for those on order of merit
 

1208Punk you pretty much said it, they want you to stick around, considering salaries are better overseas, for example my friend who is a tower controller at Brisbane got offered US dollars 250K to work in Dubai, oh and did i mention tax free, didn't take the offer because his missus didn't want to live in Dubai :ugh:

70K once rated, reducing over the 5 year period.

64 Days !
 

Pretty sure the 12 months starts once on the Merit list. Hence why ASA were using middle of next year as the yardstick in their correspondence. The last 3 courses in 2009 are exactly 8 weeks apart. Given that the first for next year is around 13th January they should squeeze in at least 2 more before our crop of rookies fall off the merit list.

Hey Toboto,

It is 12mths from the day you are put onto the Order of Merit list. I was June 26 this year, therefore I have until June 26 2010 !!

Plenty of more waiting yet ;-)

Thanks guys for the reassurance, thats good to know like all the applicants i just wanna get started, longest application process i've ever gone through. :)

Ha ha, na.. most Government jobs now take up to 12mths. Well most of the Police Forces do anwyays. I'd like to get on a course around March next year... that'd be perfect :-)

Class 3 Medical Examination
 

Can't remember who was asking but......

Had most of my Medical Exam today. The list of tests included:

Urine sample for traces of protein, sugar and/or blood
ECG
Weight
Height
Colourblindness test
Reading test (weird one - had to read 8 words)
Reflexes test (arms)
Muscular tests - pushing against a resistance - feet and arms
Mobility test - hips and knees (probably due to my knee reconstruction from years ago)
Listened to heart/lungs
Checked for hernia in abdomen
Simple eye test and looked at retina
Checked ears
Numerous questions (including questionnaire) regarding dizziness, headaches etc.
Thorough hearing test (have that one on Monday)
Blood test (fasting required - doing it tomorrow)
Thorough Eye test (also doing Monday)

Think that covers it. :ok:

oh, and blood pressure

Hey jrbridge,

Its been 11 weeks since you started, has the course proved to be what you expected or hoped for?

What sorts of subjects/topics have you covered so far?
Radio principles?
Subsets of TAAATS - ADSB, RADAR, flightplans etc?
Electronics?
Sims?
Weather?
Aircraft characteristics?
Orginisational structures?
OHS issues?
Existential angst in 21st-century society?

Does the course follow a structured time-table (eg Sims on Tues arvos, Kung-Fu on Thurs morns etc) or is it more like an apprenticeship (making coffee, sweeping etc)?

How much homework/study have you been receiving each week?

Are there enough questions in this post?

:8

G'Day enemyMIG,

Yep just finished the 11th week. We have covered a huge amount of material so far. Subjects like:

-Air Law
-Air Traffic Services (basically covers the whole Manual of ATS)
-Communications (radio principles and who says what, who talks to who and when)
-Meteorology (basically all comes from the Aviation Reference Manual)
-ATS Practices and Procedures (mainly covers the work that approach and tower controllers do)
-Aerodromes & Other Landing Surfaces
-Instruments & other navigation aids
-Principles of flight
-Search & Rescue
-Navigation

All of the first probably 7 weeks is theory with a couple of days induction into ASA. After that we started in the simulator to learn how to use the sim and all of the controls. In about week 9 we started in the sim properly and now spend 4 hours a day in the sim every day. The theory has tapered off a little with subjects mainly concerning the sim, like separation standards. We have a timetable that covers the next 3 weeks. You hear a lot of bad stories relating to the college, I have not experienced any of them.

It sounds just like college with the Police/Military...... you think you know it all when you graduated, but knowing what's in a text book doesn't really mean a thing........ the real work starts when in the hot seat!

It wasn't that bad when I went through it TAAATS!

The college gives you the basics is all. You might come out feeling like you know it all (or at least most of it) but when you get the field you learn the specifics of your location. The college is aimed at being reasonably generic yet still giving you the basics.

It was a good grounding, but the field will really sort you out.

I was off a tower course, so the enroute stuff might be a bit different but I suspect not.

Thanks for the update jrbridge

I was hoping to hear "Animal House" meets "Old School", but there you go.......

:E

Has anyone who completed the psychometric assessments in August received notification yet if they have passed or not? I know they said late August/early September but I'm just curious if anyone has heard anything...

Nope not yet. They told me 2-3 weeks. Its 3 weeks Wednesday for me so should be soon I would think (hope).

Hi jrbridge

What's the average age of the people in your course?
At 32, are you one of the eldest?

Just wondering

I'm one of the younger ones on our course. Ages range from 27ish to early 40s. Some courses are younger some are older. It really doesn't matter at all.

Has anyone here been offered a tower position? I think ASA is going to need a few tower bods over the next year

AsA have only been recruiting for Enroute for the past year or so....... I do believe some Laterals (ATCOs from RAAF/overseas etc) have been offered Tower as they are already trained up & only need to do a conversion course.