Anyone interested in being an Air Traffic Controller?

[atcman23]

Hello,

I'm a current ATC student and with the hiring of Air Traffic Controllers going strong until 2014, I was thinking of putting together a website/blog that contains information on all of the ATC-CTI schools (those schools approved by the FAA) and provide an insider's view of my daily experiences where I attend.

In case your interested, I'm attending the Community College of Beaver County (in Pennsylvania). It is the only approved CTI school with a fully operational control tower and the only school where you graduate with your Control Tower Operator (CTO) license with a Facility Rating for Beaver Tower at the Beaver County Airport (KBVI). I'm set to graduate in August, 2008.

I'm going to put a lot of research into all of the schools (there are now over 14 since the FAA just approved about a dozen more schools as CTI schools). I'll start with the schools who already have established programs and I'll probably have to wait until the summertime at the least to get more information from the new schools. I don't want to be biased and have people think that I'm endorsing CCBC; I just want to provide a good resource to people looking to get into Air Traffic Control through a CTI school as there really aren't any websites out there that detail these schools other than the school's website.

Lastly, if there are any current or past ATC students who would like to send me information, let me know and I'll let you know where you can send your information to. Rest assured, you will get credit on the website.

Thanks!

 

[atcman23]

I forgot to ask my question:

Would anyone be interested in a website that contained detailed information on all of the ATC-CTI schools and other information on Air Traffic Control?

 

[USAir757]

Are you wanting to operate this website as a business, or just as a resource for potential ATC's? I think that if you can get exposure on your website, it could be helpful to people who want to pursue it, but don't know where to start. But they have to find a way to your website in order for it to be helpful, either by way of a google search or banner advertising.

Good luck!

 

[atcman23]

Are you wanting to operate this website as a business, or just as a resource for potential ATC's? I think that if you can get exposure on your website, it could be helpful to people who want to pursue it, but don't know where to start. But they have to find a way to your website in order for it to be helpful, either by way of a google search or banner advertising.

Good luck!

I would not operate it as a business as most of the information that I'll be providing is free anyhow. All I'm doing is making a site that would gather all of that information into one spot to make it easier to get more information instead of jumping around between several web pages.

Exposure is always the issue; but there are some ways to get the site submitted to search engines, etc. that are free or rather cheap.

I'm just looking around right now to see if anyone would be interested in such a site. I know I would have been two years ago!

 

[PHL Approach]

There is already a well established site that has been around for years - www.atccti.com

With the FAA now hiring Off The Street again. CTIs are leaving and applying. Others that we're thinking of going to a CTI program are applying for Off The Street positions and are getting to their facilities a little over a year after applying.

http://jobs.faa.gov/Allfaajobs.htm

ATCS Position Series is 2152 - The opening will say All Sources and Public Opening. There isn't one that is currently open but they just closed one on May 2nd.

 

[atcman23]

There is already a well established site that has been around for years - www.atccti.com

With the FAA now hiring Off The Street again. CTIs are leaving and applying. Others that we're thinking of going to a CTI program are applying for Off The Street positions and are getting to their facilities a little over a year after applying.

http://jobs.faa.gov/Allfaajobs.htm

ATCS Position Series is 2152 - The opening will say All Sources and Public Opening. There isn't one that is currently open but they just closed one on May 2nd.

Thanks for the website link... I did not know of that one (and it never came up for me in any search engine).

While the FAA is hiring off the street, let me personally say that it's not the way to go. While they may say that you don't need any sort of aviation experience, they're going to ask you all sorts of questions with regard to aviation and ATC. You're going to spend lots of time in Oklahoma City if you end up making it that far and you're going to have to learn as you go. CTI students get to learn the basics and then some before they go to Oklahoma City so they get into the FAA with some level of experience and knowledge. With that, they are going to succeed and they will have a much better chance of getting through the Academy than someone off of the street. Not only that, and not to discourage anyone, but the percentage of those who pass that have applied off of the street is really really low. Plus, you use taxpayer money to get your training; CTI students do not. I haven't personally heard of anyone leaving a CTI program to apply off of the street but I'm sure there are a few that have. I've talked to a few students here and they've mentioned it but none of them ever thought about doing it.

The position posting on the FAA website is a "global" posting. They no longer post opening by state; rather, you will get to choose what state(s) you want later in the application process. The FAA is now having prople use the FAA ASAP system to apply.

 

[atcman23]

Well after I got some free time, I decided on writing a blog instead of a website at this time. It allows for a little more flexibility with my schedule than a website will. I do have plans for a web site in the future, though. If you're intrrested, stop by and check it out. I'm still working on it some, so bear with me.

http://airtraffic.blogdrive.com/

This is a free blog... not a source of income for me. Therefore, the at at the top of the page is not mine. I don't believe in mass advertising as a source of income so you won't see that there unless I place it there and actually talk about it in a blog entry.

Feel free to leave comments... I'm still looking for ideas!

 

[Peter Bankss]

Well after I got some free time, I decided on writing a blog instead of a website at this time. It allows for a little more flexibility with my schedule than a website will. I do have plans for a web site in the future, though. If you're intrrested, stop by and check it out. I'm still working on it some, so bear with me.

http://airtraffic.blogdrive.com/

This is a free blog... not a source of income for me. Therefore, the at at the top of the page is not mine. I don't believe in mass advertising as a source of income so you won't see that there unless I place it there and actually talk about it in a blog entry.

Feel free to leave comments... I'm still looking for ideas!

I would say it's a Good Start and keep going. I am sure lot of them out there would be looking for such info. So just keep Blogging.

Get Your Private Pilot License Now>>

 

[atcman23]

Hi everyone! I'm not sure how many people have swung by the above link to the blog I started. I've actually abondoned that one after some issues and the fact that what I can do with it is limited. I've started another blog, this time being hosted by Google, and it's a bit more appealing than the old one. The link is: http://atcontrol101.blogspot.com/

Feel free to stop by and take a look. I'm working on ATC-CTI school reviews now and hope to have the first one up within the next week. Thanks again, everyone!