Originally Posted by
whowhenwhy
You no longer need to hold the ROCC to be an AFISO, just have passed the exam and practical. I think the change was introduced a few years back after the CAA reviewed CAP 1032 and meant that the AFISO didn't need to have the extra expense of obtaining the ROCC itself.
Bear in mind that the 2 UK colleges provide training in ATS and ATM with FIS and ATC Service being part of ATS. No UK college provides a CAA approved FISO course but I'm intrigued to find out what this organisation is providing.
You still need to hold an ROCC to commence training as a FISO for a 'first' validation of the license; it acts as a sort of Student FISO qualification.
CAP 452 Chapter 3 page 24 Introduction gives a list of when an ROCC is required.
It is a CAA requirement that any person who operates an aeronautical radio station must hold a certificate of competence and this includes FISOs under training.
As far as I'm aware, the CAA does not require approved courses for FISOs in the UK like it does approved courses for controllers but this may change in the near future.
Cwmbran used to run courses for FISOs which included ROCC as well but they terminated ATS courses some years ago; I'm not sure about Global but I think NATS only run courses for Area FISOs for their own needs.
After searching round the
www.takeoff.talentlms.com/catalog/index website it would appear the training (costing £999.00p) is all to SERA standards and there is no mention of taking exams for the grant of the licence so this may not be included; I don't know where current UK examination centres are situated.