Nope, I'm 10th of July as well! Already had my medical etc. done, just need to re-do the D&A test since it has to be within 3 months of the start date.

Lucky! If you're ok with me asking, how long did it take for your medical to come back after all your appointments were finished?

I assume if you were on reserve you'd be based in or close to Melbourne?

Hmm... without trawling back through my calendar, I think I had my initial assessment on the 09/01 or so, had my final appointment on 02/02, and the medical came through on 23/03. What mostly annoyed me was that I already had both a current Class 1 and Class 2 medical! Still had to do the class 3 as a new application though. But yeah, 6-8 weeks is not an unreasonable expectation for the length of time it'll take.

Yep, based in Melbourne... I actually applied once before, back in... 2019? Got to the assessment centre, which in those days was on-site, so we got a bit of a tour around the training facilities, saw the sim setup etc. and got to talk to some current controllers at the lunch break. Not the operational area though.

Wow, those must have cost a fortune! At least AsA reimburses us back for the Class 3. All those warnings in the offer letter about Class 3s taking 3 months to return had me a bit worried that I'll miss the proverbial bus. Absolute worst case, I know they're running a September course I could be pushed back onto.

(But here's to hoping that it won't be an issue).

Yeah initial applications are expensive, but renewals are generally much better. Especially if you're younger and have nothing anomalous pop up, 6-8 weeks from your initial appointment is a reasonable timeframe to expect, so hopefully you'll be right!

Hey guys, I'm also commencing training on 10 July. Looking forward to it!

Welcome Sgg!

Looks like your mailbox is full, do you reckon you could remove one of your sent messages to make space?

Very odd how my inbox is full, I just made an account yesterday. It seems like I may not have access to receiving private messages on this forum since my account is so new haha, must be a little probationary period for my account on the forum.

I'm off to the assessment centre in Melbourne in two weeks! The final test awaits. Is anyone else on here going to the Melbourne sessions? When is your assessment day in Sydney, Thelamprun?

Congrats mate! Our day is the 9th of May

Heyo guys!

I’m starting my traineeship shortly and I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on what hours the course runs. Is it a 9-5 Monday to Friday deal? Are there half days and things of that sort?

Any insight would be much appreciated 🙏

Hey Sketchy,

I believe it may be 7am-2pm Monday to Friday, but I could be wrong

I'm also heading over to the Melbourne assessment centre in the same week! Absolutely stoked to have made it this far :O

Hey Sketchy,

Of course I'm in the same boat as you, but from what I've read the course runs 9-5 for the first bit until you reach the simulators, then each course is timetabled with either a morning shift (7-3) or afternoon shift (9-5). This is done to basically maximise time in the sim - this being the main bottleneck for pushing trainees through. Of course, this is pretty much hearsay, so I'd love it if an actual controller / trainee could correct me! 😊

As for half days, I've heard it isn't uncommon to be let out an hour or two early, but excluding the Christmas shutdown and when we have the cockpit work experience thingy I assume that'll be it.

Oh and best of luck to you guys in the Assessment Centre!

Hey exiflame, that definitely makes a lot more sense. Do you happen to know how long the Christmas shutdown is?

Oh yeah also, I still seem to be in the probationary period for my account and still can't see your private message, I'm not sure whether it's a matter of time or whether I need to post more to lift the probation.

Good luck to everyone participating in the Assessment Centre next month

Appreciate the time and response as always, Sgg and Exiflame! 🫡 🙏

I am retired, but as a guess I would say Xmas shutdown this year will be from 23 Dec to 1 Jan inclusive. You get the public holidays off, and the rest are taken as rec leave. They often include a "bonus" public holiday which cuts down on the rec leave required to be taken. It used to be, they couldn't force you to take rec leave, (this may have changed), so you just turned up on those days and did whatever (study, centre visit)

Hey can anyone help me find the right number to call to organize a tower/terminal visit (based in Sydney). I have assessment day booked for next week. I tried calling ASA on 1300 301 120 but the guy on the phone said he couldn't help and directed me to email avrecruit instead. Thanks in advance

Hi rmak. I'm not sure if this would be any help, but from what I've seen it's pretty much impossible to get a tower/centre visit without knowing someone on the inside. But otherwise, I reckon that email would be your best bet. If it's any consolation, I and I'm sure many others, didn't have a visit before their assessment centre. Irregardless, best of luck with your assessment centre!

Not only that, but even when the assessment day was held on-site in Melbourne, there was no visit either to the tower or the operational areas in general.