Hi Guys,

I recently attended Stage 2 and passed! I just thought I would drop a few observations about the day as I know I was confused about it beforehand and can see others are too. I won’t go into detail about the testing as everything you have access to already explains this - google search FEAST/DART for decent enough info, though stay away from the totally pointless smartphone apps. Ultimately you can’t prepare for FEAST/DART – your brain either works that way or it doesn’t, and it’s the point of the testing day to figure this out, so I wouldn’t stress about that side of things. You have no excuse to not pass the Multiple-Choice Questions though – that’s 100% in your control.

Anyways, this is my experience and may well differ from person to person/group to group, but should hopefully give you an idea:

Arrival Time – the stage 2 email confirmation isn’t explicit about what time to actually walk through the door of NATS (interestingly the stage 3 invite is). To confirm – you should arrive at 7:30am. They have an airport security style reception where you need to empty your pockets, put bags on a conveyor belt, and you walk through to be scanned by a machine and patted down by security – just like in an airport. The reason they ask you to arrive that early is because reception can get very busy at that time (as it was when I was there) and it takes a long time to get everyone through. Save yourself the stress of potentially missing the start time and get there in good time. The local taxi number is 01329 282 282 – get that in your phone now as if you don’t drive, you’ll be needing it.

Toilets – go to the toilet whenever they offer it, regardless of whether or not you need to go – squeeze whatever you have in you out. Seriously. The security level at NATS means that the testing group is on an ‘accompany at all times’ pass. This means that a member of staff must go with you everywhere and at all times. Now, as there’s only 1 member of staff that starts the day off with you, you all have to be escorted as a group. So if you need the loo – everyone’s going with you, or they will have to find another member of staff to take you out of the room. Either doesn’t look great for you, and they don’t pause the test once it starts so you would be screwed. So once you have been collected from reception and go up to around the testing room, they will offer you a toilet visit before going in, and you won’t be out again as a group for another 2.5 hours – so go then (let’s just say I regretted not taking them up on this offer – I was about ready to burst, as were others).

Phones/Belongings – you are asked to turn off your phones and put them, along with any bags etc in a box at the front of the room. You won’t have access to these for the rest of the day. You are however allowed to keep a bottle of water with you if you bought one, though it must have a screw top lid.

Removal from the process – once you complete the multiple-choice questions AND FEAST, is when the group is told who has passed and who hasn’t. It is a bit brutal – someone (who is monitoring what you are doing in the next room) comes in after the last person finishes (everyone in your group will finish at different times) and reads out who needs to leave the building with them. I’m sure it feels a bit sucky for those who are asked to leave, but there’s no other way of doing it.

Breaks – If you pass the MCQ’s and FEAST you will then get a break of around half an hour. At this point we all scrambled to the toilet, were taken for a glass of water, and sat with the member of staff who had just escorted the failed candidates out. This is so the person doing your tests can set up DART. This is your opportunity to eat if you want to, and we all just had an informal chat about NATS/our backgrounds etc – nothing scary. Grab something to eat at this point if you like, and don’t be frightened to ask to go to the loo again if you need it – you won’t be out for another couple of hours.

Refreshments – when the email says there is only 1 vending machine, they mean it. The vending machine doesn’t have anything like sandwiches etc in – it’s just crisps/chocolate bars, and theres no canteen or anything. One guy in our group hoped to grab some lunch whilst he was there – no dice. So either bring something with you, or be prepared to live off salt and sugar for the day.

Finish – once DARTS over with, you have a little debrief and are escorted from the building. We finished about 2pm, but this would vary depending on the group and everyone’s finish times. There’s a large shopping mall/cinema across the road – perfect to go and grab some food and calm your brain down after what is an incredibly challenging, however thoroughly enjoyable day.

Apologies for the length of this, but hope that helps some of you. I’ll be back to let everyone know how stage 3 is laid out (I won’t go into detail about actual testing). But feel free to drop me a message if any of this needs expanding on.

NATS interview
 

Hi all!
I am invited to an interview for ATCO-job with NATS at Prestwick.
Anyone here from NATS that I can ask a few questions about the job, company etc?

Thnx

I'm turning 18 in January, and I'm definitely applying, however small the chance of success is. But I want to ask, how many younger applications are there? And how much of a disadvantage is it being straight out of college?

@ ATCOnoob1 - Very sound advice there re Stage 2! In particular the toilets part! I'd add that parking in Whiteley shopping village is limited to 6 hours, whereas the day is 7-8hrs if you pass everything. I did manage to talk myself out of a ticket by going to the Whiteley village office afterwards. Not being able to use my phone to avoid a potential parking fee added stress to the FEAST/DART though!

I've got Stage 3 on 22nd Nov. If anyone else is in the same boat, good luck to you and see you there!

As a summary of the last 20 pages of this forum:
- Plenty of sound Stage 2 advice.
- Pretty much zero info on Stage 3.

@Tawnyyy - I'm 37 and was pretty much the oldest in my Stage 2 group. Most people were around 25, at a guess. There was one 18 year old guy from Brighton there but he failed the multiple choice bit and was sent home early - nothing to do with his age. You can re-apply after a year now, anyway (see NATS Careers FB page). Getting some more "life experience" may help at the Stage 3 interview stage, for real life problem solving examples, I'd guess.

Stage 3
 

I was lucky enough to pass the stage 3 assessment only last week. For anyone else who has got to this stage, how long was it before you were allocated a course date?

Regarding stage 3, I would second what others have said regarding long periods of waiting around, I was waiting for 2 hours before the first part of the day so take something to read. Get a good nights sleep the night before is my advice! I think the key is not to panic or rush yourself; give yourself time to think of answers during the interviews. I came out without a clue which way it had gone, infact I was more sure that I'd completely messed it up.

Good luck to everyone whatever stage you are at.

Passed my stage 3 (attended 1st November, found out on 6th). Was told to expect start in March but not yet confirmed. Medical in Jan.

Does anyone know how long they waited to find out they passed stage 2? I did mine today and got through to DART. Slightly concerned as had a few errors...

Hi,

I read with interest Kirsteneg's post mentioning that you can now reapply after 12 months of being unsuccessful. I failed at stage 2 almost a year ago and am very keen to apply again.

Is this change of policy in place yet? On the NATS website it still states that you can only apply once but I guess if it's a recent change they may not have updated the website yet.

A week or so was how long I had to wait

Perfect thanks.

NATS posted this on their careers Facebook page on 14th November:

"You may be aware we’ve been reviewing the application process for Trainee Controllers. It's part of an ongoing review and as such, is subject to change but if you've not been successful in your past application, or decided that the time wasn’t right and you withdrew, you can now re-apply after 12 months 🎉 Don’t worry if you forget, we will send you an email to let you know when you are able to apply. If you choose not to, we have lots of other opportunities all around the business, so keep an eye out!"

Thanks Kirsteneg!

I passed mine the other week and found out the next day so hopefully you won’t be waiting long.

Good write up ATCOnoob1 but just a little amendment to the post. I was there the other week and I was directed to a vending machine that has a good selection of sandwiches... it’s in the same area as the chocolate vending machine and drinks.

I found out the morning after! Just waiting for an email about dates now!

Ahh nice one mate. I had the email about dates almost straight after too. Don’t forget to check your spam folder just in case it’s hidden in there because I know a couple of my messages from them ended up in there.

I’m now booked on for Stage 3 on 29th Jan as I can’t make any in December and the 29th was the only Date they had available.

Hi, Congratulations on passing. I've also passed stage 3. Attended on 1st November and found out on 6th.

How should we get in touch? I'm unable to send pm here. Let me know.

Thanks mate! I’m still waiting on an email about dates.... sounds like they are maybe planning on releasing more so maybe I’ll get it in a day or two...

Congratulations, have you had any further information since submitting your reference forms etc? All I’ve had so far is a medical appointment booked. I had a March start date quoted but nothing in stone yet. I can’t pm on here either.

Hi all, congratulations everyone who recently passed their stages 2 and 3.

I was hoping that someone here could tell me how long does a medical assessment day in Swanwick take? I am booked for 14th of December, but the timeframe (apart from starting time) is not mentioned in the email. It would help me to know what time I will finish so I can plan my journey and other things too.

I know I should just ask them directly, but I thought I would ask here first anyway :D

Thanks!

Not sure whether they are awaiting on some new stage 3 dates. I had my email about passing stage 2 on Friday, and I am still waiting for my stage 3 invitation/dates.

I've got my medical booked for mid December. That's it so far.
When's your medical?
They have also told me March start date. Nothing confirmed yet.
Lets hope its soon.

My medical is in London and the email states that it takes at least 4 hours. Its probably same in Swanwick.
Good Luck

Medical is Jan 11th.

Not heard anything since I sent in my forms, hopefully hear some kind of confirmation that everything is moving forward at some point.

Hello! I've recently been added onto the January 2018 course and am wondering if there are any others out there! In particular if any groups are set up for that course too?

Good luck to all going through the process :)

When did you sit stage 3 and when did you hear back?

Congratulations for getting a place

I also passed stage 3 and attended on November 1st. Is there a whatsapp group or something like that??

Hi!

I've recently been allocated to the January course and saw this post a little while back. I've joined a group on facebook but it's quite small! I was wondering if there is a group that has managed to locate many others from the course?

Congratulations on passing!

I passed Stage 3 back in mid July! Found out about 8 days later that I had been successful and the medical took a few months after that. I think someone has dropped out of January which meant I could join it.

Where abouts are you in the process?

Sat stage 3 last week, still waiting to hear back! I assume they have quite a large influx of applicants. I heard it normally takes about a week to hear back, but they say anything up to 30 working days from the end of the week you sat the stage.

Nervous, can't really tell how the interviews went - I don't think anybody can. MULTIPASS was pretty straightforward, I thought.

Edit: Just heard today that I was successful! I won't be joining until at least July next year as I'm still at University, but I'm incredibly pleased!

hi guys.

I have just received the email that I passed stage 0!

But I read that the whole process must be done within 1 month and specifically the stage 1 must be done within 5 days.

Is that true? I'm worried because I booked holidays to go abroad during christmas and I'd like to attend the FEAST and DART after christmas.

Regards
Emilio

No - thats just for stage 1. Stage 2 you pick from a suite of dates that stretch about 3 months if I remember correctly. Just get stage 1 done and if you pass you have more freedom with regards to picking dates for the next few stages.

Hi all,
I'm thinking about finally biting the bullet and applying for ATC and have a couple of questions...

1) Are there any up-to-date estimates of the average length of time from submitting an application to (hopefully) passing Stage 3? And after that how long do people normally wait before starting a course?

2) Is there any flexibiity to move between units once validated? I understand NATS can place you wherever and don't really have a problem with that but moving to (insert less than desirable base here) for 3-5 years then possibly transferring is a different proposition to moving there full stop forever.

3) What's the age range of trainee's like? I'm led to believe that it's anything from 18-35+ with an average around mid-20s but I don't know if that's accurate?

1) Depends on a few factors including how quick you are to book on to the different assessment days when you receive an email invite. But roughly the time from submitting an application to starting a course is likely to be anywhere from 4 months - 1 year at the moment.

2) You can be sent to any aerodrome/area unit in the country. You might be asked what your preferences are but no guarantees. However people do occasionally move around after being posted (less so with area units). Definitely a bit of a gamble!

3) A real spread of ages so don't worry about this, most courses will have a range between 18-35, however most tend to be Mid 20s.

2) Postings rarely take preferences into account. You get sent where the business needs you to be and from there it's very difficult to move. Sounds discouraging but it's the reality of things.

Cheers for the replies. Obviously moving between area units is going to be pretty limited in scope. I was more asking about aerodrome. It sounds like moving between aerodromes is possible but not usual?

Hi All,

Anyone had a place confirmed on NATS 251 basic in Jerez?

Had my contract through earlier, keen to see if any ppruners will be making the trip out to Spain with me.

Jerez?:confused: wow things have changed!!

@Daleboy93

I had heard that they were going to send some trainees to Spain, but I haven't heard any details yet. Very interesting though! Would you mind sharing a bit about how it is going to work? Like how long you will be training there for, and is NATS organising accommodation for you etc? Pretty cool, i'm sure it will be fantastic experience living in Spain for a while.

Yeah it'll be a nice way to spend the rest of the winter months definitely! I studied Spanish at Uni and lived out in various parts of Spain for 18 months or so during my degree. So a pretty great stroke of luck to be going back for a bit on the first NATS course in Spain :D

So the information we've had is 21 consecutive weeks training at FTE Jerez completing the basic course (start early Feb, back to UK early July). NATS have organised flights out from Heathrow after an initial induction at CTC Whiteley.

Accommodation is full board on-site at FTE Jerez, basically uni-style rooms with a bathroom, WiFi etc. NATS have part-funded but we're required to pay a weekly supplement. The part-funding comes in place of any allowances trainees in Southampton may be entitled to. I suspect Jerez will still work out a fair bit cheaper though considering your outlay will be zero during the week bar some exploring money on weekends.

Other than that, I'm led to believe the course structure will be very similar and everything else should run as usual. I suspect this outsourcing of training will continue for some time given the sheer number of new trainees. coming in... Exciting stuff! :)