atc shifts

[Charley B]

Have always wondered how many days you work as ATC and how many days off you get? Do you do 4 days on 4 days off or is it 6 on 4 off?? Are all your shifts 12 hrs and do you have to do nights !!
Have always wondered about this --could someone enlighten me !

[VectorLine]

Basic Swanwick shift is

2 x Morning, 2 x Afternoon, 2 x Night, 1 x sleep, 3 x off

Morning = 0700 to 1400
Afternoon = 1400 to 2200
Night = 2200 to 0700

There are other permutations and overtime is available for the mercenaries (or those who need to keep up with the jones')

[chiglet]

To add to VL, Manch has the same shift pattern. However, instead of nights, we "can" get days, so
MM,AA,off DD[times vary] ooo.Same 10 day pattern, different permutation. BTW, for ATSAs the "off" day 'can' be a [so called] middle day, but only 3 per year:D
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[VectorLine]

yep

that's the permutations I was talking about. Just couldn't be arsed typing it!

By the way Chiglet - if you happen to know Dave Smaller. Tell him "hello" from me! :D

[Captain Spunkfarter]

Don't you mean Dave Knotazbigg?

[FWA NATCA]

Charley,

At my facility we work 5 days on and have 2 days off. Shifts are usually:
Day 1: 1500 - 2300
Day 2: 1400 - 2200
Day 3: 0700 - 1500
Day 4: 0600 - 1400
Day 5: 0600 - 1400 or 2300 - 0700 you come in at 2300 on day 4 after working the morning shift on day 4. When I pull a mid it's a one person mid (Sunday) whereas during the week days we have two on during the mid.

Mike

[niknak]

Mike - a quick turn around (day 2 to day 3)?:confused:
Thats totally illegal in the UK, we have to have a minimum of 12 hours between shifts.
How and why do you tolerate it with the traffic levels you have?

[makeapullup]

That sounds great.
We work 6 days of in 28 cycle. Minimum 10 hours between shifts. No particular key. Sometimes work 1400-2000 back 0600-1300. No standby shifts no break shifts. (close sectors for breaks - APP only has 2 sectors). Not guarenteed to get a weekend off in cycle and only 1 day of after nightshift. FAJS ATC rocks...

[FWA NATCA]

niknak,

Yes quick turn arounds are brutal, worse if you figure that I get off at 2200, drive home takes 20 to 30 minutes, talk with the wife and kids for awhile, then I'm in bed by 2330 to 2400 get five hours of sleep, up at 0500 for a 0600 shift.

The schedule that really wears me out is when I pull a 1400 to 2200 shift on day 3, then day 4 I go in for a 0600 to 1400, then go back in at 2300 for the midnight shift. Two quick turns back to back, I'm lucky to stay awake on my mid shift.

Mike

[vector4fun]

Mike - a quick turn around (day 2 to day 3)?
Thats totally illegal in the UK, we have to have a minimum of 12 hours between shifts.
How and why do you tolerate it with the traffic levels you have?


To wake up:

Take three cups of Black Coffee, one Mountain Dew, four Marlboros. Repeat at two hour intervals.

To go back to sleep:

Three large mild green chile enchiladas, rice and beans, double serving of apple pie, two Shiner beers and two more Marlboros. Apply while lying on a comfy couch under a nice ceiling fan.


Worked for me. Only problem is you get Ulcers at 30, Diabetes at 40, high blood pressure at 50, and God knows what at age 60. But hey the FAA makes me retire at 56 anyway. Now you know why!

:D

[Scott Voigt]

NikNak;

It's not something that we really enjoy doing as far as the shift work goes. But we are sometimes our own worst enemy in that we hate the turns, but we like the thought of getting off of the midnight shift and then having the rest of that day off to do something and two other days off. Of course, for folks like myself, I spend most of that morning off asleep. Then feel like crap for the next day.

The FAA likes to work the shifts that we do work due to needing less people to work it. There hasn't been any huge movement from most of the folks to change it though. NATCA has been looking at our shift work and its effect on our workforce. Trying to convince the FAA and the rest of the govt. that we shouldn't be doing this to ourselves is rather hard though.

regards

Scott

[C Yeager]

This a good topic ...one that is surely useful to unions / shift bosses and ATCO's in general........lets hope it stays a while .....
The ATCO remuneration post was also a good one while it lasted .....pity it died out eventually .......
Anyway my deepest sympathy to "makeapullup" and colleages, not only is Johannesburg , but in the whole South Africa.......I can vouch for the working conditions "makeapullup" describes.... in fact, they have been a lot worse at times ...... the sad thing is ...that this situation is not an odd temporary 6-12 month bad patch ....this has been going on for years !!!!!! The exception being short periods of "topped up" staff levels ...... however that hardly ever lasts for long periods ...... elsewhere on this site there is a post about the conditions at Johannesburg ATC Centre, and conditions of SA ATC in general - nothing to be proud of ...... the sad thing is that the potential is there, but alas the Bradshaw, Norval and associated clones still exist in management - thereby restricting any progress ......
The Management in SA ATC will flash you personally interpretated factts and figures to dispute any of the above allegations ...the problem will never be solved unless we admit there is a problem ... hence there are 60 SA ATC's in the Gulf and numerous more that are elsewhere doing ATC, flyying or simply following other careers .......SAD VERY SAD !!!!!!!!
Getting back to the topic at hand .....

UAE - Abu Dhabi & Dubai ATC centre's all work the 2X M , 2 X A, 2X N followed by a sleep and three days off. Any call outs are rewarded with a day off in lieu ..... 56 days per annum leave ...times are 7 to 2 , 2 to 10 , 10 to 7 ....full watch compliment for Morning , Afternoon and Night Shifts ......

Hope this post stays "alive" for a while ....