The hours are not that bad, so far. In school we are strictly 8 hour a day Mon thru Fri job. We are running 2 shifts right now because there are so many new hires, but even the 3:30 PM to midnight shift is not that bad, and I have a wife and a 2yo daughter.
School is paid. The figures are not secret, so I will be pretty open with salary information.... I get 19,000 a year (for the three months I am in OKC for training) plus $80 a day per diem. All told, it is a pretty decent package with the health benefits and insurance. Then, when I get to Muskegon, MI my salary starts off at 33,100 a year, and goes up as I get certified on different positions in the tower. I can't remember where to goes to, but I think it is low 40s to initially. Certification takes about a year in Muskegon.
I did get to "pick" where I wanted to go. Here is a rundown of the timetable that I went in on:
AUG 2007: I applied to every available job posting, and was assigned a test site of Covina, CA to take the AT-SAT (Air traffic controller - something aptitude test). My duty station, had I taken that test, would probably have been HI.
SEPT 2007: I am notified that I can take the AT-SAT in Lansing, MI on Dec 14, 2007. I accept this offer because my dad lives in MI.
DEC 2007: I take the aptitude test, and I am "qualified to well-qualified". Basically, I passed.
JAN 2008: I find out that I passed the test and I get some forms to fill out for the MI position. This is where I "picked" my facility. Basically, since my dad lives near Detroit, I went down the list geographically from the Detroit area out. I got assigned to MKG because they needed people the worst, and there were probably other people that live in Detroit that got assigned to those facilities.
Feb 2008: More forms
March 2008: Waiting and emailing my contact on "the inside"
April 2008: Got assigned to take the PEPC (hiring interview, medical, pee test, psych test combo) in Chicago in May.
May 21, 2008: Accepted "tentative" offer to MKG, even though I didn't even know where Muskegon was located. You accept your offer first, before they waste the time and money seeing if you are fit.
Had my interview in one room, filled out my background check/security clearance paperwork down the hall, went and peed in a cup (in the bathroom), had an eye test, and a medical exam (similiar to class 2 medical, with an EKG).
They sent me a bunch of forms to fill out in OCT 07 and I chose all the busiest facilities in MI (because they pay better and I didn't know any better at the time).
Waited, knowing that I might be able to start between June 2008 and November 2009....
June 9, 2008: My "firm offer letter" is dated the 9th of June, but I had a telephone call the previous Thursday where they offered me a training start day of June 18th. I had to turn that down because I wanted to give my boss two solid weeks, so I got to start on the 26th of June instead.
So on the 26th of June I started class here in OKC.
I have not looked at the timeline all at once before. It doesn't seem like that long, but there was a lot of "dead time" that made it hard. Like waiting for my test results, or waiting to see if I got picked up for MI, HI, AK, IL, NE or any one of the other places I applied to, or waiting for that "firm offer letter" knowing that your report day could be a week or a year.
It's cool though. I have guys, and a gal, in my class who are going to all the places that I applied to. There is a guy that got a call on Monday seeing if he could make it to class on Thursday (he did).
So far my impression of the FAA has been good. I have some really great folks to go through training with, my facility manager seems like a good, genuine guy, and Sherri and I are moving forward with the assumption that this will be the last job I have to look for. Life is good....
Anyhow, I hope that answered all the questions. Even if it was too much information, sometimes it is good for a guy to look back at the year, and see how he got where he is....
The hours will be different when I get to Muskegon, but since it is only open 6AM to 11PM, I wont be working midnight shifts like some of the guys going to bigger towers in my class. My schedule will be "leftovers" until I get seniority over someone, but in a few years, I should have a pretty good pick of schedules because all the old hands will be retired/retiring, and me and the other two new guys will have seniority over the other "more new" people....
It has been a fun trip so far, and I am looking forward to getting to simulator training in a week, and on to MKG to start maintaining a safe expeditious flow of traffic.....
--Matt Rogers
)
So few of us get to interact with Chicago (O'Hare) tower that we don't really know if they're in the "good" or "bad" category, but those I've met and talked to seem to be good, albeit ignorant of most GA needs.
