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.
Cheers for the info. Have my stage one tomorrow, so going through all the stuff again, making sure S/D/T time is all clear.
Are you are allowed calculators in the exam, or is it easy enough to work out in your head?
No. No calculators are allowed. One guy in our group had one on him and the lady took it away. Yes, they are possible to work out in your head and you get some scrap paper too. Being comfortable with division will help. Good luck for tomorrow!!
Lol. If you mean the personality questionnaire then no, we didn't have to do that on the day. Just be ready for the D/S/T paper and there'll be no shocks. It's not easy and on the cubes, don't be too proud to spin the question booklet around to make it easier for you.
I am little confused so I wondered if anyone could set the record straight!
I have my Stage 2 this coming Friday (slightly nervous!) but need some help on how to get to the test centre.
I know it is at the Corporate and Technical Centre as I obviously had Stage 1 there. However, on that occasion I was given a lift to the centre by a friend. This time around I will be getting the train there. Now I know there is a free shuttle bus at commuter times which I have been told by HR I can use. However the timetable they've sent me stated that the bus goes from Parkway to CTC and vice versa. Now I am under the impression that CTC is the Corporate and Technical Centre right? (even though it confuses me with CTC aviation that I have previously applied too!). But its address is stated as being 4000 Parkway. So where according to the bus timetable is Parkway?!
I need to get from either Fareham or Swanwick train station to the Stage 2 tests at 8am but am a little confused as to where exactly this bus departs from.
I know I could just take a taxi but being unemployed at the moment and travelling to these tests from North Wales I need to save the penny's where I can and if there is a free bus then I want to take advantage of it...
If you get the train to Swanwick, it is no more than a 10 minute walk, if you cut through Whiteley estate.
I may be wrong but I dont think the free bus will be running to get you to CTC by 8am. What time going by the national rail website can you be at Swanwick station for?
Just get the train down to Southampton parkway (from Waterloo if going via London) and jump on the free shuttle bus. When I LEFT the centre after the test last week they were running every '15 min but that was 4-4.30pm'ish. Early morning before 8am I could not advise you.
Give them a quick call to confirm.
Corporate and Technical Centre
4000 Parkway
Whiteley
Fareham
Hants PO15 7FL
General Enquiries: 01489 616001
HR Enquiries: 01489 616090
I can get to Swanwick train station for 7.42am or Fareham a few minutes earlier providing the trains are running on time (I am coming from Guildford). The tests actually start at 8.15am so have a little time to play with.
Is walking from Swanwick station realistic in 10mins if you have never done it before and only have a rough idea of where you're going?
The timetable I was sent from HR is as follows:
Depart Parkway for CTC - 07:50 08:10 08:40
Depart CTC for Parkway - 15:45 16:15 16:40
Depart CTC for Swanwick Station - 17:30
Depart Parkway for Swanwick - 08:40
Depart Swanwick for Parkway - 15:45 16:45
I guess I should just get a taxi as I don't want to be turning up all hot and flustered for what is going to be a tough day after already leaving Guildford at 6am and travelling down from North Wales the previous day. I'm just being a cheap skate really!
yes it is a 10 minute walk , going by car from Swanwick is about 3 miles, as you have to go all around the houses, but I think a taxi may be the best bet. Perhaps walk back after you have finished.
A 10 minute walk from Swanwick station to the CTC is rubbish, I know you can cut through Whiteley, but it's still quite a way and some big roads to cross that will be busy especially at that time of the morning. Allow half an hour and you'll be a bit closer
I know it's an avoidable expense, but I think a taxi would be your best bet
Swanwick Station to CTC is a 30 minute walk (less, if you want to arrive shattered). If you don't know the way, it is easy to get lost (I still do after 5 years) - the footpaths don't go in straight lines. The taxi fare from Swanwick Station is about £6 if there is a straight run through, from Fareham about £12.
If you go to Southampton Airport Parkway, the shuttle bus will wait for up to 5 minutes for a late train - if it looks like the train will be a few minutes later than that you can try ringing Airlynx (023 8039 9078), the operator, to see if the bus can be held a bit longer BUT the bus can't wait too long as it has to do a round trip and be back to provide the 08:40 service.
(I know from the experiences of a friend who works at Southampton Uni that Guildford to Southampton isn't the easiest of train journeys!)
Good luck for the journey and the assessments.
Last edited by PeltonLevel : 1st July 2009 at 12:52.
The shuttle bus from Southampton Parkway Station is timed to depart just after main line trains and will usually wait if they are running a few minutes late but that isn't guaranteed. The time from Southampton Airport to Whiteley can vary widely at that time of the morning so you probably need to confirm with HR that they are happy for you to travel on that bus and will make allowances if you it is delayed if you are going to take that route.
As Peltonlevel and TMT say it is a brisk 25-30 minute walk using the traffic free footpath route from Swanwick station and you need good directions to go that way. You can knock 5 minutes off by going the suicide route across the M27 roundabout at Junction 9 but at that time of the morning it may take you some time to cross the first slip road which has a continuous flow of fast moving traffic with no traffic lights to create a gap.
Taxi from Swanwick is the best bet as long as there is a taxi at the station. Peltonlevel can probably advise as to how likely that is.
I don't know what the taxi situation is at 08:00 - the rank is often empty at 09:00 on the occasional mornings that I cycle from Swanwick station. There was absolutely no problem at 11:00 last Wednesday (not that that's any use to early travellers). I've never had a problem at Fareham.
You could try booking a taxi to meet you at Swanwick from one of the Fareham operators (I'm pretty sure that Swanwick Station is in Fareham Borough).
I intend on getting the train to Swanwick and getting a taxi from there. My train gets in with about half hour to spare before the tests start so should be plenty of time. Will make sure I have some taxi phone numbers should there be none at the rank.
Getting to Southampton from Guildford is a pain as you have to double back to Woking to get the right line. Think I will give it a miss as there are too many variables to go wrong.
Just spent the last few days reading through the entirety of this topic, feels weird stopping now I can tell you, and have found lots of useful information about the recruitment process, and certainly a load of my questions have been already answered.
A friend of mine last year started on the NATS DEG scheme and encouraged me to join as a trainee ATCO. I went for the stage 1 back in December however with only 4 days preparation (of which I was working my current job) I unfortunately didn’t succeed.
Upon finding out I wasn’t successful I contacted NATS HR with the hope on finding out if I had totally failed and might as well give up (aptitude (the cubes J ) is after all something you either you have or you don’t), or if it was just the motivation paper (I knew I hadn’t fared to well on it).
I have to admit I was expecting an interview and a few tests, not solid tests and hoped that I could emphasize the fact I had little time to prepare for the day.
They advised me that I had successfully passed both the spatial awareness and diagrammatical tests, data checking could have been a little faster (I skipped a question and had to go back K ) however I had done really, really badly on the motivation paper.
Now I am entering aviation interest for the first time. I know little about how it works; aircraft types, rules / regulations etc. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any useful information resources (be it books, websites, articles etc) that would act as an introduction to the airline industry, as a whole.
I have been going through the various resources aforementioned and a few books I have purchased with aptitude tests but now I’m looking for information not only from an ATC perspective but something like an overview of the industry as a whole exists.
Thanks for taking your time to read through my post.
Ian
ps. Sorry about the font. I write all my posts in Word so I can spell check them and copy and paste.
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