ATC Training
 

I leave school this year and am interested in training to be an air traffic controller. I have visited Newcastle's Air Traffic Control Tower and found out a lot about the job but not about training. I Was wondering if NATS was the only place you can train as I have heard from poeple at newcastle air traffic control that the NATS course is a bit boring and a lot out of texts books. Is this the only way or is there an apprenticeship type course you can do??

You need to take a look here: Air Traffic Controller Licensing | Air Traffic Standards | Safety Regulation

You need to be properly trained to be a controller. The requirements and licences are similar to those required for pilots. Training from scratch can take several years and I cannot imagine anyone with a real interest in the profession finding NATS courses "boring"! If you manage to get into NATS you will receive thorough training with the possibility of an excellent job for life.

There are other ways to train; several private ATC colleges take on paying students but the fees are high and there is rarely a guarantee of a job at the end.

Good luck..

NATS Careers is the first and main route for you. NATS careers

The main route outside NATS is to look at getting work as an Assistant at an Airport - try your local one whichever that may be. Try and get some work experience there or for an airline, training school or whatever. Should give you an insight.

There are other colleges as Heathrow Director said, they mostly take Students from other smaller airports round the UK to train, normally paid for by the airports though some students self sponsor (Big money really).

Academic knowledge underpins everything we do I'm afraid. So you're looking for a "cushy number" or an easy life I do suggest going for something else!!

That said, even the biggest air traffic geek will be sent to sleep by the Air Navigation Order!! :)
Good Luck.

Eurocontrol also recruit ab initio controllers for their Upper Air Centre at Maastricht in southern Netherlands. Check out this link for more detailed info:

EUROCONTROL - Air Traffic Controller Careers

If you do decide it's what you want, then the very best of luck to you.

On the beach :ok:

callumj94 - it is worth pointing out to you, and any other potential recruits browsing the board, that all ab-inito ATC training course will involve a great deal of book learning.

A parallel can be drawn with training to be a family doctor. A GP's normal workload is fairly humdrum and treatment of patients usually extends only as far as writing prescriptions, but they have to carry an enormous amount of knowledge around and there's always the possibility of a GP being the first or only doctor at the scene of an emergency requiring live-saving skills.

Likewise, much of the workload of an ATCO is fairly routine, albeit often very busy. We still have to be ready for those days when it's beyond busy and somebody calls MAYDAY.

I don't want to put you, or anyone else, off applying for ATC training if it's what you really want to do, but you must be realistic. While there are old campaigners around who hate graduates, the fact is that pretty much all ATCOs have the intelligence to gain a university degree. Many entrants to the profession are graduates now. As an arts graduate, I can safely say I worked harder in one year at the College of ATC (as it was) than in three years at university. Having a degree, or the intelligence to obtain one, is no guarantee of success in ATC training, but that does not detract from the fact that the book learning is an essential part of the job.

On an approved course, you'll learn about meteorology, air law, navigation, aircraft performance and characteristics, and a fair bit more. You'll learn large chunks of the Manual of Air Traffic Services Pt1. That is on top of the practical learning in the simulators. As Sweet Potatos (potatoes?) says, it ain't easy!

Callum
I wouldn't like to think which of my ex colleges described NATS training as boring?? As someone who was training by NATS or as it was then CAA/NATS I can say the training is some of the best in the world. I worked for NATS for 10 years then Newcastle 18 years and I am now in Dubai, being trained by NATS has stood me in good stead over the years. What they could have been hinting at was NATS recruit about 80/20% Area/Tower so you would be more likely to become an Area Controller as a Tower Controller but this again is far from boring!?
NATS is the main organisation to train ATCO’s in the UK, the only other option is be employed by an airport as an Air Traffic Control Assistant and then they ‘may’ pay for you to be trained up to be a Controller. Not all airports do this and then the ones who do may send you to NATS for your training any way or possibly one of the other few non-NATS ATC Colleges around the country, as Newcastle do now.
NATS recruit 100 times more controllers a year than the other non NATS airport put together mind you! So I would say your chances of becoming a controller is far better applying for NATS. All of this is of course dependent upon you having the aptitude and being medically fit for the job.
Best of luck.
10D

Check your Pm's

Im bored of having to wake up early, and im bored of not having a lot of money, but im definately not bored of the training!
If its actually what you want to do then apply with NATS and maybe Eurocontrol, and if you have no luck with them start looking into ASTAC or BAe-Cymbran

Should have gone to the IAA then:E

<<Im bored of having to wake up early, and im bored of not having a lot of money, but im definately not bored >>

Are they really recruiting people who are incapable of using grammar and punctuation correctly?

"Are they really recruiting people who are incapable of using grammar and punctuation correctly?"

Afraid so! I'd be very worried when getting on a plane when i'm controlling because I might have put one too many commas in the Watch Log!:ugh:

HD, you missed the incorrect spelling of "definitely".

Nice reposte up to a point, rice.and.pea, until you ruined it with the lower case i in "i'm" and "one too many commas". One comma is, of course, singular and thus should have been referred to as "one comma too many". C+, must try harder.

<< Are they really recruiting people who are incapable of using grammar and punctuation correctly? >>

Director, it's a sloppy new world out there for old buggers like you and me; young people seem to have invented a whole new language, they use the word 'text' as a verb, and then use their, ah, 'mobile' telephonic apparatus to shorten their words down to incomprehensible levels.

It wasn't like that in our day, man; groovy, baby - hang loose and chill out.

Here, have a few commas and apostophes that were unwanted Christmas presents: ,,,,,,,,,,,,''''''''''',,,,,,,,,

On the beach :ok: