Other than NATS

[gareth1]

Hi there

I understand NATS provides ATC for the major airports in the UK, but what about the smaller airports? How do you go about getting a job at one of these airports.

If I cant get into NATS, this might be an option.

Cheers

[Lock n' Load]

If you're willing to spend 25,000 pounds or more on a rating course, you may be able to get a job as a trainee aerodrome controller at a non-NATS unit. But otherwise, if NATS won't take you and you don't want to join the RAF, you're not likely to become an ATCO.

The traditional routes into ATCO jobs at non-NATS units are
1) get fed up with NATS or want to live in a specific location that doesn't have a NATS unit nearby, and thus leave NATS, or
2) fail to validate at a NATS unit and thus try to find a job elsewhere, or
3) spend several years in the RAF as an ATCO, use all your terminal graduity on converting to civilian ratings, then get a job at a non-NATS unit if you can't get NATS to hire you and pay you back the cost of your civil licence and ratings.

[matspart3]

Lock n' Load is being a little dramatic!!

Talk to ASTAC at Gloucester and BAE Systems at Cwmbran. (the other UK Colleges) Both, I believe, are offering 'cadetships' or similar arrangements. Quite a few non-NATS airfields do take on 'ab initio' people and train them up, normally over an extended period of time. Self-sponsorship is an option, an Aerodrome Course will cost around £16K, Approach £12K & Radar around £18K.

[radarman]

Bring back the car-boot course! £600 in used fivers, three months of boozy weekends at Noth Luffenham and hey presto! A yellow peril, and the world your oyster :ok:

[Wee Jock McPlop]

Lock N Load,
Listen me old fruit. If your ex-mil (like me) and get employed by NATS, there is no chance of them paying back your course fees if you self-funded through another college elsewhere. NATS employed me directly and put me through the college at Hurn and billed me for the Aerodrome Course!:mad: Was it worth it? Of course it was. However, the overall expense was significant.:{

Gareth 1,
The student ATCO wages may be pants, but joining NATS directly is still the way to do it. Self-funding is a lot more expensive if you add on the additional costs (accommodation etc etc) beyond the already highish college fees. Unless of course you can smooth talk a non-NATS unit to help. Go military first and your civil ATC career path, on leaving the military, could become slightly problematic and expensive, as your mil qualifications still count for very little outside. That may change in the future, but do not hold your breath! It could be a long wait.

Good luck with whatever you choose,

WJMcP

[tribekey]

Gareth, other than direct application to nats,self funding through one of the other colleges or the military route you could try applying to non nats airports for an assistants position. If succesful and you appear to have the right attitude/aptitude etc then some units will fund your training to become an ATCO. Make no mistake though, this can be a long procedure but if all other routes are closed to you then it's worth a try if you are determined to be an ATCO.

[niknak]

Gareth,
concur with the above, but please remember that you now only get an actual ATCO licence in your paws when you validate your first rating. So if you joined NATS, did all the courses but failed to validate and were given the boot, you'd have nothing to go to a Non NATS airport with.
Additionally, only a few NATS Cadets are given the opportunity to get the Aerodrome and Approach Radar ratings - most are destined to do Area Control courses, and you don't get the choice.

Being taken on directly as an Assistant at a non NATS unit is a good way of getting into the training scheme, but it's highly unusual for anyone to go straight into ATCO training in those circumstances - be prepared to take the opportunity when it comes but expect to wait at least 18 months before they give you the chance. You could try paying for your own Aerodrome rating then approaching them, it would give you a better chance of getting the other ratings paid for, but the timeline would be about the same.
The non NATS colleges were talking about "cadetships", as MATS3 mentioned, but the same caveat applies to that as self sponsorship - one way or another you will be expected to lay out a huge amount of cash.
If you go down this route, be absolutely sure that you are capable of passing all the courses - if you fail at any stage you'll be left with a big debt and minimal prospects of a career in ATC.
Best of luck, whatever you do.:ok:

PS: As Radarman says - bring back car boot courses :eek: :E

[Lock n' Load]

Well, We Jock McPlop, you sound like a guy I used to work with for a short time before I left for different (not always greener!) pastures... Then again, there must be more than a few ex-RAF guys who get a final demand notice from NATS for training while they're approaching validation at a NATS unit. What the CEO giveth, the CEO taketh away.

And for matspart3, you calling me a drama queen? :hmm:
I would imagine that to get sponsorship through a course (have you noticed that none of the private colleges have the same name/owner for long?) you'd still have to meet similar standards that apply to NATS recruitment unless, as niknak says, the recruit is willing to enter a bond which may include repayment of costs in the event of failure to validate.