ATC IssuesA place where pilots may enter the 'lions den' that is Air Traffic Control in complete safety and find out the answers to all those obscure topics which you always wanted to know the answer to but were afraid to ask.
I am not sure if NATS's policy has changed, however everyone on the most recent intake at the college had been and passed the CAA medical as well as the NATS one.
After taking the NATS medical you will be instructed to book your medical at Gatwick, when I did mine the waiting time was around about a month.
You will need a tray in the CAA canteen as the food is hot.... don't forget to form a queue!
Got my Stage 3 results this afternoon - I'm in Did mine at Manchester too on Monday - seems they're pretty quick with getting back to us.
This forums been great help for me - if I can help anyone else out during their journey through the NATS application process, please PM me and I'll help as much as I can.
Fingers crossed for the final hurdle - the medical!
I've read through (and will keep doing so relentlessly until the day before my stage one) the stage one doc that NATS send out.
My question is just regarding the information within the document. Will we be expected to know more up to date information for the tests?
I wondered if we would actually be tested on information that is in the booklet that has changed since its printing (tested on the up to date answers)
This concern also links into the aircraft list, will we only be tested on aircraft listed? or should i "spread my wings" to learning aircraft not listed ie: more up to date series etc....i know it will all be needed at some point, but i just want to know if its needed for the stage one tests.
Just stick to what's in the booklet for now as far as facts and figures are concerned. If you want to 'spread your wings' at all, my best recommendation is to start learning what these aircraft look like and how to identify them - this can come up in the Stage 3 interview.
As Geoff Vader said, NATS is currently sending people for the CAA medical after the NATS medical, regardless of what they have seen (especially if there are a few months before your course starts).
I did both last November, within three weeks of having passed stage 3.
Forgive me you guys for being a little lazy i'm sure the answers to my question can be found in this thread somewhere ..........
..... but I just want to know when do you get given your discipline from NATS i.e. Area or Aerodrome, how far into the course is it? Also, when do you find out where you will be posted on completion of the course??
I passed my NATS medical last week and I am off to Gatwick on Monday (Pretty short waiting time at the moment apparently)
The doctor did say to me that normally they will get you booked in for a course and send you to the CAA at a later date assuming your NATS medical went swimmingly.
I mentioned a head injury I sustained when I was 10/11 years old, and because I was concussed and sent to hospital the doctor decided that it would be in my best interests to pass the CAA medical straight away. He told me that this is nothing to be worried about either - if they had any doubts then he wouldn't be costing NATS ~£200 (+ travelling expenses) to have me fail.
He said it would stop me worrying about failing the medical when trying to focus on studying for the course if I got it out the way.
However, from the sounds of things, it seems that if you pass NATS medical with flying colours then they will put you on a course straight away. In the long run, it will be saving them money if they can keep your medical valid for a longer period into your "on-the-job" employment.
Just wondering roughly how long HR takes to get the Stage 3 results back to interviewees... the waiting is killing me!
Good luck to all those going through it soon...
Hey,
Just to let you know it took the full 15 working days for them to get back to me. They lost my paperwork though. I kept in touch with the other guys from my course and they found out on the 7th day if I remember correctly.
If people find out they have passed before you, don't let it get to you! All the other guys found out they were through 1 week before me - you can just imagine how I was feeling and what result I was expecting ... But all went well
It's a painful wait, and all you can do is wait. People will tell you to put it to the back of your mind but we all know that you can't make yourself do that, not until a few beers later :P
Best of luck to you, if you want to add me on MSN its . It would be good to know more people before starting at the CATC
Actually, I believe the "performance" in the NATS medical has no effect on the speed of your course allocation. Everyone follows the normal procedure of being sent to an ordered pool with all the people who have passed the selection process. Then it is a bit of first-come first-served, taking into account course preference, personal circumstances,... Waiting times of at least 2-3 months have been pretty standard recently (fom what I know anyway, correct me if wrong).
HR asked me what my preference was when they phoned me this week to tell me I'd passed Stage 3. Our interviewers told us that the new way they're trying to sort out the college stuff means that we will all know whether we're on area or aerodrome at least as few weeks before we start. Looks like my start date will be July, but windneckin or Arrows2100 might be able to give you some more info - they're ahead of me in this grand process!
AFTERNOON ALL, I have my stage one on Wednesday the 28th,(anyone else going to London?) a terrifying 5 days of revision away, and am digesting the Motivation Paper info easily enough.
However as for the tests I'm getting a bit stumped, I've got a few tests on Diagramming and Spatial Ability and can do the questions but it takes time, and that a luxury I wont have at stage one!
I was just wondering for the Spatial, does anyone have a specific strategy for working out the cubes efficiently and speedily?
Likewise for the Diagrams, at the moment I work out the rule and write down a key but this takes time!!
Any ideas (within reason!) for taking my current process and making it faster and more efficient?
Thanks all and hopefully see some of your at The London Bridge hilton on the 28th!
From my experience, paperclip810 is spot on. You can state your course preference after having passed stage 3 and they try to combine that with other people's preferences and NATS' needs. I think that when you are sent the contract (aprox. a couple of months before the start of the course) you already know what you are going to be doing.
I have posted a few messages here over the past few months and it has been extremely helpful. I just got word today that I passed stage 2 and I'm starting to get prepared for stage 3 in a month or so. Could anyone give me a list of things to revise for this? My knowledge of the 2 motivation papers is pretty good but I understand my knowledge will need to stretch much farther than that for this final stage.
The best way to describe it would be to liken it to a delicatessen.
You go up to the counter (pass stage three), and pick the next ticket (allocated a number based on your date of interview). Now, the deli has thirty cuts of meat (places on the next course). Ten slices of world class jamón ibérico, and twenty slices of own-brand luncheon meat.
Number one gets asked for his/her preference. Number two for his/hers, etc etc. Once all the jamón ibérico has gone, then the rest of the thirty get the luncheon meat, no choice for them I'm afraid.
They all go off to Bournemouth to eat their lunch, the ones who chose jamón ibérico obviously having a far better time.
Did mine at Manchester too on Monday - seems they're pretty quick with getting back to us. 
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