Yes, and remember guys that this is NATS we're talking about! How many times have they changed things for you, dates etc, in the past?

You'll probably find that if you said yes to the all-airport course, got to the induction, and find out they'd changed it to an all-area course! :ok:

Now wouldn't that pi$$ on your fireworks, I'm Not Joking!!

;)

Scotsliveit check your PMs

Guys and Gals....

1. Those of us who have been with NATS for a while still remember being messed around by NATS recruitment. Not nice but you will get over it!

2. Why not do Tower/Approach??? Trust me - I earn the same as the area bods and have seen a few different units and parts of the UK.

As HD/Vlad etc say - be happy to get a chance. I know people still being messed around in terms of interview dates etc........

It is not as if it is like the military - you will not get sent around the UK every three years you know - and you get a chance to do other things. Beats the 50-50 posting ballot of Scotland or abeam the Isle of Wight. (Could it get more extreme???)

Keep smiling

B-L

Vlad is right, his delicate words bear much truth :D

If you want a better chance of passing, go airports. Maybe no-one has told you what the drop-out rate for area is, or you have conveniently filed it away somewhere, but it is worth thinking about if you have a family. Knowing what I do now, I would be seriously uneasy about attempting the area course without the fall-back of a twr ticket (With good reason - I failed the ACS 2 course).

Take the aerodrome course. Go area later if it's what you really want.

Heathrow Director Come to sunny Maastricht and watch the inbounds all the way to touchdown from the penthouse restroom - at the same time PPRuNeing from one of the many terminals scattered throughout the building - that's if the security gate will actually work and allow you to enter :rolleyes:

Lon More
Here before Pontius was a Pilot or Mortius a Rigger

Well that's the bullet bitten. After long discussions with the missus last night, I've just reconfirmed my place on the March course. See you then if you're going, see you later if you're not!

A wise decision Foghorn and one you won't regret :ok:

Congrats Foghorn and sincere good wishes. Believe me, if you get to work in a busy tower, you'll soon find out what ATC is about..

RECONSIDERING
 

I am back in work and seriously reconsidering. God this is awful. You are calling the area guys gods and saying that aerodrome is easier, I don't want to just take the easy option. I want to be at the cutting edge and I want to be severely challanged.

You're right It's wiser to get valid in as many things as possible and perhaps transfer to area later (but that's five years after validation then taking a pay cut to retrain)

I also won't get the £39,000 a year after validation in airport.

I want to get started ASAP but God this is some decision. Thanks for the the replies people I'm seriously thinking I notice that the majority of the replies are from airport guys though.

I'm just about to read the PM's I have received thanks for them also. I will decide by lunchtime today.

If you really think you want to do area, then what's a 3 or 6 month wait for a whole career?

I feel the frustration as much as everyone, but the fact that it's an easier option (according to some) isn't reason enough to sell your dreams short.

I'm sure either discipline would be really exciting and rewarding, but if you go for your second choice wouldn't you always wonder?

By the way, my money's on a June start (I like to think positive;) )

Good luck with your decision, let us know.

I'm in
 

I've just accepted the place on the March Airport course. I feel strange I don't know if I've done the right thing or not.

The one problem I had with the prospect of area is that I'd never see an airplane, and that I wasn't part of the airport buzz.

I wanted though to work with all the technology at swanwick with a bigger variety of people doing what is regarded as the elite cutting edge (sorry if that sounds awful) will i spend my career now with the area bods looking down their noses at me. Perhaps envying them their jobs and salary.

I can't beleive this is the way NATS recruitment works. I'd really appreciate some more info on my prospective payscales now. Also have I gone from keeping planes apart and to just directing airplanes (on the ground) around the airport and if I'm lucky getting to do approach as well (where the planes are actually in the air)

Thanks for the feedback, but SERIOUSLY I'm sitting here in the office shellshocked not knowing if I've made the right decision.

I notice that it does seem to be mainly tower controllers who post replies (is this true?)

Maybe I am from a different generation, but the very fact that someone offered to make me an air traffiker satisfied me when I was a lad ("prospective payscales" did not feature in my equation).

Removing the cynacism, I have always personally preferred working at airfields - they seem to have more of an atmosphere.

Future area bod here! :rolleyes:
It does appear more tower guys post... in my very limited experience, the tower guys are more enthusiastic about the whole aviation thing... hence one reason why i wanted to go the tower route. Obviously this is a generalisiation, if i'm successfull at area i'll be a very enthusiastic area aviation bod.
Dunno if u guys have had much of it yet but over the last few months i've had nothing but admiration off of people who find out that i'm going to be a controller. Whichever route in the industry you take, you should feel the pride that you will hopefully have one of the most respected jobs within the industry!! Soak it up, with all the comments from the lecturers that "you're getting paid stupid amounts of money..."
live the dream.... ( :yuk: i know! :rolleyes: )

I agree with WhippingBoy... what on earth is wrong with these people??? When I was offered a posting to Heathrow I swear that I'd have done it for nothing... the last thing on my mind was money and in any event I DID take a pay cut by £100 less per year than I was earning at Kidlington.

It worries me that these people are going to develop into those infernal whingers which frequent all ops rooms..

C'mon guys - the profession is being offered to you on a plate. Get in there.

Well, I'm an "area bod" at TC and I think you'd be mad not to take up this offer asap. As many have said before just crack on with your training and get out of the college and into the real world as quick as you can!

As for aerodrome being easier than area, I don't actually believe there's a huge amount of truth in it, especially if you get sent to LL. I've had a few skives(sorry visits !!) over to the tower and wouldn't fancy doing GMC when it gets going!! (hopefully see you soon Gonzo as we have some new trainees I can bring over!)

Whatever you guys decide, good luck and make the most of what is a great career:ok:

Us tower controllers cannot afford to do anything else on our days off except stay at home and peruse PPRuNe, whereas all those Area Gods are off on their multi-million pound yachts moored in the Solent, or jetting off first class to their second home in Tuscany or The Hamptons.

After all, we only direct airplanes (sic ) around an airport.....

:}

JuniorX, send 'em over, as many as you like! We can show 'em what real aeroplanes look like! :ok:

scotsliveit

If ATC is what you REALLY REALLY want to do and Area Control is where you REALLY REALLY want to work, why did you let yourself be bullied into taking the wrong decision?

You will have a great career in any ATC environment. Whether it be the busiest centres; ludicrously busy heathrow; complex mixed traffic at an airport with ADC/APC or an out of the way aerodrome (Duncanindevon - time to extoll the virtues of your place now!).

However, if you were set on area control, it is likely that you will spend a long time wondering if you made the right decision. After all the effort and waiting, what would it have taken to wait for the next course?

Have a rethink!

have to agree with you HD
ditch the attitude dude, and stop whining , it wont go down well at any unit
i'd also go and look round an aerodrome - the phrase you used of " just directing planes round the airport " would indicate you've never bothered before
aerodrome and approach control isnt the sinecure you appear to think it is

yaffs

Point taken
 

Ok Gonzo, Heathrow Director and whipping boy point taken and understood.

It was an interesting one to throw at us though. I'm looking forward to getting on with it.

"Directing planes around an airport" I don't really know Gonzo and I was being asked to decide which I have. Most of us think we have a slight idea about what area involves. Also for some reason (strange to some) had my heart set on Swanwick. Worse case prestwick which is 25 mins away from the third biggest UK city where I live now.

Two of my friends in Glasgow have signed up as well. Time to get on with it, I'm happy to hear you think we've made the correct decision.

Sorry for any ignorance I may have unintentionally shown about the airport side.

yaffs you got in just before I posted this I certainly don't think airport work is a sinecure or a wouldn't have accepted the place on the course. It's just a complete change from what I've been told and had in mind from the start.

If we ever meet you'll see my attitude is cool and I'm not a whinger (except when watching Scotland play).