Hallo RobertK
Did I read that right??? You're telling us that from the day a person walks in off the street into the classroom at Langen until the time they talk to an aircraft on their own licence takes three years
In my experience it usually takes one year to train a tower controller, 14 months for an area controller (I will not say where, as I'd like to stay incognito, but a very complex ACC). For experienced overseas controllers it will take anywhere from 3 months to 6 months depending on the sector/s including sim and classroom time, it usually can be sooner but minmum training times are set down for the various validations. I'd be interested what the times are in other places...
As you work there, or close by, can you tell us whether internal transfers, ie Langen to Bremen revert to training pay until they validate in the new ACC?
Danker
FLF