timtam

deleted post

TonyWilliams

Those rates are actually less than the former General Schedule (GS) that controllers operated under prior to Sept 1998. The scales were different then. ATC supervisors and managers in the centers were paid GS-15, Centers were generally GS-14, then down the food chain to the lowest towers which were about GS-9. A trainee in the academy in OKC was paid GS-7 (for me in 1988, that was $18,000 per year).

Again, the current pay rates for B scale new hires is in arbitration at the moment, and a resolution is expected within the next month.

Here's a table of the government GS table in current dollars.

2009 General Schedule (GS) Locality Pay Tables

shfo

What determines the time it takes to get checked out? 1 to 4 years is a big difference. How long until you can get located where you want? Is there a way to see where there are vacancies?

Luv2Rotate

I should've listened to my college guidance counselor when she said ATC is a much safer choice compared to airlines.

TonyWilliams

Why would you say that? Flight Service got screwed about as well as any two bit airline would. Robbed of their retirements and left (largely) unemployed. No bankruptcy... just a Bush, Inc decision to contract out government.

It can happen to ATC.

TonyWilliams

A simple, slow tower might be one year. A busy, complicated TRACON or Center might take 3 to 5 years.

My first facility was ZOA. It took almost 4 years to check out, however there were long gaps of no training due to staffing. But that's normal.

At my next facility 10 years later, SCT, took less than 2 years. The next facility, CMA, took about 1 year.

You may never get where you want to go. The big centers that are chronically understaffed will take many, many years to get out of. ZLA used to have a t-shirt that said "ZLA, doing 25 years to life".

There's no real vacancy list. Bids come out for internal transfers, but the typical most difficult part is getting released from the facility you're at.

If you want to move around, stay in the towers. The centers take too long to check out, and are generally more difficult to move around from. Plus there's only 22 centers. Hundreds of towers, though.

kalyx522

The difference in the time it takes to get fully checked out depends all on the facility I believe. Centers I heard can take as many as 3-4 years, obviously because the nature of the work is different than tower, and I heard some of it is due to how well manned that certain facility is, because there needs to be a controller to train you through every level you complete. How long until you can get your location also depends on which facility it is that you want to work and how short they are, and how in demand that facility is.. basically like an airline base I guess. I don't think there is a way for the public to see specific vacancies but I could be wrong.

When people decide to become pilots they aren't trying to make a safe choice, most probably do it simply because they love flying. If your goal is play it safe, you could do a 1000 things other than airline. I guess it all depends on what your priority is. It's probably why some people decide to pursue things like pharmacy because it's a safe, stable and lucrative choice. (for me personally the thought of dispensing pills all day long every day for 40 years is mind blowing, I wouldnt do it no matter how safe it was!)
I think atc would've been a more responsible choice for me as well (the retirement esp was the most appealing part) but when it came down to it and I had to decide whether to stay in the airline or take the atc job offer, I really had to idea if I was going to enjoy doing that for the rest of my life. At least flying I know I enjoy (although I do hate some aspects of the job.) I obviously became a pilot because the idea of a desk job repulsed me, and an atc job to me didnt seem all that different than a desk job, except with the added stress of handling human lives.

whoareyou310

Does anyone know what training is like for an FAA inspector and maybe what their schedules are like when they are working? Are they gone away like we are for 3 or 4 days like us?