JonathanB is correct. To end up on an Approach sector at TC you go down the Aerodrome route initially, which then can lead on to the Approach Radar course.

Thanks guys
I have to say I'm finding this really hard.
I want to pick aerodrome, to get to approach, but I don't want to end up working at somewhere like farnborough.
It's not a bad airport but I went there and it's so quiet I imagine I'd feel bored..
In a way I also hope I don't have to make the choice, then if it's not ideal I can't kick myself later on.
Like you jonathan I'd really prefer to stay down south.
It's so difficult!

Hi Guys,

Thanks very much for your replies. I have a few questions (I am sorry if some if some of you are frustrated and that you feel we are revisiting previously discussed subjects, however I trying to find something different).

1. I am a total aviation novice - at best I have flown on holiday (and then only once). I am trying to seek information on aviation and not air traffic control specific stuff. If an 'Aviation for Dummies' were created that would be perfect. If no such resource exists, suggestions for suitable search terms would be amazing. I have read the topic about aviation on Wikiepedia but can't seem to find much else as a general introduction.

2. Graham Dukes book here has been mentioned a lot of a good resource of ATC information. Would this book this book be suitable at present or does the book have any kind of pre-requisite (ie you need to know about aircraft, airlines, airports etc...), I do have it on order at my local Waterstones but can take a few weeks for delivery I have been told.

Sorry questions in my last post were quite general however I am trying to seek something quite a lot more specific and something that hasn't seemed to be mentioned in the 180 odd pages in this topic.

Thanks In Advance.

Ian

Just spoke to nikki via email.
Took a chance and pencilled myself in for aerodrome, starting october 19th.
Scary stuff!

Ignore that, there's no need to look at an airways chart.:ugh:

Zooker, why do you tell people to do that? Some of these guys don't know any better and might assume you're someone to be taken seriously!

Helen, Aerodrome was the correct decision. When you finish the college you may well end up at somewhere that wouldn't be your first choice. However, the good news for you is that it is possible to move to TC, or one of the London towers or whatever, after you've got your licence and ratings somewhere else - these units are often short of people, particularly Heathrow.

It may take a few years to get to where you want to be, but ATC's like that. The upside of not getting what you want straight away is having fun gaining a broader experience of ATC, even where you didn't expect to (if you think Farnborough is quiet, wait until you've spent some time on radar on a busy weekend!).

You lack of understanding of what is needed for ATC training is astounding.

Hi

I am flying to Southampton for my stage 1 tests on 24 July. Having read the last couple of pages on shuttle buses etc, i was wondering how far the Southampton airport parkway station is from the actual airport(is it right next door, or a few miles away), so i could then get the shuttle bus to CTC.

Also, with the s/d/t questions, is it possible for someone to post a couple of example questions using actual values along with the answer, or is there somewhere i can find example questions like the actual test questions that i can use for practice.

Any help much appreciated.:)

Adam

Hi Adam,

Southampton Airport Parkway is right next to the airport - come out of the terminal and turn left (or just follow signs for Trains).

I'm sure someone else more recently sitting Stage 1 can provide more examples, but the type of dst questions I got were like the following (I hope I don't get them wrong!):

Q: An aircraft is travelling at 420mph - how far does it travel in 4 minutes?
A: 28 miles.

Q: An aircraft travels at 4.5 nautical miles per minute. How fast is that in knots?
A: 270 knots.

Q: Aircraft is 24 miles from a beacon, has a groundspeed of 360mph and is at 28000 ft. What rate of descent does the aircraft require to be at 26000 ft when it passes over the beacon?
A: 500 ft per minute.

Q: Two aircraft are heading directly towards each other at the same altitude and are currently 55 miles apart. Aircraft 1 is travelling at 300 mph, and the other at 360 mph. How many minutes will it take for them to collide?
A: 5 minutes.

Thanks paperclip810, wonder if you can help me a bit more. How do you know which bus to get? Is it the only one there? And does it drop you off at CTC or is there a short walk from the stop?

Also, in response to your post a couple days ago about it maybe being worth getting a work experience at an airport if you are an aviation novice, i second that idea. I spent 5 days at Edinburgh in April this year which i organised myself having been for a more unofficial visit in 2008. During that time, i spent time with the ATCOs, assistants, ops and engineers. It was all very interesting - the engineer who i spent an afternoon with was a real fountain of knowledge and he even took me out and showed me the radar and other navigational equipment around the airport as well as explaining the new technology they'll be receiving in the near future.
With ops, i spent most of my time racing down taxiways in a jeep that was squawking like five different types of bird to scare the real ones away! However i also got to go to the operations room and see everything ops do around the airfield.
With the ATCOs, they were all very friendly and answered all the questions i had as well as sharing extra pieces of information with me as well. If you want to try and understand a bit more about the rules and regulations around ATC and UK airspace, a visit to an operational unit to see the radar used and how it's used is definitely worthwhile.

The shuttle bus goes from the car park on the airport side of the station next to the bridge between the station platforms (the old, scruffy concrete bridge at the south end, not the new one with lifts near the terminal building).
The buses are blue 15-seaters with 'AIRLYNX' in yellow.

Thanks PeltonLevel:)

Stage 2
 

Well I took my stage 2 today and all I can say is...

OH MY GOD.

I have never had do do something so hard in my entire life.

Oh well, there's always next year.:{

It is hard, but dont write yourself of yet. I reckon most people come out of it feeling like they have failed - I know I did.

Work experience
 

Work experience is great - I did something very similar to Adam but at Glasgow airport (although when I was quite a bit younger!). Good fun, especially if you get nice people to shadow, and very informative too. Glad to see it's still happening even though security has increased a bit!

paperclip, i'm not sure how security was when you were there, but for me it did take a while to organise due to the security issues, though in the end i did manage to persuade them that my hobbies didn't include terrorism!:eek:

Adam, be wary of discussing/revealing anything about airport security on public forums. :)

I'd expect anybody, regardless of their employer, be it the airport operator or otherwise to have to conform to security procedures at all times! :\

The saying 'you can't trust anyone these days springs to mind!' Be it BAA staff or not.

Hey chaps, after numerous searches I have not found anything regarding expenses which is recent.

I live in the north east, so travelling down to Hampshire is a hellish distance, and costs rather a lot.

If someone could confirm that expenses are not paid that would be brill.

Expenses
 

1mag1n3

I'm going to my S3 at the end of July and contacted HR with the same question as I am travelling from Scotland, this is their reply.

"You can claim up to £120 of expenses. You are expected to pay for the first £50. You can fill in a claim form after your interview and attach the receipts."

I got no expenses for S2, hope this helps.

Well, the thing is that I accepted that I had to travel to Fareham for the first stage due to the number of applicants. But stage 2?

I dont mind paying the first £50 but I just paid over £200 for the first stage on a suit, travel etc.

I will give them a ring at some point to clear it up...

They scrapped expenses for stage 2 back in May, although I think I remember reading that there are exceptions for certain candidates if they've travelled very far, although candidates from Scotland/N. Ireland possibly only qualify for stage 2 expenses at the moment.

I had my stage 2 back in may and as i was travelling from northern ireland i thought there might have been some exception with the expenses, but unfortunately there was not, they told me they do not pay any expenses for stage 2 at all!

i am getting expenses for stage 3 which is good!:)

Seems like quite a few of us have got through to stage 3. What dates have people booked the final stage for?

I got no expenses for stages 1&2. I want the job so I put up with it. Will be able to claim for Stage 3 in August.

stage 3 28th july for me and i'm nervours already!

Stage 3
 

Stage 3 on the 23rd July, got a couple of visits arranged for the next couple of weeks to Prestwick and to Glasgow so looking forward to them.

Can't wait to have the interview over and done with and get a result one way or another!!

To those who have passed their stage 2.

How did you feel about your performance afterwards?

Stage 3 for me this Monday (06/07/09) - is anyone else going the same day? If so, send me a PM!

hey Moravcik25! I have my stage 3 on the 23rd aswell! see you there! i am trying to prepare answers for interview questions and also have visits arranged to belfast international and swanwick control centre.

Where are you travelling from? I am flying over from Northern Ireland.

Stage 2 Today
 

Holy mother of god!

Had the stage 2 today!!! Argh!

The test with the numbers flying about that you have to make sure don't collide combined with the mental arithmetic was insane! Keeping one eye on the map and numbers flying about while trying to work out 1023+564 with the multiple choice answers A 1586 B 1587 C 1588 D 1589. Not that difficult a question but when you only see the questions and answers for about 3 seconds before the next question comes up it was a nightmare! Not to mention there was about 25 questions.

But apart from that test the rest of it went quite well so i'm quietly hopeful :) Hopefully find out early next week if I'm lucky.

Gd luck with all the stage 3's. So a few people have theirs on the 23rd. Mine's on the 22nd, how often do they have it? anyone else on 22nd?

Stage 3
 

Brian

I am travelling from Scotland on the Wednesday morning, get into Bournemouth for about 10ish I think, hopefully be a nice day and I can relax for the day before the interview, I think having a full day to relax before it worked well for me at stage 2 so fingers crossed we have the same result this time.

Hate my job

I felt ok after stage 2, I wasn't shouting that I'd passed but on the same note I didn't feel like I performed to badly, there's nothing you can do about it now, so hopefully you get the result you want then the nerves for S3 can start! Good luck

Hey guys. I have stage 2 coming up in a couple of weeks and the email says the dress code is like stage 1 Smart casual. Could somebody pin down for me what I should actually be wearing. Because a suit for an hour in stage 1 wasn't so bad. But for x many hours in the summer I'm not looking forward to. Do I just have to grin and bare it or is there someway I can relax the dresscode?

Smart trousers and a shirt would be fine.

Personally, I wouldn't say that smart-casual means wearing a suit at all - that's usually termed smart.

I would suggest suit trousers, shirt, proper shoes and maybe a tie, but it really depends on you... If you go for short sleeves, it shouldn't be too bad!

Good luck!

Stage 2 computer test - collision/numbers collision
 

On the collision test with numbers and simultaneous maths arithmatic sums, for those who've done it stage 2 did you *honestly! ;)* answer what you reckoned was correct for the maths too?

Not sure as it seemed highly demanding to do both, I don't believe I answered any maths questions at least correctly when I was there at CTC doing them.

i know i answered a few questions perfectly- but i was looking at the questions and remembering them, looking at the planes, then looking at the answers, and remembering them, then removing planes, and then, hopefully still having enough time to answer the question before they disappear- the key was that you could answer a previous question IF a new question hadn't been displayed.

Egti
 

On the collision test I answered 1 maths question the rest of the time I didn't get chance. I also missed a few things in the afternoon session that I thought I should have picked up, but didn't. I came out thinking I'd failed badly but apparently I did well enough so don't give up hope. Good luck

Way back (2006) when I did the computer tests, I answered 1 or 2 maths questions then simply stopped the planes/numbers hitting each other - somehow seemed more important :)