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.
'All apllicants i would strongly suggest that you get at least one ATC visit in before your interviews.'
Have to say i agree that this is a good idea.
On the confirmation email for stage 3 it actually says, 'it is not neccessary for you to visit a unit before your interview.' however, one of the first questions in my ATC part of the interview was, 'what preparation have you done for today?' when they learned i hadnt visited a unit i had to explain myself.
Thankfully for me i had a reason why i was unable to visit and it didn't affect the interview but even though it states you dont have to visit a unit i would definately suggest you do so.
I actually think its a slight test to see 'how interested' you are in ATC.
During my interview I was asked some questions that were directly related to ATC situations. I´m curious about the pro´s take on one of them, not related to the interview but how one would handle the situation in real life.
"Two aircraft are approaching head on but on different FLs. The lower one requests a climb that would mean that it would cross the others FL. What would you primarily base your response on?"
I sometimes have a tendency to overanalyze things and therefore try to go with my first thought which in this case was to look at the distance between the aircraft since that wasn´t given in the question. I figured that if they are very far apart it´s safe to issue the climb, if they are too close I´d wait until they´d pass each other. How close is too close? I don´t know, I´m just a wannabe ATCO
They only wanted my short answer without an explanation so I don´t know what that question was looking for, could be whether I could think of something logical at all or just go blank.
Anyways, I can see that such a situation is farily complex (or perhaps not) even if one knows the distance and closure rate of the two aircraft. I´m assuming that a FL change is not done at the same rate as a normal climb since the pilots don´t want the transition into and out of the climb to be too abrupt, perhaps a sedate twist of the VS knob to give 500-1000 ft/minute? Since that is unknown to the ATCO in advance what do you base you decision on? A very large marginal of safety? First separate laterally, then climb?
Depends on how far apart they are when the lower aircraft asks for climb, depends on the type of aircraft it is (A340 or something with a similar climb rate) and how busy I am.
If I'm busy then the plane will probably wait, unless I have a need to vector it for something else which would fit in with climbing it against the other aircraft.
My immediate reaction would be to wait until they've passed, but if there's other conflicting aircraft behind the first one then it may not get a climb at all - if I've got to put four or five aircraft on headings to climb one then it may not be worth it. If it's a safety reason, like icing, then of course it will be done as soon as I can accommodate it, if the pilot just wants to save a few quid then iot will be done when and if I have time.
That probably doesn't make much sense, but without seeing the exact situation I couldn't say what I'd do. It's the usual situation of asking 10 controllers what they would do and getting 11 answers back. The trick is to keep your workload as low as possible whilst still giving planes what they want.
You just have to get your head down, do the work, and do a few hours study most nights, and a lot more in the days coming up to an exam.
...says the man who's the king of the remote control, with long night shifts of TV and whisky, is never seen doing any work and passes everything first time !
...says the man who's the king of the remote control, with long night shifts of TV and whisky, is never seen doing any work and passes everything first time !
I do it all when you've gone to bed, the whiskey is so I don't have to "go out" and saves me money as we're only on 10k Otherwise I couldn't be that good, could I???
smellysnelly,
I see your location indicator has changed to LTCC. Good news I hope! Which frequencies will you be doing? I might be able to hear you on my "tranceiver".
Would just like to wish the guys who were at their 3rd stage interview today (Scott, John etc) the best of luck... and hope to see you all in sunny Bournemouth soon!
Ug, just fell down at stage two. I think it was the interview rather than the computer tests. Going to phone HR tomorrow to see if they'll give me any feedback.
... dough
If anything I feel a little more confident now for when I reapply.
PS: If anyone has any issues with where the stage 2 is held or how to get there once you are nearby then feel free to contact me as I work just up the road from the place.
I have my stage 1 interview next month and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on what to expect?
I have read that alot of people are failing at the 2nd and 3rd stages.....is it really that difficult to get through? It seriously making me lack in confidance!
Hi all, am currently putting in preperations for my stage three and of part of this am hoping to pay a visit to Prestwick ACC & a Tower (preferably in north England). Could anyone please help ?? Many thanks in advance.
Good advice from alphamaniac. Just read the material you are given lots of times and the motivation paper is easy, and as for the spacial reasoning, the tests are the same as the pdf they give you to look at, just more questions and a little harder maybe (especially with time constraints). But nothing should really take you by surprise.
As for stage 2, I failed last week, but some of us get through right? So thats not really worth worrying about, just go with it as you get to it.
Cheers for the good luck message matey! I got in and should be at the college in october or january. Hope you and the other guys at CTC on the 19th made it through and hope to see you at the college!
I'm hoping to arrange a tower visit prior to my stage 3 interview next month. Ideally I would like to visit the one at Birmingham, but would be more than willing to consider elsewhere. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to who to contact with regards to this?
Hi, with my stage 2 fast approaching i have suddenly become increasing nervous about the upcoming interviews. I am confident that i have put in enough work to pass the motivation paper(btw, does anyone know the required pass mark?), but most of all i am insecure that my age and inexperiences may hinder my ability to sufficiently answer some of the HR questions. I plan on traveling down from b'ham on the day of assessment (12:15), So does anyone have any advice or wanna talk me through the day to help calm my nerves!
Otherwise I couldn't be that good, could I??? 
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