ATC Process

[(David Johnson)]

Hi,
I was just wondering whether anybody could comment on the timeframes involved during training with NATS. I understand that you can be at the college for either 12 or 18 months then you go to an operational unit for two years for further training.

The thing that I am unsure of is who decides where you go for your 2 years "on the job" training and indeed who decides where you go once this is completed. I suppose really I am asking whether the student has any say in the matter or is it simply a case of "you go where you are told."

Thanks

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

It's a simple system, Dave, if you want Kirkwall you ask for Gatwick and vice versa! Unfortunately most people seem to end up at either Swanwick or West Drayton Penal Colonies becuase they're the places where most staff are needed.

Good luck though - it's not all bad. The first 30 years are the worst and tehn it's quite fun......

[cossack]

DJ
Check your Private Messages.

[AREA52]

Dear DJ in brackets

HD is all too correct in his understanding of the NATS placement process, however, he did forget to mention one thing. If you try and play them at there own game thinking if I ask for Kirkwall then they will send me to Gatwick, you will end up at Kirkwall. Don't ask me how they do it, but it's one of the few things they seem to do very well!!!!!!!!

With regards to timescales, if you go to any unit other than Swanwick, you should be valid within about three years or so from starting at the college. However, if you do end up at Swanwick, invest in a good cushion, cause you'll be sitting on your arse for a long time on T&D pay whilst the other 80 or so cadets currently waiting to be trained go through the system!

Happy days, guess where I work.

Good luck anyway!

AREA52 ;)

[ATCO Two]

DJ,

The answer is: it depends how promising you are as a student at CATC. Certain operational unit training officers regularly visit the College, talk to the Instructors, and make their own observations of people who have been identified as having above average ability. In effect, the best students are head-hunted by the busier and more complex units, and rightly so in my opinion.

As for your second paragraph, the Human Resources department (in association with other interested parties), decides where you are posted, although of course you are allowed to state your preferences. You will (hopefully) do some OJT during your course, and again you will be assessed by the receiving unit as to your aptitude.

I think you are a little confused - you mention going to an operational unit for two years further training after the College, and then being posted somewhere else. This final "two years" would be validation training on local procedures at your FINAL unit. Outside the area units, around one year OJT and consolidation would be more realistic, depending on complexity and traffic levels. When you validate, you would stay at the unit for at least five years, or until you got promotion, or applied to work at a higher grade unit, or management needed you elsewhere.

If you think about it, it would be pointless to train someone for two years after the College and then post them somewhere else. All the training effort would be wasted, and NATS would not see the benefit of another validated controller on the unit.

[AREA52]

Dear ATCO two

Very good reply and in theory that is exactly how it should work. However, unfortunately this is not the case with regards to placements.

I look forward to seeing you at Swanwick DJ.

AREA 52

[AyrTC]

Of course if you do join NATS and end up at Kirkwall it probably means that you have been " asked " to leave NATS:eek:

(This is not a go at H&I ATCO's by the way been there ,done that
and got the sheep ticks:D )
AyrTC

[Minesapint]

A few years ago I heard about two guys - one wanted Aberporth the other Birmingham. Identical ages and ratings. You got it. Personnel sent the Brummie Wales and the Taff to Birmingam. NATS personnel are just so good!

Serious point though. NATS personnel (sorry - 'HR') have a great deal to do with creating pi$$ed off ATC staff. They operate ouside operational NATS and see themselves as being above it all - separate......

That needs changing! :mad:

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Minesapint. Amazing isn't it? I always assumed it was because ex-service people might be involved (they probably were 30 years ago). My wife was in the blue-suit mob 36 years ago and the things they did were utterly horrendous - girl from Cornwall sent to Leuchars; girl from Inverness sent to Chivenor, etc. When I joined Min of Av I told them I'd prefer a posting "down south" and then said "but I suppose I'd better start learning the bag-pipes". Maurice Smart, God-bless him, must have had a similarly warped sense of humour because he sent me to Heathrow, which is precisely where I wanted to go..... so the system can be foiled!

[Lon More]

Heathrow Director

I've been racking my brains trying to remember some names from "days of yore". Your post rang a bell.

Was Maurice Smart at Sopley in the late 1960s - the same time as John Rose?

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Lon... Dunno... I was some place else in 60s. I started dealings with Maurice in 1971. John Rose? Didn't he go to the College of Knowledge?

[Lon More]

HD
John went to the College when Sopley closed and later to Luxembourg in 1991.
He retired a few years later due to ill health