AVSIM "Contrails"

AVSIM Column "Contrails" By Dennis Sander - Contributed
Did ProController/Squawkbox help me?
Have you been sitting in front of Pro Controller for hours, thoroughly enjoying yourself just imagining what it would be like to be doing something you love so much as a living? I felt this way from the first time I logged onto PC. I never really seriously considered controlling for a living, it was a just a hobby and I was sure that a guy like me without post secondary education and a job as a printing press operator wouldn’t stand a chance getting an interview for a controller. Well just for the heck of it one day I logged onto the NavCanada and came across an online application; I filled it out with nothing to loose and submitted it. A couple of months went by, I didn’t hear anything from NavCanada and sort of forgot about it. In early June '99 I received a call from a company that “headhunts” for NavCanada—they wanted me to come out and write an aptitude test and have an over the phone interview. As I was very excited about this I booked the test and interview. Well after a few interviews and several tests I found out that I had been accepted for an ATC program. The program that I was on (IFR enroute/terminal control) was to last for 5 months, during which I would not receive any pay; however my room, board and all the supplies required were paid for. The course itself was very demanding; during the 5 months I was responsible for learning and memorizing about 450 regulations verbatim which we were tested on four different occasions. Believe it or not that was the easy part… During the course we were taught and evaluated in four areas of ATC, terminal control, enroute radar, enroute without radar and arrival\departure\enroute without radar. The format of the learning and testing process was the instructors giving lectures, then going down to the simulator and practicing until it was time for the evaluations (once every 3-4 weeks). The simulators consisted 19” monitors and a keyboard to carry out various funtions, the planes are controlled by a support technician In another room who you talk to through headsets and mic’s. If you set up PC properly you can make the display somewhat real. Learning all the techniques in a short period of time and being evaluated (i.e. you fail you are out) on them proved to be deadly for some of my classmates—we started the course with 18 and graduated 10. The main thing that kept people alive in the course was to stay focused at the task at hand, work your butt off and make sure to take some time off for yourself. Did ProController/Squawkbox help me at all? You bet it did! Especially in areas of phraseology, vectoring and just having a good understanding of what was going on. Upon graduation we were all posted to various locations across Canada where we are being further trained specifically for the area we will be working. They estimate that it will be another 12 months of training before we get a valid ATC license; however we are now getting paid. My whole point of this story is, if you love controlling on the net and have thought about doing it for real GO FOR IT—it is very doable. Thanks for stopping by CONTRAILS! Dennis Sander
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AVSIM Column

"Contrails"

Did ProController/Squawkbox help me?

Have you been sitting in front of Pro Controller for hours, thoroughly enjoying yourself just imagining what it would be like to be doing something you love so much as a living? I felt this way from the first time I logged onto PC. I never really seriously considered controlling for a living, it was a just a hobby and I was sure that a guy like me without post secondary education and a job as a printing press operator wouldn’t stand a chance getting an interview for a controller.

Well just for the heck of it one day I logged onto the NavCanada and came across an online application; I filled it out with nothing to loose and submitted it. A couple of months went by, I didn’t hear anything from NavCanada and sort of forgot about it. In early June '99 I received a call from a company that “headhunts” for NavCanada—they wanted me to come out and write an aptitude test and have an over the phone interview. As I was very excited about this I booked the test and interview. Well after a few interviews and several tests I found out that I had been accepted for an ATC program. The program that I was on (IFR enroute/terminal control) was to last for 5 months, during which I would not receive any pay; however my room, board and all the supplies required were paid for.

The course itself was very demanding; during the 5 months I was responsible for learning and memorizing about 450 regulations verbatim which we were tested on four different occasions. Believe it or not that was the easy part… During the course we were taught and evaluated in four areas of ATC, terminal control, enroute radar, enroute without radar and arrival\departure\enroute without radar. The format of the learning and testing process was the instructors giving lectures, then going down to the simulator and practicing until it was time for the evaluations (once every 3-4 weeks). The simulators consisted 19” monitors and a keyboard to carry out various funtions, the planes are controlled by a support technician In another room who you talk to through headsets and mic’s. If you set up PC properly you can make the display somewhat real. Learning all the techniques in a short period of time and being evaluated (i.e. you fail you are out) on them proved to be deadly for some of my classmates—we started the course with 18 and graduated 10.

The main thing that kept people alive in the course was to stay focused at the task at hand, work your butt off and make sure to take some time off for yourself. Did ProController/Squawkbox help me at all? You bet it did! Especially in areas of phraseology, vectoring and just having a good understanding of what was going on. Upon graduation we were all posted to various locations across Canada where we are being further trained specifically for the area we will be working. They estimate that it will be another 12 months of training before we get a valid ATC license; however we are now getting paid. My whole point of this story is, if you love controlling on the net and have thought about doing it for real GO FOR IT—it is very doable.

Thanks for stopping by CONTRAILS!

Dennis Sander