News story on FAA controller hiring

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Matthew
I live just a couple miles from the Kansas City ARTCC, and my last several next door neighbors have been, or are controllers. If you've ever flown across western KS at night, above 12,000 ft, you've talked to my current neighbor.

Any time FAA hiring is in the news, it's always a big deal locally.

This article was in the paper this morning, it deals with the way FAA is hiring controllers to replace all the retirees. It's apparently not the way it used to be.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article458437/FAA’s-shift-in-hiring-raises-concerns.html
 
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As a retired A&P/IA I have seen the results of the feds hiring inspectors off the street and they ain't pretty. People in a position of power who have no knowledge of the task at hand are dangerous to all involved.

So, they want to hire controllers off the street in preference to those who have spent their own money learning about the trade. Doh! Am I missing something here? Seems akin to hiring a high school kid to overhaul turbine engines. Just hand him the manual and hope for the best. What in the hell is the matter with those in charge? Have they lost their ever-lovin' minds? I would say yes.

As for the "biographical assessment" I have my suspicions but will withhold comment lest it get this thread thrown into the SZ and me banned from the forum. :mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:
 
Good article. Thanks off posting.

The CTI reps are making a bold assumption in that the new hiring practice is trying to elevate minority numbers. Having heard the talk on the street, I'll just say they're not too far off the mark.

As I said, the hiring should be veterans and CTIs. I think an initial test is necessary, minus the bio. I also think they should pick proven veterans from real facilities and only the top CTI grads. Don't bother wasting money with people off the street unless you can't meet the demand with the existing veteran/CTI pool. Yes, there are a few OTS people that can do the job but with washout rates as high as 50 %, it's not worth the gamble. Some dude who takes out 85 grand shouldn't deserve a guarenteed job but he should at least be given the opportunity if a job exists.

I did enjoy the comment on how the veterans performed the best at OK City. :)
 
I would prefer military vets and college CTI grads over the average Joe off the street to be hired as an air traffic controller any day.

What is the biographical assessment by the way? And why is this assessment the possible culprit in deciding who gets hired as an ATC?
 
I have no idea about the biographical assessment, what it is, or why.

I've been on quite of few Operation Rain Checks. One thing I noticed, there is a distinct us vs them mentality between union and management. I don't know how well the controllers embrace the union, or put up with it, and I don't know how much is just that facility, but there is definitely tension.

If FAA really is looking to hire 6000+ controllers over the next 5 yrs, I wonder if this biographical assessment is going to be used for anything other than "diversity".
 
It seems it's a "Does this person play well with others" kind of assessment.
 
Velocity173 said:
As I said, the hiring should be veterans and CTIs. I think an initial test is necessary, minus the bio. I also think they should pick proven veterans from real facilities and only the top CTI grads.
Click to expand...

Passing a few college courses doesn't make one a controller. I've seen some of the CTI programs, and save for but a handful most are a joke and a waste of a student's money.
 
ATC hired off the street and it worked fine before.
 
MarkZ said:
Passing a few college courses doesn't make one a controller. I've seen some of the CTI programs, and save for but a handful most are a joke and a waste of a student's money.
Click to expand...

Oh, no argument there. It does demonstrate at least a desire to do the job though. They invested a good part of their life and money to pursue ATC. That amounts to training and experience. I'd take that chance in hiring one of them over an OTS guy.

Having said that, I just heard from a friend today that their latest batch of CTIs suck. 3.5 yrs of training and still not signed off. Lazy, unmotivated. Instead of getting off position after a bad period and studying, they get on their cellphones. Said they keep modifying their standards to push people through. Just the thing to do in a job where people's lives are at stake.
 
Some "spook" has convinced the FAA their fit the blocks in the right holes program works.

If you've been hired to fly by an airline there was a "spook" in the background you never saw who gave the thumbs up or down.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
It has worked out great, sometimes. It wastes a lot of money on washouts in the process.
Click to expand...

And last I'd heard, quite a few of the CTI types were washing out too. On top of washing out, trying to correct incorrect things on the way they may have learned at their various college program.
 
Heh, as the saying in the biz goes...

You go to the Academy to un-screw what the CTI did to you.

You go to your facility to un-screw what the Academy did to you.

You hit the floor (or tower cab) to finally learn how to work traffic. And to un-screw what the other two "training" classes did to you.

Fun times.
 
I'll just leave this here.

And to be perfectly clear, that's not me and I neither agree or disagree or know anything about what's written there.
 
Wow, that was a never ending blog! Had some good stuff in it though. ATSAP, what a joke. Lets not punish pilots when they have a PD that results in loss of sep either for that matter. Lets just not have any repercussions when we screw up.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
It has worked out great, sometimes. It wastes a lot of money on washouts in the process.
Click to expand...

Which is much cheaper than on-boarding someone who turns out to be an idiot and can't be fired now.

Same process exists for military pilots, NASA astronauts, FBI agents.

If you wash out of F-16 school, you don't get to fly F-16's.

pretty simple
 
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