Originally Posted by
Eric T Cartman
There were 20 at the start of my Course in 1972. By the end, in 1975, 1 had left due medical fail, only 3 had been chopped & one left to be a pilot. Everyone of the remaining 15 went on to validate. Can NATS achieve a similar pass rate nowadays I wonder ?
Started a 3 year ATCO Cadet course in '71 having been an assistant for 2.5 years.
23 cadets started, one resigned after the 4 week 'Basic' course.
6 got 'chopped', 5 on Aerodrome control and one on Area, 16 eventually graduated in '74. One exam fail and you were chopped, no re-sits allowed after one fail in those days.
In later years it wasn't unusual to have 16 graduate but to do so, they had to 'combine' 2 courses of 20 to 22 each to get that number.