advice needed
 

Hi, I am very keen to become an ATCO. It is something I have wanted to do since I was a child.
Unfortunately I don’t have the required 5 A-C GCES’s needed to apply to NATS.
I have looked in to the other ways of becoming an ATCO e.g. Cwmbran Collage and Astac Ltd. However this a quite expensive option (Cwmbran has said 15-20K)
I would be prepared to go down this route if I could secure a placement for the OTJ training needed to gain a full license afterwards.
I have heard that people get sponsorship from a future employer before training commences.
My questions are:
1. How realistic (sensible) is it to self finances the courses without a placement once the course is finished?
2. How would I go about gaining an OTJ training placement before I have taken the course? Would it be a simple as writing to the relevant units and asking or is there a more effective way?
3. Is there any other way in to the career path that you could recommend or suggest.
I would be very grateful for any suggestions or help regarding this.
Many thanks :ok:

If you have other further qualifications (e.g. A-levels, Degree etc) or any relevant experience then it might be worth giving NATS a call to discuss. You could probably also have a look at your local adult education options to see if you could get the required GCSE qualifications.

Have you spoken to NATS recruitment? I notice your age is 29. Vocational experience may help.

I have spent my time since leaving school running a tree company however the thought of climbing trees is wearing a little thin at my age.

Unfortunately i haven't got any further education - A levels or degrees. Although i have a hunger for learning in this area and have a keen interest in ATC / aviation.

I haven't spoken to NATS in person only been on their website and it doesn't let me proceed thought the application process unless i have more than 5 A-C GCSE's. :(

Look for assistant positions, prove your value (and aptitude) & get sponsored.

Visit & write to all the non-NATS units you can.

I just wonder why you have wasted so much time if you wanted to be an ATCO when you were quite young. I was in a similar boat but pursued it from the time I left school with just 2 GCE O levels. I wrote to every airfield in the UK and eventually managed to get a poorly paid, grossly overworked job at a small airfield as a "trainee controller". This led me to apply to International Aeradio (now SERCO I believe) and I secured a place on an ATCO training course and was eventually posted overseas. After 3 years I returned to the UK, having come home on leave and taken my UK Licence exams. I got a job at a non-state airfield, working TWR and APC and applied for a Civil Service ATCO position as soon as an ad appeared in Flight. I was accepted with the lower educational qualifications based on the fact that I had recent ATC experience at home and abroad. I was posted to Heathrow - Hey Presto! childhood ambition achieved.

This is just to say that without the basic education requirements, life can be difficult, but given a lot of work and a bit of luck what you want may just be achieved.

Hi, yes you are right i should have pursued it straight from school. I did reasonably well at school but at the time i didn't want to go on to collage.

In hindsight i should have gone to collage and worked hard toward what i wanted but as we all know hindsight is a wonderful thing.

When i was 16 swinging around in trees seemed the perfect career and it was however its not so much fun anymore is not something i look forward to doing much anymore.

I am trying to locate either my certs or find out my exact exam results and its a possibility that i could take the missing exams to make it to the 5 required by NATS.
I do find it hard to see though what the marks from exams i took 15 years ago is going to mean to NATS as IF i could pass the entry exams then surely that what counts. :rolleyes:

It's to do with setting a standard... ATC is a professional job akin to flying medicine, law, etc., and it's a bit more than a bloke sitting in a control tower. NATS sets standards, much as some professions require university degrees. If you are successful you will find yourself studying subjects during your training which you may never use... that's life, as they say.

Starting from scratch at your age with very little background may be difficult which is why they'll want to be reasonably sure that you can assimilate the knowledge required.

One other point. Having spent the last few years "swinging in trees", are you sure you want to be shut away in a control room for hours on end? Remember that with NATS you might get posted to an airfield but you might also be posted to Swanwick, where there is not an aeroplane to be seen.

Good luck

dear Separation

advice is a wonderful thing. There a a lot of opinionated voices in this forum, but at the end of the day it's your life, your decisions.
I don't have any GCSEs. In fact, I didn't even go to school in the UK.
I also started with nats when I was 28. Don't shoot yourself for not pursuing this road any sooner. There is more to life than ATC and other life experiences are just as valuable. Having worked other "normal" jobs makes me appreciate what I have now a lot more. I have several colleagues who spent life in ATC, taking home well in excess of 3k a month, and all they do is moan, then you look at your operational times and you've actually worked less than 80 hours in 45 days.
I used to work that in a week in previous jobs. For half the money.

I disagree with the law or medicine analogy. Trainees going through college memorise the whole of Mats part 1 in 6 months or so. I suspect the bookwork required to become a doctor is slightly more demanding!!

regards

Thanks for your comments guys. I was ready to be 'shot down' regarding my comments on the GCSE's :E
Hopefully when i find out what my grades were ill have the required 5 but I'm sure it was more like 3-4!

Ivor_Novello could i ask how you got in to NATS without required exams or previous experience? did you have the equivalent of 5 GCSE's from your home country?

I have read through MATS1 a few times as I'm genuinely interested, I'm sure i could learn it in 6 months

Seperation... It's not just a case of reading MATS; far from it. There are other subjects and practical and oral exams too, all of which have high pass marks.

Once you have a Licence there are rating exams for the various categories of ATC service. After the college, you have to train at an ATC Unit. This often involves simulator work and then, finally, live training. Validation requires recommendation from training officers plus practical and oral examinations to determine your ability to work solo. It is definitely not a piece of cake and at a busy airfield or centre the lead up to validation may take over a year.

No of course not i appreciate how hard it would be and how much work it would involve. I have great respect for the people that have made it and see how dedicated they must be. I may not make it through the testing process however i believe i could and would like to give it my best shot.

Try it this way: get yourself a copy of the FISO (Flight Information Service Officer) Manual and by self study, take the exams for a FISO licence. Once you have passed the exams, try contacting local airfields to see if they will employ you as either an ATSA or a FISO (Aerodrome). If you get employed as an ATSA, the airport may just be willing to sponsor you through ATCO training given the fact you have already passed the FISO exams. If you get employed as a FISO, this will give you 'prior experience' grounds to present to NATS. It will also be an indication to yourself of whether or not you have what it takes to be an ATCO, after all it would be rather a waste of money for you to start an ATCO course then find you don't have the ability.

Try to visit an ATC facility. That way you'll get to see close up what the job is all about and should help you to decide a suitable way forward.

@separation

If you are really serious about this then I think you should get in touch with someone @ recruitment. I take your comments regarding the website. However, I would attempt to contact the switchboard and ask to talk to a recruitment specialist.

You can get the number here Nats in* Hampshire *» Yell.com

I wouldn't worry too much about the GCSEs. IMHO it is just a lazy way of initial filtering to get rid of 'shell-suit-wearing-football-yobs' :}

One course of action you could take would be to get yourself on an aptitude test at one of the ATC schools (ASTAC or BAe Cwmbran). It'll cost you a couple of hundred quid but it'll give you a good idea of the intelligence level (rather than the qualifaction minimum) that'll be needed (and they may well have some contacts for companies recruiting). Bare in mind though, that passing the test is not anything like the pain you'll endure on a course! Oh no, the course is much, much harder!

If that works out, then contact every ANSP you can find an address for (google is your friend) and offer them your services. Not many, if any, will bite but if you go back to them - continuing to show interest and offer to partially (or totally) self-fund a course, they may offer you some kind of conditional deal. Of course, there is no guarentee that any of that will help.

That's a fair bit of work and only one way to go, but if you are serious and nothing else gets you where you wanna be....

Hi, thanks for the comments its greatly appreciated. Keep em coming.

I have inquired to Cwmbran and like said it will be around £350 for the aptitude test in wales. Do you think this may show a willing and that i have the required aptitude to NATS or others if i passed?

@ Someone_Else Yes I'm serious about this. Of course i cant say if i would pass the testing. Are you saying speak to a recruitment specialist with any inside knowledge or is that just a hunch on your part ?

No, I am saying this because if I was in your shoes it's exactly what I would be doing.

This forum is great for help, advice etc etc but you need specific answers and unless someone from recruitment sees this, you aint going to get those answers.

Make the call!