I got my email today advising ive to book my stage 1.
Also got an email saying theres no dates until april. no just gives me more time to practise.

has anyone just been through stage one that could give me some pointers, what types of questions etc?
i have recieved the practice tests and have been going over them.

any help would do

cheers

Tony

To anyone waiting to book their next stage, I advise you to keep checking the link nats sent you every few days as I have recently been able to book my stage 3 for next month :)
Any tips for it?
Anybody ever been on visits to the Glasgow tower? Or prestwick centre?
Any help is much appreciated :)

I'd assume visiting Prestwick/Swanwick would be more beneficial than visiting a tower based on the ratio of ATCOs at each.

And I would recommend visiting one before your Stage 3, but it's not necessary.

i was going to visit just the one, but i thought it would be better for me going into the interview with some knowledge of both area and approach, that way i can show them i am willing to learn whatever aspect they throw at me

8 days till my stage 6..... should I be nervous yet?? :E:E

Libertine, see post no 6464 on this thread. All you ever wanted to know about ATC (and a lot you didn't!) is in that book.

Cheers Atcham Tower :D

Why all these questions about visitng units? Am I the only one nerdy enough to want to visit every single unit out there if I pass stage2? :8

Just think about it, Heathrow would be amazing just beause of the traffic amount.
Gatwick and it's single runway would also be really intresting.
Farnborough and all that VFR traffic.
London city, short runway in the middle of town.
Swanwick, do I need to keep going? :p

I'll be on the plane in 7 days now, really starting to feel excited about going back to Fareham once again:ok:

It's not a case of being nerdy; it's a case of wanting to succeed. Go for it!

WTH
 

I jst got off Phase 2exam and i failed :(
outta 6 only 1 person passed..
When we asked why no answer :(
Any advice where i can also do the exam somewhere else???

Well it seems you failed the Eurocontrol stage 2 so why not apply to NATS?

@atcham tower
I like to see it this way, I might not get in. But in the end all I can do is my best, and if I don't get in I want to take every chance to visit ATC units just to have been there and had the chance to meet the ATCOs behind the scenes. So if I don't get in I'll have had a great experience that I can look back to in the future(and also some faces to the various PPrune nicks):)

Stage 1 tomorrow !! Really excited about going there and doing the exams rather than just worrying about what they are going to be like. Very strange question....but is a suit too formal ?

Cheers :)

it doesn't really matter - nobody there is judging you so if you want to wear a suit, wear a suit! Most at my Stage 1 were, like me, just in shirt and trousers, no tie or jacket.

If I pass stage 2 next week I might wear a tie to stage 3, but that's it :ok:

When I arrived at Stage 1 we were told we should take our ties/jackets off and get comfortable.

Nobody is judging you at Stage 1/2.

Suit is DEFINITELY needed at Stage 3 though.

Cheers guys :)

KirtjE -
I'd say this depends on the person in question. Some people look ridiculous in a suit... like they're trying too hard to be all grown up... there is a possibility I suppose that this is my opinion from experience of seeing young lads wearing terrible-fitting suit jackets... dad's, perhaps?

I have a feeling however that my girlfriend will force me to wear my suit jacket along to Stage 3... :suspect: (fingers crossed for stage 2 next week then...)

GUTTED !!!!

After driving all the way to Prestwick Airport today, I absolutely for the LIFE of me could not find the NATS centre !!! I arrived with plenty of time to spare (or so I thought...a good 40 minutes extra) but ended up driving around and around the airport area looking for the centre...but 9am rolled by and I still wasn't there. I soon gave up, went home and e mailed NATS asking for a new date...which won't be till April, but I'm so disappointed -I was ready !

Oh well...wasn't meant to be...WHERE IS the centre at Prestwick, anyone?! Lol

they clearly have an extra aptitude test for those going to Prestwick then :ugh: you must be livid!

a few pages back someone posted a picture of the new building up there, as google maps either shows the old building or a building site... did you see that?

Hi sambatc - was the most frustrating thing in the world..I ended up in both the long stay/short stay car parks, building sites, housing estates etc etc - but i just couldn't find the new NATS building. My sat nav never registered the street or post code, so that was no help - and when I went in to the airport to ask for help, they sent me to the OLD building...which wasted most of the time. Really really disappointed, but it was my own fault I guess...however a nice wee sign post would have been pretty superb !

Cheers !

Did you not think to ring NATS and ask for directions? :o

No worries guys, managed to grab the 1 o'clock spot and just back now. Things seemed to go ok - the first 2 papers were a piece of cake, although very surprised at the amount of people sent home! The cubes were as everybody says - nightmare! The diagrams were alright, nothing too much to worry about although did leave about 10 of them incomplete :s.....fingers crossed ! :)

I'm glad it worked out for you gazb :)

5 days until stage 2 now, anyone else then myself, sambatc and undrealdrem that will be going?

I wish I had some PPRuNers at my Stage 1 and 2.

Maybe I'll get lucky at my Stage 3 on 31st March.. :)

stage 1 today at prestwick
 

Hi gaz

I was there today at 1pm. I tried to find the place by walking from the airport but gave up, returned to the airport and got a cab! I agree the first paper was straightforward (what am i going to do with all my airspeeds and flight levels now? ha ha). didnt like the cubes (took a few guesses) but got to about number 44 in the diagrams. Ps i might have spoke to you today

Stuck in glasgow airport now!!!!

I have my stage 3 shortly and I will be 32 this year. Do you think the interviewers will take my age into consideration when making a decision? I'm a little concerned that I'm too old to make their investment worthwhile.

Firstly, Good Luck with your stage 3!

I am also turning 32 this year, so have the same concerns as you. Albeit Stage 1 & Stage 2 are a more pressing concern.

I keep telling myself, that surely they wouldn't let you get through to the later stages of the process if they were only going to bin you, due to your age at the final hurdle. Would be a massive waste of resources and effort on their behalf surely? (fingers crossed)

Best of luck once again, just go in there and do your best and try not to let your doubts about your age affect you. (easier said than done I now)

Don't worry guys, I was 31 when I started at the college.

32 is the new 18. You'll be fine!

I've a friend who is applying for nats, is there any up to date information on what is involved? She has just been sent a link to online tests, what do they involve? Any information would be great!

Hi guys; wondering if someone can help me please.

This is my third year of applying. I submitted my application to NATS on 12th January but have heard nothing back yet. I recalled, in the last two applications, I heard back fairly quickly at this point.

Any suggestions would be welcome and appreciated. It could be a case of jitters but it's always nice to have a date set to work towards.

email HR, they always get back within a day or two, your application sounds like it's gotten lost somewhere :ok:

Stage 2 tomorrow.... :eek:

you setting off for ole' Blighty yet Crazy Voyager? I'm setting off for my 5/6 hour drive about 4pm this afternoon :suspect:

The advice is very much appreciated. I wish you all the best tomorrow.

By the time you wrote that I was departing towards London, right now I'm at McDonalds by Liverpool street station, going to meet up with unrealdream later today. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow ;)

Hi guys,

I'm just starting out with this whole application process and have been asked to complete the online selection tests.

Can anybody please clarify which tests these are so i'm not going into this more clueless than I already am?

Many thanks

:)

The online tests are basic checking. You have to match a sequence of letters & numbers to one on a list of about 10.

It is timed and is broken into 5 sections of 5, with each section the time limit to match the sequence gets lower.

Hi,

Just sat the test yesterday myself. Its one test about data checking. They run through the whole test as a practice and then you can keep practicing until you are ready. Its 25 questions long and broke into 5 sections. It's all explained really well on the website so you have nothing to worry about.

I got my results back already and thankfully I have passed. As stated before there are no stage 1 interviews until April now and you won't be able to book one until end of Feb.

Good Luck!

Thank buddy!

I've had a practice go at this on the Internet but hadnt been able to find if this was the test I had 2 take!

Hi guys,

Anyone run through stage 2 recently that's able to tell me whether or not the SkyTest software helped? I'm trying to avoid learning a rule-set to have to unlearn it for stage 2... Not sure if running through the SkyTest practises are helping or hindering at the mo.

An expeditious answer would be preferable; my stage 2 is Thursday!

Ta,
Adam

Hey AJArkley,

I can't give you any advice regarding to the training software you have been using.

But I can tell you one thing.
As much as I can ofcourse recommend any preparation you take to go to any selection test I don't feel you have to use this preparation softwares. These selection test are designed to test your basic skills in certain area's, they don't test your knowledge on anything specific. If you need any knowledge, this will be explained to you prior the actual test and this knowledge they give you does not always reflect reality for 100%.... If you understand what I mean... In a way I mean this as well like... If you would be able to practise the exact exercises they give you, if you just give it enough training, everybody after a certain time will be able to pass it... this however takes a bit away the reason of the test and this does not mean you would be succesfull further on in training.

The only thing that is required for these test is that you are well rested and try to feel as confident as possible. This means as well that if you feel more comfortable doing some practise test that might reflect the selection test, you should do this. But don't keep on focussing to much on these practise test I would say. If you are up for the game and conditions are as optimal as possible for you while doing the actual tests, thing should go fine.
Just remember to keep on fighting during the test, even when you think you are completely screwing it up, quite often that is not the case even when you are absolutely sure of it... Take a deep breath and just keep on going at these times...

Anyway, as much as I haven't been able to help you with you exact question I think, I hope I have been able to guide you a bit.

Good luck with your test,

as I said before... get well rested, relax as much as possible and during the test, take full advantage of every little pause you get between 2 different parts of the test ;) :ok: