T&D Whingers
Guest
Posts: n/a
"Full of spotters & met geeks"...
Ahh those were the days I remember it well. The staff car park full of rusty Ford Cortinas littered with chip wrappers.
None of your fancy designer briefcases then. BEA flightbags stuffed with sandwiches binoculars & notebooks. Of course there was always some flash git who had a pan am one.
Having to search for 20 minutes to find your coat at the end of shift after a non spotter had rearranged all the identical anoraks on different coat pegs.
As for the met geeks. Without them we were nothing. They made us appear almost normal by comparison.
Spotters are still here although some are ex-spotters these days. I think it will be a sad day if ATC ever becomes the exclusive preserve of "future managers" whose only interest in the job is the money.
As for the met geeks, I don't think there's any question that the quality of met observation is not up to the same standard as than before. And I think that the ATSA's who had the task forced upon them would agree.
There are so many whose own insecurity forces them to dismiss genuine enthusiasm in whatever field as being sad, unless it involves sport or getting very drunk. Well it's your loss. Pity you couldn't find a job doing something you liked as much.
"light blue touch paper & retire...."
Ahh those were the days I remember it well. The staff car park full of rusty Ford Cortinas littered with chip wrappers.
None of your fancy designer briefcases then. BEA flightbags stuffed with sandwiches binoculars & notebooks. Of course there was always some flash git who had a pan am one.
Having to search for 20 minutes to find your coat at the end of shift after a non spotter had rearranged all the identical anoraks on different coat pegs.
As for the met geeks. Without them we were nothing. They made us appear almost normal by comparison.
Spotters are still here although some are ex-spotters these days. I think it will be a sad day if ATC ever becomes the exclusive preserve of "future managers" whose only interest in the job is the money.
As for the met geeks, I don't think there's any question that the quality of met observation is not up to the same standard as than before. And I think that the ATSA's who had the task forced upon them would agree.
There are so many whose own insecurity forces them to dismiss genuine enthusiasm in whatever field as being sad, unless it involves sport or getting very drunk. Well it's your loss. Pity you couldn't find a job doing something you liked as much.
"light blue touch paper & retire...."
Joined: Dec 1998
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
From: LACC
Appologies to those in the ATCO 3 world but the figures I use are for my unit. NATS has only a certain pot of money for our pay, and we have 2 options
1 After validation we progress to a pay scale as current, approx 30000 to 55000
or
2 We all go to a single point of about 40000
Think of spending your entire career relying on annual pay rise for increase and retiring on a % of 40000 as against retiring on a % of 55000, and annual increments for the first 10 years or so. Too many ATCO`s suffer from the same disease as our management, ie look no further than the end of your nose and sod what happens tommorrow.
1 After validation we progress to a pay scale as current, approx 30000 to 55000
or
2 We all go to a single point of about 40000
Think of spending your entire career relying on annual pay rise for increase and retiring on a % of 40000 as against retiring on a % of 55000, and annual increments for the first 10 years or so. Too many ATCO`s suffer from the same disease as our management, ie look no further than the end of your nose and sod what happens tommorrow.
Guest
Posts: n/a
BN1 I gotta agree, and
Anyone who thinks that;
"once you're valid your training stops"
is gonna realise one day that may not be quite true!
If ya don't realise that then, I'm sorry but, I don't really want ya sat in the seat next to me. Sorry if that offends anyone but I'm afraid that's the way I feel.
I think you will find that everyone will agree that your training never really stops. Unless of course you are at a unit when they won't let you validate until you've seen everything that can possibly go wrong. Please speak up all you 'UTOPIA' valid controllers that can contradict that!!
sorry
Chatters
Anyone who thinks that;
"once you're valid your training stops"
is gonna realise one day that may not be quite true!
If ya don't realise that then, I'm sorry but, I don't really want ya sat in the seat next to me. Sorry if that offends anyone but I'm afraid that's the way I feel.
I think you will find that everyone will agree that your training never really stops. Unless of course you are at a unit when they won't let you validate until you've seen everything that can possibly go wrong. Please speak up all you 'UTOPIA' valid controllers that can contradict that!!
sorry
Chatters
Guest
Posts: n/a
Spotter
Thank god I'm not the only one who has noticed that the majority of "young bloods" seem to be on the management express. Gets that you can't wander round my unit without tripping over one of them with a bunch of papers in his hand.
We probably should be nicer to them, as the minute they are off the T&D scale a lot of them are applying for management positions.
To all of you who admit that money had a big part in you applying I salute you...I admire someone so mercenary that they can do this job only for love of cash! Me, I am one of the increasingly rare breed who do it because, and yes I know it is sad, I enjoy speaking to the planes. I don't quite understand those who put themselves through CATC and all the nausea afterwards just to break into management. Is it because they get even more money and don't have to worry about doing the job they trained for anymore?
Support your friendly T&Der, you never know in 2 years time he could be your boss!!
(Puts on tin hat to protect from flak)
------------------
To infinity and beyond
Thank god I'm not the only one who has noticed that the majority of "young bloods" seem to be on the management express. Gets that you can't wander round my unit without tripping over one of them with a bunch of papers in his hand.
We probably should be nicer to them, as the minute they are off the T&D scale a lot of them are applying for management positions.
To all of you who admit that money had a big part in you applying I salute you...I admire someone so mercenary that they can do this job only for love of cash! Me, I am one of the increasingly rare breed who do it because, and yes I know it is sad, I enjoy speaking to the planes. I don't quite understand those who put themselves through CATC and all the nausea afterwards just to break into management. Is it because they get even more money and don't have to worry about doing the job they trained for anymore?
Support your friendly T&Der, you never know in 2 years time he could be your boss!!
(Puts on tin hat to protect from flak)
------------------
To infinity and beyond
Guest
Posts: n/a
There are cases now where older ATCOs are being posted out because they are too expensive when their jobs can be done by T&Ds!
T&D pay scale for a valid ATCO is unacceptable and lower than the starting salary at many small GA aerodromes (many FISOs earn more than a valid T&D ATCO).
The big picture = agree cheep ATCOs wages then suffer the consequences of the availability of underpaid staff!
T&D pay scale for a valid ATCO is unacceptable and lower than the starting salary at many small GA aerodromes (many FISOs earn more than a valid T&D ATCO).
The big picture = agree cheep ATCOs wages then suffer the consequences of the availability of underpaid staff!
