I'm given to understand, (correct me if I'm wrong), that NATS still has a shortage of experienced atco's at airfields, i.e. Tower/GMC atco's.
I'm also told that, much to the frustration of most NATS atc unit managers, it's still official NATS policy to only recruit from the outside if an atco has all three ratings (adc/apc and apr), which is slightly confusing, as for the most part now and totally in the near future, all the approach functions to airfields have or will be centralised.
Even more confusing is the fact that at most NATS atc airport units, there are a number of tower only rated atco's, a few of which have been recruited directly from the outside world.
I've never worked for NATS, and I'm happy where I am, but with the current expansion of UK airports and failure of the NATS training system to provide enough new atcos each year, why don't NATS re evaluate the policy?
Or is that a daft question?
