ATC after RAF
CJ,
I served 8 years as an ATCO in the RAF reaching the dizzy heights of Flight Lieutenant before retiring. Don't regret a moment of it. Met some good friends and had some great times. One draw back is that you inevitably pick up secondary duties and are judged on performance of these rather than your day job. The ATC branch in the RAF are currently undergoing a round of redundancies that will witness almost half of the senior posts (Squadron Leader and above) disappear. Military controlling teaches valuable flexibility and definitely gives a good grounding, if it is your intention to use it as a stepping stone.
I left the RAF in 1990 and crossed over to NATS & had the great pleasure of working alongside HD for a number of years. From recollection dispensation was given for Meteorology & Navigation exams only. UK military licences (Blue book) had little credence in 1990, I fear and stand to be corrected that the situation has not changed. At the risk of alienating my ex colleagues and current RAF controllers, the skill sets required for civil controlling are significantly different. Civil ATC relies heavily on the majority of aircraft doing the same thing in the same piece of airspace. You may end up working double figures of civil aircraft and be arguably as busy as working 3 or 4 military fast jets. The disciplines vary widely. In NATS, if you dont want to be involved in secondary tasks, you dont have to be. Naturally, if you want to seek promotion then involvement would help.
NATS does little to encourage ANY controllers with previous experience to join their ranks. Holders of European licences are currently required to undertake the full ab initio course!!!
Some would argue that it would be best to join NATS at the outset, if that is where you are aiming to be. If I had my time again, I wouldn't change a thing.
Good luck in your deliberations, such decisions are never black and white.
Last edited by 2.5 miles; 15th Aug 2011 at 21:17.