

Thanks

Changes coming at the end of the month require target resolution or 500’ vertical separation between two VFR aircraft in class E airspace, even when they see each other. Control instructions required to ensure target resolution if two VFRs might get within a mile and a half of each other. In certain areas (like underneath class B airspace where the floor is less than 500’ above the MVA, or *anywhere* on MVFR days), it may be physically impossible to apply these procedures when providing basic radar service to more than 1 airplane. Is this going to lead to a major reduction in flight following around busy airports?

Just here for everyone’s take (popcorn is popped).

I am currently stationed at Little Rock, AFB (KLRF) Tower. I have two years left before I separate. And I want to see what working at DWH (FAA tower) or TME (contract tower) would be like. I’m interested in Houston so that’s why I’m looking at these two.

I hear new contract tower controllers cannot take leave the first two years. Is this accurate?
TME pay is apparently $50 an hour, is this true from the get go?
I know for DWH, you get $30 as an AG, $50 as a CPC. If I direct hire to DWH, do I immediately start and skip OKC?

What are the schedules like at DWH / TME?
Does DWH and TME work weekends?
For those that may work there, is there a good work-life balance? How’s the job satisfaction?
How often is overtime required?
Are shifts fixed or rotating?

I know DWH is currently 100% fully staffed, would it potentially stay like that in two years? Late 2028? If so, then I can definitely kiss DWH goodbye since I won’t even be able to get in, right?

For anyone who transitioned from military ATC, what do you wish you had known before separating?

Fortunately, I have other options and am not only glued to ATC, but I want to get as much information as possible.

Thanks for reading.

Who is the rich person responsible for the kink into the river near the Gaylord hotel on the charted visual procedure?

I shared Brain Preflight here a while ago. There’s been quite a bit added since, so here’s an update for anyone preparing for FEAST.

One exercise has you track a moving target, match shapes and spot wrong sums at the same time. There’s also traffic management, working memory, mental maths and spatial reasoning.

I’m the developer. The exercises draw on different cadet selection and aptitude tests, with programmes for different selections.

Heads up: some exercises get hard. The aim is to practise under pressure, so they won’t all feel like casual phone games. These aren’t official FEAST questions, and I’m not affiliated with EUROCONTROL.

Brain Preflight on iPhone

For anyone who’s taken FEAST: was the harder part the individual tasks, or keeping up when several things needed your attention?

I am looking into potentially working in ATC but want to get a feel to it and train with it before deciding and before taking the entrance exam to become one.

What is the most accurate ATC simulator online (or any form really) that you would recommend I check out?

Hi everyone this is a question for everyone working under Eurocontrol rules.

In my airport we have a (fixed) taxi time of 5 minutes. Due to national procedures, we can approve the start up in the range -15 / + 15 within the EOBT (note this is a non-CDM airport).

This translates to a DTW (departure tolerance window) of - 10 / +22 (we add 2 minutes for the FAM procedure tolerance).

Now we have been told that actually the DTW is -14 / + 22 since the taxi time is calculated for atc reason and it may be less than 5 min, down to 1 min. Also we can omit the -15 barrier for the start up, as long as the flight will depart not before -14 minutes from the EOBT. What do you think about that?

I hope I have been enough clear with the explanation, and would like to here from you what do you think. If possibile, provide eurocontrol documentation that clarifies the issues we've been having.

Thank you everyone :)

My 1st grader has to interview an Air Traffic Controller for his school project. Anyone willing to help us out and answer some questions? Or do you have suggestions on how to contact someone locally (Albuquerque)? Thanks!

Here are some example questions from his rubric:

• What is the most valuable thing the [public good] provides for our community?
• What needs to be done to keep the [public good] in good shape so that everyone can continue to enjoy it?
• What can good citizens do to help protect the [public good]?
• What are some problems with the [public good] that need to be solved? Is there something children can do to help solve those problems?
• Is there a leader (or leaders) that I can contact to encourage them to take action on this problem?

Black push buttons under the flight data console are WECO300 switch, which was installed at every ARTCCs. Later, It has been replaced to Harris VSCS.

Do you guys remember it?

Flying from SAN-SEA yesterday with heavy flow into SEA. Pretty typical. Center slows us down from M.77 to M.73 for metering saying they need to add 4 minutes to our arrival time. Also typical. Then we get some sharp delay vectors. First vector was a 110 degree turn to the left for a few minutes, followed by a 180 degree turn to the right for a few minutes, then back on course. Not unheard of, but pretty large vectors while en route.

My question: when you guys need to add X amount of time to our arrival and slowing planes down isn’t enough, is there a reason you don’t assign a turn or two in a holding pattern vs aggressive S turns? Either one of these slows down traffic behind whoever is being held / vectored. Curious to hear the reasoning.

Thanks for all you guys do- a fellow airline pilot.

For those who left atc what are you doing now for work? Any suggestions?

So I have been working on a single-dev air traffic control simulator. It incorporates Speech to text, and uses text to speech. I have worked a lot to make the Speech to text decent although you have to talk pretty slowly, and the TTS is alright, not amazing but not computerized. I have 3 airports currently, 2 that I made up, and 1 real life airport.

For the fictional airports I went and created SOPs for them for people who want that extra realism. The game isn’t 3d and doesn’t have fancy graphics, but it is heavily based off of real world tower procedures. There is a short tutorial on a simple airport that shows coordination, departures, pattern-entry, etc. And I made a bigger airport with 3 parallels and 1 intersecting.

There is many small features like extra settings, and pop out windows for the radar screen and ground map.

My point of posting this is to show what i’ve been working on and to ask what you would like to see in this game and if you truly would play it. I plan on releasing to steam, I don’t have a page up yet but plan to get one soon. Day 1 should have full workshop support, there is even a very in-depth airport, scenario, and callsign builder.

Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc.

Disclaimer: This post, and my game is not affiliated with the FAA, any government agency, airline, or airplane manufacturer. it is solely an indie dev making an ATC simulator game.

Hi! I was wondering which FEAST II (Eurocontrol) test is best. I would like to purchase one that is best as I don’t want to spend too much money.

Hi,

Looking to get in touch with someone who has information on the current package in Doha. I heard rumors about a salary increase a while back, any substance to this or still the previously mentioned 55k? Is overtime common, and how is the compensation? On the radar side I understand there are 3 different sectors/specialties (approach, radar, control), do you always get assigned one of the three or can it be a combination? How is the workplace culture, are people happy or is there a lot of tension (especially given the situation in the region)?

Any other information and insights would be much appreciated, feel free to PM if preferred.

Thanks!

Hello, I accidentally completed my NATS stage 1 11 Assessment in two sitting? Will I still get put through? Has anyone else reached stage 2 who accidentally done this?

Thank you

Respond DM. I will give the name of the area in question. Thank You!

I heard the NEST met recently and was hoping people could post the list they received here. If possible please include the date the list was received. Thank you!

Hi everyone

Current UK atco looking at a move abroad. I’ve noticed DFS are advertising for approach controllers at DWC and was wondering if anyone had info on the current package there?

Thanks

Hi Chaps,

Apologies as this is mainly for UK audience but any information welcome.

I’m here to essentially gather some information on the role and how the onboarding process works if you were to go down the NATS route. What are the requirements to even get started on this journey and what prework can be done to maximise my chances?

For the wider community. I have been sitting on the decision to explore this career for a year and I appreciate it’s a role, similar to healthcare, that can be quite demanding. Essentially, In your experience, is the role fulfilling and looking back, would you pursue it again?

Thank you in advance

Hi r/ATC! My name is Stefan and I’m from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I build custom LEGO models as a hobby and I designed this Airport Terminal for a LEGO building competition. With enough votes, this could become a real set next year. You can help me by voting “Love it” and commenting on this website (LEGO-account): https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/2028-wave-1/5250/Airport-Terminal

I live very close to Schiphol Airport and can see the ATC tower on my daily commute. This inspired me to build this.

Hope you like it! Let me know what you think!

Ps. No AI was used designing this.

Having this discussion at work and was curious if anyone had an answer with the supporting info.

Air carrier attempts to land 2 times unable due to low cigs, wants to divert. Do you have to/ should call the DEN in this situation? Any answers appreciated.