Originally Posted by
Talkdownman
Ditto. The aircraft spotters and/or ex-assistants were the easiest...!
I'd go along with that, talkdownman. I think that you can put that down to their inside knowledge, determination & motivation. Not that any of these attributes were their exclusive preserve. The other observation I have to make is that an experienced ATCO can readily identify who is going to make a good controller just by seeing him/her in action just once - more or less.