Anyone looking for an unfurnished room, $140/week + bills please PM me.

Hi Guys,

Your thread was recommended to me recently by a friend who has just rated from Field Training in Brisbane.

I'm going through the process with ASA at the moment - have passed the online aptitude tests & phone interview, and am awaiting my Assessment Day in April 2014.

I've been reading through the previous comments & am wondering if anyone can give me a heads-up on what is involved in the 'Assessment Day'.

I've heard alot of talk about the face-to-face panel interview & a couple of the exercises they usually run you through on the day.

Has anyone sat through this recently that can give me an idea of what's entailed?


Cheers, :ok:

Silver

They will send you an email with an outline of what to expect on the day and they will also tell you not to ask for details about the exercises. Suppress the urge to ask for specifics from previous applicants, they will recognise that you have been briefed and the odds are it will be to your disadvantage. That being said, the basic structure of the day I attended included:

* Verification of online results
* Simulation exercise
* Group exercise
* Behavioral interview
* Briefing exercise
* Spacial awareness test

I used lumosity (suggested in this forum) every day for around a month before, I can't say conclusively that it helped but it certainly didn't hurt. All you can do embrace the experience on the day, you will meet some really interesting and passionate people that are happy to share their stories and experiences. Don't forget you aren't competing against the others so do what you can to be supportive toward the other people on your day. You will feel like a fish out of water but I guarantee you everyone else there is feeling the exact same way even if they don't show it. Good luck!!!

To those going through admissions at the moment:
I'm only a few months into my course, and yes, it's not easy, but I am having the time of my life.
I am in Brisbane and the others on my course are fantastic and the instructors really care about your progress, you are more than just a number.
So yes, all the effort involved to get to day one is most definitely worth it!

Im planning on moving down to Melbourne for the April course. Trying to figure out whether to buy new and then move it all up to my posting or to just get cheap stuff and flog it when I complete the course. Can anyone tell me if Airservices chips in for some/all of the removals to take your things from the academy to your posting? Also how long do they give you to move from the academy to your posting?

Allegory,

Thanks for the advice.
I've been on Lumosity for a little while now - I think it helps a little to keep things sharp.

I'm just going to give it my best shot on the day.
It sounds like you've either got it or you don't with this recruitment process. It no doubt depends on the magic number of candidates they need to fill courses, etc too.

What stage of the process are you up to?

silverdieselcorolla,

I commenced training on Monday. I wouldn't be too concerned about 'course quotas', if they have more than expected pass the assessment day there might just be a slightly longer wait until your course commences. My understanding is that they select people based on a required performance mark in the assessment areas rather than selecting the best performing x% from a particular group of applicants.

Sounds slightly more promising!
I've just heard very mixed results on how many people make it past the assessment day.

What you said about the selection process being more of a competency based approach makes sense & fits the bill with other comments I've heard about the number of people that pass from each group.

So are you into the academy phase of training, or field training?
Field training looks pretty exciting!
I popped into the Brisbane Field Training area a couple of months ago.
Was awesome to see the interface & how they operate.

Flight Information Service
 

In Australia who provide a FIS outside controlled airspace?

I am currently awaiting assessment day with ASA mid April.

I've heard so far that it's pretty intense from day 1 of training (once you're offered a place in the course), right through to Field Training & actual rating as an official ATC.

Is there anyone out there who has rated or has been working as an ATC, that can give me a bit of insight as to what working life is like post-rating?

Is it as intense as the field training, etc?
How do you find life as an ATC.

Feel free to PM if you prefer.

No kidding!

I had no idea you had to go to school for that! :}

FIS is provided by air traffic controllers. Twenty five years ago, flight service was rolled into ATC and many FSO's converted to ATC.

Cheers Knackers. What about at minor aerodromes?

It was more like 12 years ago it was rolled in. @nastynas, minor aerodromes are CTAFs. Any aerodrome that is not CTAF is a controlled aerodrome, airspace class may differ between them but ATC license required.

Edit. Some have CAGRO (or did 5 years ago)

A UNICOM service is provided at some aerodromes if that's what you're meaning, but there's no single service provider - it's up to the individual aerodrome operator.

The "official" provision of FIS is all done from Melbourne and Brisbane Centres, except for the radar services provided around the various TCUs. As Knackers says, all by controllers.

silverdieselcorolla, after rating the intensity decreases over time due to there being less to learn. Not that you ever stop learning but over time you're simply less likely to encounter something novel - you have a broader and deeper pool of knowledge and experience to draw from. You use the skills you've learnt day in and day out so they become second nature.

Unless you're working a tower that closes overnight (e.g. a GAAP or secondary tower such as MB or EN) you'll eventually work a roster that incorporates shifts that cover the full 24 hours. Initially you probably won't hold enough ratings but after a few years you will.

Rostering is fairly inflexible with limited scope for swapping shifts, particularly out of the cycle you're working. You might be able to swap a morning for an afternoon shift on the same day but swapping a shift on one day for one on another can be difficult. Can make regular external activities difficult. I hope you like working Christmas Day....

That said you're generally not doing battle with everyone else driving to work, don't need to go to the bank during your lunch hour and can take the kids to school or pick them up quite often. Of course you'll be working more weekends than not and will be trying to sleep when the neighbours are mowing the lawn so it's not all good.

I have found that the simulator training in the field is usually harder than the real thing and probably the most challenging part of your entire education. That is based on 4 different group endorsements. What can't be learnt is the non standard stuff. Whilst many Gen Y trainees think they know everything, listen to the old farts and the war stories because you might pick up something that will help you when wielding your own license.

Well, I moved 25 years ago and had to teach ATC colleagues in the Centre how to read TAFs, NOTAMs, etc, because they'd never done it since leaving Henty House.

I hear the first course has started in the 'new' Simulator at ML LA. RIP Exmouth FIR :-(

No, not really....Genoa? Mate, I f...

This is particularly true... Being a Gen Y'er something you cant teach in field training is judgement, it can come at cost of your endorsement at the pointy end sometimes, but its better to just take the advice of the more experienced guys to know what works, they have controlled this sequence before many times..