Land and Hold Short

2009-08-30T22:41:00.000-04:00

This process started with an initial application to a public announcement for off the street hiring for Air Traffic Controllers in April of 2008. From that initial application to graduation from the academy today it took 496 days.

2 years ago I would have never imagined that I would be where I am right now. This job has been #1 on my top 5 list for a long time. (#2 being a professional pilot). However I learned early on that being a professional pilot was not it all it was cracked up to be. (So air traffic controller and pilot switched places on my list many years ago) Long hours, low pay, no job security... Sure, the flying was nice but I couldn't imagine going through life wondering if I would have a job next week. Such as we have seen lately, when the economy tanks the first things to go are the luxuries. Corporate aircraft get sold, pilots lose their jobs; flying isn't supposed to be that way. It's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. I made a decision a long time ago to keep flying enjoyable.

Up until a few years ago the only way to become an air traffic controller was to go through the military or go to a CTI (College Training Initiative) school. CTI schools are like technical colleges. Students study air traffic courses. (But still have to attend the FAA academy for actual air traffic basics) By the time I found out about CTI schools it was too late. I was married, had a steady job, and certainly couldn't afford a CTI school OR to attend one and not have an income for several years. I stumbled upon a job vacancy notice on the FAA website one day offering OTS (off the street) applicants the opportunity to apply for air traffic controller positions. The rest, as they say, is history.

I'm back home now. I arrived Thursday afternoon. My honey do list is partially complete. There are still several things left to do but I hope to work on those throughout the next few weeks. We had a nice birthday party for Madison on Saturday. It was touch and go in the weather department Saturday. The weather finally broke early in the afternoon to produce a nice low humidity evening which everyone enjoyed. The mosquitoes even stayed away.

I begin work Monday morning. I'm looking very much forward to beginning my new career. I've worked hard to get to this point. However I still have a long way to go. Over a year of on-the-job training lies ahead of me. There is still lots to learn and I'm looking forward to it.

This has certainly been an adventure for me. I am glad I was able to produce this weekly blog to keep people up to date on the happenings out in OKC. I think that a lot of people enjoyed reading it. I would regularly get several e-mails a week asking when I was going to post the next one.

Unfortunately, I don't think that I'll be able to keep up with my weekly posts of whats going on. I will certainly try though. I believe that the most interesting stuff is yet to come. However I now have more responsibilities than just going to work. Wife, Kid, Home, etc... now all come before my blog. I will certainly update my page but it just might not be as scheduled as it has been.

Lastly, I wanted to post a photo of all my classmates. These guys became like a second family while I was in OKC. I plan to keep in touch with each and every one of them.

From left to right

Top: Joe Spencer, Adam Reigel, Philip Dorian, J'San Cleveland, Keith Clark

Middle: Jim Gardner (instructor), Elle Clark, Jerlysha "J" Williams, Melissa Ross

Bottom: Chris Brannon (instructor), Ryan Tecklenberg, Zachary Boivin, Chris Barnes, Marcos Vallejo

2009-08-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

Well. Here we are. Graduation day. I passed my PV! There isn't going to be a big ceremony. No family will fly in to see us walk across a stage and there won't be any graduation music. Just a congratulatory handshake and pat on the back from our instructors. At 3:30 we will leave the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center not as Air Traffic Basic's students but as Air Traffic Controllers; Developmentals each going our own separate direction across these United States and in life. Some of us are going to big facilities - Seattle-Tacoma in Washington State, Newark New Jersey and even to Fairbanks, Alaska. Some of us are staying a little smaller - Charleston West Virginia, Albany New York and Montgomery Alabama. Wherever we go I hope that we will be successful in our endeavor to become fully trained Certified Professional Controllers.

With the class ending and our classmates disbanding I take measure of what we have learned AND what we have accomplished. We have accomplished what so few people have done. However the hardest, and best, is yet to come.

Our time here in Oklahoma City is over. Some of my classmates will be leaving OKC this afternoon. "Getting the hell out of dodge" as my grandfather would say. Some will stay until tomorrow morning and catch their flights home. (yours truly will part of that crowd).

It's a mixed emotion right now. Everyone is happy to have passed and is ready to move on to continue their training at their facilities. We are also a little sad. For the last 3 months we have become each other's friend. In some cases seeing more of each other than our own families. We have shared a camaraderie with each other over these last 90 days that we won't soon forget. But life moves on. I'll remember all of you and this place here as a pit stop in my life. A memorable one to say the least. But for all of us this pit stop is the beginning of something great. A new life or fresh start that, with a little nurturing, will grow into something spectacular.

I wish everyone happy trails. Have a safe trip home and good luck. Perhaps someday we will meet again.

Until then...keep 'em separated.

Chris

2009-08-25T21:46:00.004-04:00

2009-08-19T15:02:00.015-04:00

Hello everyone,

Well, this will be my last full week post! There is lots to talk about so lets just get down to it shall we?

Monday and Tuesday was pretty interesting. On Monday we ran a problem with about 40 aircraft. Halfway through the problem we had our DBRITE go out. The DBRITE is an aid to the tower controller that allows him/her to see where an aircraft is in relation to the airport if he can't see it out the window. The DBRITE is essentially a radar screen. It shows a blip on the screen where the aircraft is and also shows the data block associated with it that identifies the aircraft on the screen. The DBRITE is especially useful during period of low visibility.

Tuesday we ran a night time problem. I had fun with this one. It was pretty cool to be able to see the airport lit up at night. There isn't much of a difference between a night and day problem except for the lack of depth perception at night. We were told that this problem makes you use the DBRITE more to judge distance. I believe that we had 42 aircraft during this problem. I was able to get all the aircraft in the sequence I wanted and into the airport without too many problems.

On Wednesday we upped the aircraft count to 45. This time we had no equipment failures and it was daytime. There was definitely the feeling of being overwhelmed by this problem. It seems like aircraft were calling from all over the place! Just when you thought you had everything worked out another aircraft would call in. I had 3 local runs for this problem. I would rate the runs as good, average, and good; with my best run being the first. I really screwed myself on the second run and it took me forever to recover. I THINK it began when I gave a faster turboprop aircraft an unusual pattern entry for a runway that we don't normally use for aircraft other than instrument arrivals. I did this so I could elevate some congestion on the other runway traffic pattern because I could already tell it was going to fill up fast. I forgot about the aircraft and they executed a go around because I forgot to give them a landing clearance. From there I dug myself into a hole and it took forever to work myself out of it.

On Thursday we ran a scenario with 48 aircraft in a 40 minute period. So more than 1 aircraft per minute. This scenario had multiple aircraft in the pattern for touch and goes and lots of commercial airline arrivals. With this many aircraft it is important to be able to keep track of where each aircraft is in the pattern. Pad management is essential at this point. If you don't have a good technique for pad management then you are way behind. When you have 3 Cessna 172's in the pattern at the same time you MUST know which one is which or you're in deep ####.
This was the 2nd hardest scenario that we ran here. Friday was the busiest. I completely expected to crash and burn with that many aircraft. To my surprise I came out on the other size relatively unscathed. I made small mistakes but I didn't slam any aircraft together and separation was ensured throughout the entire problem. Overall I was very pleased with my performance. It got me thinking that maybe I am finally wrapping my head around this entire thing. I left Thursday night feeling very good and looking forward to Friday.

Friday was awesome. We ran "the humbler". 52 aircraft in 40 minutes. When we first began over in the tabletop sims we were running 20-25 aircraft in 40minutes. At that time that was more than enough for us to handle. Friday we more than doubled the amount of aircraft in the same amount of time. Incredible. The instructors told us before we began that they weren't going to say anything to us this time. There wasn't time to explain anything during this problem. If you weren't talking on the radio, listening to a read back or calling departure with a rolling call you were doing something wrong.

Here is a photo of me running the problem -

It's a little blurry because the room is pretty dark. In this photo you'll see a screen in front of me with several green dots. All of those dots are aircraft. There are 7 total dots on the screen. On the large screen you'll see the airport layout. I'm writing on a pad on the desk with several flight strips on it. You can also see the 2 manual timers we use for wake turbulence. The screen with the red letters on it gives us airport wind conditions, ATIS codes, sky conditions, temp, etc...

In problems like this it's all about sequencing and timing. If you have a pretty good understanding of aircraft characteristics and are able to get them in the traffic pattern flow without running someone else over than you've just made your life a whole heck of a lot easier. Being able to apply one (or several) several separation rules such as diverging headings, anticipated separation, radar separation, and visual separation to departures makes this problem a lot less harder than it can be. If you couldn't do that then you could have 5 or 6 aircraft stacked up waiting for departure. Of course, if you get just 1 step behind this problem then you'll find yourself digging out of it until the end.

Friday night we decided to go out and celebrate our last weekend here in OKC together. I had a pretty good time.

Lets talk about this upcoming week. It will be the most important week of our training here. This week we take our final evaluations (PV) on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday we will run problem 13. Problem 13 is considered the closest version to the PV. This will give us a general idea of the traffic volume, pattern complexity, and runway crossings that we'll see in the PV itself.

Each student takes 2 PV's. A ground control PV and a local control PV. Each PV is between 30-45 minutes in length.

Ground control is exactly what it sounds like. The control of all the aircraft on the ground. Local control is the control of any aircraft on the active runway's and airborne in the vicinity of the airport. As you can imagine local control is the most difficult.

I got lucky (I think). I take my local control PV at 8:00am Tuesday morning. The first run. That way I can get it over with and not have to worry about it all day long. I take the ground control PV on Wednesday morning. I'm not nearly as nervous about ground as I am local.

I will update my blog this week as soon as I have some news. If you are subscribed to my mailing list (or on Facebook) you will be notified as soon as I update it.

Here is a link to my Flickr page. I added some new photos of this past week -

Click here

4 Days left!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-16T20:20:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone!

This post is going to be short.

We're down to the home stretch now. As I write this, I have 11 days left. This upcoming week will be my last full week here in OKC.

This past week has been full of ups and downs. Monday and Tuesday I was working my way up the curve steadily gaining knowledge, techniques, and the skill to keep moving on to the larger problems. Then Wednesday and Thursday hit. I felt like I couldn't control a single airplane without doing something wrong. I got my butt handed to me frequently on those days. Friday had to be better right? Right. I regrouped, reviewed some material, played some scenarios out in my head and came back Friday with a fresh look. I did much better. We were told early on that we'd have up days and down days. Hopefully I've had my down days.

This upcoming week (and the beginning of next week) is critical. We have 6 instructional days left to figure it all out before we PV.

Here's how this week is going to play out - The problems are becoming more clogged with aircraft. 40, 42, 45, 48, 50, etc... Until Friday when we run a problem with more than 50 aircraft in 40 minutes. It's called the "humbler". The Humbler is designed (I guess) to push you to the edge...To show you what its like to have aircraft buzzing around the skies like fireflies...To test your training and techniques. Damn it's gonna be fun!

The following Monday we will run a problem with a lot less aircraft. This problem is what is closest to the PV problem. It will give is a chance to see what the PV will be like before we take it. Hopefully, after running the Humbler on Friday the scenario on Monday will be relatively easy.

Sometime this week we will learn who exactly we will be PV'ing with. The class has been split up into 2 core groups of 6 which have stayed together throughout the training. Each person in the group has worked with the other. The instructors will set a schedule of who will be PV'ing with who and we will work that that person exclusively next Monday to prepare for the PV. This is important as it will allow us to get familiar with the others techniques as we prepare for the final exam.

The end is coming quick. Sorry that this post is shorter than most. I will have a lot more to blog about next week!

Until then.

2009-08-09T17:34:00.014-04:00

I guess it's that time of the week again... 18 days, 7 hours, 24 minutes, and 6 seconds are left as I write this. On Monday we will have 11 training days left in the simulators. That will take us up to and including Monday, August 24th. Our PV days are the 25th and 26th. I get the heck out of here on the 27th.

This week, as you can imagine, has been tough. Although, because we're not sitting in a classroom anymore it has flown by.

These simulators take a little getting used to. For one, they rely on voice recognition commands to direct the aircraft. Someone made the comment that the government really did take the lowest bidder on the voice stuff... It's horrible. Some of the initial calls are so fast that you have to ask "say again" several times before you can figure out who the hell they are. I would much rather have a ghost pilot talking to me than a computer. Which is kind of ironic since there is a ghost pilot behind us anyway that is there to fix the mistakes the computer makes!

I digress.

So far we have run 3 problems. With each problem comes more complexity. The first problem we ran had a light load of aircraft and was really designed to allow us to become familiar with the simulator. We had aircraft that would call us inbound to the field requesting to land but they were spaced out far enough that we just ran them into the pattern and they landed without too much to have to worry about.

The second problem took all of the aircraft on the first problem and added a few more plus some extra departures. This time we were required to sequence aircraft into the pattern and take aircraft performance into account when getting aircraft on the ground. If you had a faster aircraft behind a slower aircraft then you had to extend the downwind of the larger aircraft and get the slower aircraft to make a short approach. While doing this you had to coordinate departures off of the north runway.

The third problem added some ground movement. There was an airport vehicle requesting to cross both runways and aircraft that wanted to reposition on the ramp. I think we had about the same amount of aircraft but they were still creating a "choke point" in the south runway's pattern so we had to sort that out.

There are a lot of rules they we have to follow during these runs. I understand the rules on paper. I can recite all of the rule's we've been given however putting them together during a run has been difficult. There is so much going on that your brain can't keep up. Right now.

Here is a photo of a couple of guys in the class running a problem:

My lead instructor and I were talking on Friday about all the multi-tasking a controller must do at any given moment. I was reminded of my days as a newscast director. At any given time during the newscast I had several things going on. For starters I sat in front of a board with over 200 buttons that needed to be manipulated in order to ensure the proper video went out over the air. I had a stack of scripts that gave me a lot of info such as camera positions, graphics insertions and tape roll cues. I needed to be aware of what the tape operator was doing and where he was putting the tapes, what my audio person was doing, if my camera operator was moving a camera when I needed it moved and if I had the correct graphic or tape cued up for insertion. I also needed to be aware of what my anchor was doing and listening to my producer for any changes. By the time I left I could do all of that during a newscast without batting an eye.

It didn't happen overnight that I could do all of that. This won't either. But I hope that during the next 11 days I can get somewhat close. It's a lot of information to dissect at any given moment. I've found that going home and re-thinking about the problem helps out a lot.

PV day is coming fast. Its on the top of my mind daily. It's coming quick. I can't wait to get it over with and get home. I'm looking very much forward to starting at the airport.

A friend of mine just landed a job as a baggage handler with Comair. I told him that I was looking forward to sitting up in the tower with my hot coffee watching him freeze his ass off on a cold ramp in January. He told me where I could put that coffee cup when I was finished.

18 days...

BTW, there is Arabic writing (or Klingon) on my Pringles can. I just noticed that. hum...

Here are a few photos of my airport - Courtesy of Chad Joines

2009-08-02T16:17:00.009-04:00

Here we are. As I write this I have 3 1/2 weeks left here. I'm thrilled that this is finally winding down to a close. Unfortunately the class may be winding down but the the workload is picking up. This post will be much shorter than the past. We aren't learning anything new, just applying it more and more to the simulations. There isn't much to talk about regarding the tabletop sims. I hope to have a LOT more information to post about next week when we have had plenty of hands on time with the hi-def sims.

Last week was our first week in the simulators. It is definitely a different experience to finally see what he had learned being applied to a true to life scenario. All of the scenarios are designed to steadily increase in complexity. Usually in the form of more aircraft. Sometimes these aircraft will want to depart from the crossing runway or from an intersection. This requires coordination between the ground and local controller. Which is one of the goals the scenarios are designed to teach. The scenarios are also designed to build on what was applied on the day before.

A typical scenerio will start out slow. The first aircraft usually won't report in until at least a minute after the run begins. Most aircraft are simply arrivals that want to land. They are coming from all different directions so we have to learn to sequence them and build holes for others to join the pattern. Sometimes there is an aircraft that will want to do a touch and go, or several touch and go's so you've got to think ahead. What increases the difficulty is that you've got departures that are stacking up ready to go as well. You have to build holes in the pattern by sending aircraft out further on the downwind, or extending the upwind to create a hole for a departure. All while maintaining separation, calling out traffic, and watching that guy doing touch and go's.

Monday will be our last day in these sims. On Tuesday we will take the CTO exam. The Certified Tower Operator exam is comprised of all the information we have learned since the first day. On Wednesday we begin work in the high definition simulators. These sims are programmed with voice recognition and some other advanced features that we will have to learn. It is in these sims that we will prepare for, and take the PV.

Right now, the scenarios are averaging about 25-28 aircraft in a 40 minute period. This may seem like a lot but it's actually not too bad. The hi-def sims will really ramp up the number of aircraft we will run. I'm looking forward to getting into the new sims. As was the tabletop sims, the TSS will up the amount of multi-tasking we will be required to do and introduce us to more complex problems. I hope it will be as fun as this past week was!

2009-07-26T17:49:00.015-04:00

As we wave goodbye to week 8 I am excited to announce that we have reached a milestone. This week marks the end of classroom academics. For the next 4 1/2 weeks we are entirely hands on. We have 6 days in the tabletop simulators and the rest of the time is spent in the new hi-def sims.

OK, on to last weeks lessons.

Monday was centered on 1 subject. Wake turbulence. Wake turbulence is the phenomenon that occurs when a wing produces lift. The lift caused by the wing creates vortices at the wingtips. These vortices rotate outward from the wing and are referred to as wake turbulence. These vortices are very powerful. They can cause all size of aircraft to spin out of control. There have been recorded vortices of as much as 200 mph.

There are several factors that govern the strength of a vortex - wing shape, speed of the aircraft and the weight of the aircraft. An aircraft creates the strongest wake turbulence when it is heavy, slow and clean (flaps up, gear up)

There are 3 types of aircraft weights. Small, Large, and Heavy. Heavy aircraft have a certified takeoff weight of more than 255,000 lbs. Let’s say your average medium sized SUV weighs about 3,500lbs. That means a fully loaded jumbo jet weighs about as much as 73 cars!!! Large aircraft weigh between 41,000lbs and 255,000lbs while small aircraft can weigh up to 41,000 lbs. Small aircraft are even broken up into 2 smaller categories. Small + and small. Small + aircraft weigh between 12,500lbs and 41,000lbs. Small aircraft weigh up to 12,500lbs.

Everyone get all that?

There are lots of rules and procedures that need to be followed to ensure that aircraft remain as safe as possible with regards to wake turbulence. For example, a small Cessna 172 can’t depart for 2 minutes after a jumbo jet takes off and all aircraft have to wait 3 minutes before departing behind a heavy aircraft if they are departing from an intersection… (And for all you pilots, the 3 minutes doesn’t start until the aircraft has rotated.)

Also, if you’re holding at the end of the runway for departure and a heavy jet executes a missed approach, welp, you’re stuck for 2 minutes. And it’s not waiveable.

There are waiveable scenarios though. Let’s say that you’re in a small 4 seat aircraft waiting for departure behind a regional jet and you're at an intersection- rules say that you have to wait 3 minutes for departure. However, as a pilot, you can waive this rule and depart at your own risk.

Again lots of rules for lots of scenarios.

Tuesday and Wednesday we learned about VFR and IFR arrivals/departures. Each type of arrival and departure has a different set of criteria that has to be applied in order to ensure separation of aircraft. For example, you can’t just begin to launch aircraft off the end of the runway all on the same heading. What would happen if that guy behind you is 15-20 knots faster than you on your climb? For successive IFR departures, in a radar environment, aircraft must diverge by at least 15 degrees off the departure end of the runway. It's called fanning. Launch aircraft A off of Runway 36 on a heading of 030 degrees, launch the next one at 015 degrees, launch the 3rd at 360 degrees, then 345 degrees, etc... Now, if the departures aren’t coming fast and furious then you might not need to apply the 15 degree rule because by the time the next aircraft is ready to go the preceding aircraft might already be further than the minimum radar separation needed.

Applying VFR arrival separation is pretty simple. Aircraft are also separated into different categories. CAT I, CAT II, and CAT III.

CAT I – Aircraft less than 12,500 lbs with 1 engine (C172, C210, PA28 series)
CAT II - Aircraft less than 12,500 lbs with 2 engines (Baron, Aztec, etc)
CAT III – Aircraft heavier than 12,500 that fall into CAT I or CAT II criteria.

When a CAT I and a CAT I are arriving on the same runway the minimum separation is 3,000 feet. So, a Cessna 172 and a Cessna 172 can actually land on the same runway at the same time as long as 3,000 feet of separation is maintained. A CAT II landing behind a CAT II requires 4,500 feet of separation. And a CAT III landing behind a CAT III requires 6,000 feet of separation. This is just one set of rules, another set of rules might trump this set, such as wake turbulence rules.

Thursday we learned about visual operations. Visual operations allow the controller to put some of the responsibility to maintain separation on the pilots. If the pilots can see each other they can separate themselves and in some instances run closer together. This allows for the controller to run more aircraft in a given area without compromising safety. Who better to know how far they need to be from another aircraft than the pilots themselves?

Visual operations allow the controller greater flexibility when controlling the traffic flow. Instead of applying radar separation of miles or minutes or vectoring aircraft because of other aircraft on a converging course the controllers can point out the traffic so when the pilot says they have the other aircraft in sight they can turn and avoid. Usually in tighter proximity than what radar separation allows. This allows for more expeditious flow of traffic both into and out of airports.

Also on Thursday we learned about Runway Incursions. Runway Incursions is the occurrence of an aircraft, vehicle or person that interferes with the arrival or departure of an aircraft. A baggage truck that accidentally turns onto an active runway with an aircraft landing is an example of a runway incursion. (It’s really happened) A person running out on a runway while an aircraft tries to depart or even another aircraft who accidentally crosses an active runway is a runway incursion. Runway incursions have become more common as the skies become more crowded. Airports become busier and busier, and airport runways and taxiways become increasingly more complex. The lesson on Runway Incursions is really to pay attention. Not just the controllers, but pilots, airport personnel, etc…If unsure stop. Ask for direction. Be aware of your situation. This goes for controllers as well. Scan your area of responsibility. Be aware. Have good situational awareness.

On Friday we took 2 separate tests. We took a block test for the stuff we had covered Tuesday though Thursday and we had a comprehensive final as well. The comprehensive final was 75 questions. It covered everything we had learned in the last 3 weeks. Everyone passed. Also on Friday we were allowed to observe some students in the hi-def sims. We got to see how everything we had learned up till now was being applied. It was super cool. I’m definitely looking forward to getting over there.

BTW, Here is a photo of all the information we have been given in the last 3 weeks.

It’s hard to imagine that I am now in the home stretch. There is finally light at the end of the tunnel. 8 weeks ago I knew almost nothing about how to control an aircraft. I didn't know proper phraseology to clear an aircraft for takeoff or how to coordinate an IFR departure with departure control. I had no idea that there was a mandatory 2 minute waiting period behind a jumbo jet before I could depart another aircraft or how to mark information on an arrival/departure strip. It's amazing what the human brain can absorb in such a small amount of time. There is a heck of a lot more going on behind the scenes than I could have ever imagined. So many decisions to make in a split second. So many rules to think about before clearing an aircraft for departure or landing. Sweeeeet.

Everything in the government has an acronym. An important acronym that I will mention now and for all the posts up to graduation is PV. PV stands for Performance Verification. It’s THE final exam. Completely hands on and administered by persons outside of the training academy. These are usually Air Traffic Managers from other facilities. It’s pass/fail. This exam will determine who goes on to their facilities and begins OJT (on the job training) and who goes back to working at McDonalds. This is, without a doubt, the most important thing we will do here. The exam is administered by these people watching you run a scenario in the hi-def simulators. (Also called TSS) You’re not expected to do perfectly. But they can and will fail you for large mistakes such as blatant rule violations which could be separation issues or wake turbulence avoidance issues. We are told about every other day of people failing the PV. In fact a classmate of mine said another student who was ahead of him going to the same airport failed it last week. He’s gone. Everyone gets a second chance to take it and some do pass but can you imagine failing the first time and knowing that you’ve got only 1 chance left to protect your career? It's something I keep in the back of mind.

To say I can’t wait to go home is an understatement. According to the wife, my kid can go up and down the slicky slide by herself now. She can go up and down stairs without falling and she has a hell of a lot more of an attitude now than when I left. She likes Ranch Doritos and because of my father, eats Chex Mix by the bag. She’s going to be a whole new person when I get home. I’m looking forward to spending time outside with the family and having someone else do my laundry.

I have 4 ½ weeks left. This time is sure to go by quickly. And if I’m lucky, I’ll emerge after that 4 ½ weeks a newly minted developmental controller; Knowing just enough to be a danger to both you and your loved ones flying the friendly skies!

Hey, you guys leave some comments below so I know people are actually reading this thing! Several people do already. Just click on "comments" below and follow these directions:

You do not need any special account to leave comments. Several of you have had trouble leaving comments because Google is requiring you enter a user name/password. You can avoid this by clicking "Name/URL" or " Anonymous" under the comment box where it says "Choose Identity".

2009-07-18T23:28:00.003-04:00

Welp, It's been an eventful week so lets just get right down to it shall we?

Week 7 is dead and gone while week 8 moves into view. By the way; one must understand that the FAA is throwing a ton of information at us in a very short period of time. It's sink or swim here. Nobody is going to be able to slack off and expect to survive. It is very easy to fall behind. You don't want to get behind the power curve or you'll spend a lot of time trying to catch up.

Monday brought us a large lesson on Tower Visibility. Visibility is of great importance to pilots when they are landing or departing. Low visibility affects the way pilots will depart and arrive at an airport. Weather it be by instruments or by visual reference. We discussed several types of visibility. Prevailing, Sector, and Variable. And of course, each type of visibility has a different definition and a set of rules and procedures to follow. Its complicated...Really complicated. This post would be 5 pages long if I explained it. We'll just leave it at that.

Also on Monday we were taught a lesson on airport conditions, uses and lighting. It gave us the rules and procedures to follow when using the airport lighting such as when to turn various lights on and what lights to turn on at certain times. For example, the rotating beacon that everyone has come know on top of the control tower at your local airport doesn't just rotate at night. When the weather drops below Visual Flight Rule minimums (1,000ft ceiling and/or 3 miles visibility) the beacon is turned on. We learned that the approach light system is a group of lights that are arranged prior to the runway threshold to aid in guiding an aircraft in during periods of bad weather and at night. There are also lights on the side of the runways called VASI's or PAPI's. Visual Approach Slope Indicator lights/Precision Approach Slope Indicator lights. These lights are arranged on top of one another and shine red or white depending on how high or low you are to the proper approach angle to the runway. Red over white - you're all right. Red over Red - You're dead. Bummer.

On Tuesday we learned more about the fictional airport and airspace where we will learn all of the procedures and techniques to make us JUST dangerous enough to go to our local airports and wreak havoc on real airplanes. Academy Airport - A fictional airport surrounded by Class D airspace nestled in the foothills of flat Oklahoma City. Loosely based on OKC's own Will Rodgers World airport. In a nutshell, Academy Airport has 3 runways, 2 general aviation FBO's and a commercial terminal area. Quaint really. Yet she somehow seems to have just enough traffic for you to want to rip someone's head off after about 30 minutes of controlling her airspace. Believe me, I know. (more on that later.)

Wednesday we learned about a cool piece of equipment called the FDIO. Flight Data Input Output. We're talking Atari era stuff here. Like before floppy disks...ok maybe there were floppy disks when these things were developed but you can forget about the CD. FDIO is what the controller working clearance delivery uses to obtain route clearances for aircraft on instrument flight rules. FDIO is connected to the en-route centers computer (remember these from a few posts ago... See, we're building on what we learned earlier) and spits out a flight plan for aircraft requesting to use instrument flight rules for their flight to the local airport where they will depart.

We also learned about ATIS. Automatic Terminal Information Service. ATIS is used to broadcast information related to whats going on in and around the airport. ATIS includes weather information, airport taxiway/runway closures, activities going on around the airport that are important to the pilot, etc... ATIS broadcasts are usually recorded every hour. (less depending on circumstances such as a large change in weather) If any of you living around the Charleston, WV area has a scanner tune to 127.60 MHz and if you're close enough you'll hear the ATIS from Yeager Airport.

Thursday we discussed the clearance delivery position. As I said above, the clearance delivery position does exactly what it says. Delivers the route of flight clearance to the aircraft.

Also on Thursday we learned about the position relief briefing. The position relief briefing is a procedure an air traffic controller initiates when he/she is either coming on to or signing off a position. Both the controller coming in and the controller going out relay certain information to each other so that the new controller doesn't miss anything. Some of the information that is relayed is weather trends (clouds lowering or raising, temps going up/down) where the aircraft on your scope are going and what you've done with them so far, and any other information that the new controller might need while they're on position.

On Friday we began by discussing the role of the ground controller, the local controller, and a small section on Wind Shear. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Weather is a major factor in air safety. Weather plays a roll in many of the decisions that we as air traffic controllers will make as well as the decisions of the pilots. More on that in a minute.

Ground Control is exactly what it says. You are controlling the aircraft movement on the ground. As in anything, there are exceptions. Ground controllers control aircraft in movement areas but may not authorize aircraft to cross the active runway without prior approval from Local Control. Movement areas are areas of the airport that have been designated by the airport management for control by ATC. You must have approval to use a movement area. For the most part movement areas are taxiways and and inactive runways. Aircraft parking ramps and airline tarmacs are usually not designated as movement areas. On non movement areas aircraft are free to move about as they wish.

Local Control is the position that controls aircraft on the active runways. Local Control clears aircraft for takeoff and landing. Local Control and Ground Control work together to provide safe and efficient movement of aircraft in the local vicinity of the airport as well as on the ground.

Also on Friday we took a glance at an actual scenario in the table top lab. I was "chosen" to work local control. The first 2 aircraft that appeared were easy to work. After that... well, I don't really remember much after that. The next thing I knew we were sitting in the classroom again. If someone knows what happened during that time period please let me know. :)

Next week is our last week of classroom training. After that we move into 4 weeks of simulators. I am both looking forward to it and am scared as hell. Its gonna be a roller coaster ride that's for sure. It's going to be tough to keep it all straight but I think as we move further into it we'll be able to make sense of the madness.

39 days.

CB

2009-07-12T15:55:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone,

Week six is behind us and week seven looms on the horizon. This past week has been the most exciting thus far. Wednesday marked the end of our aviation basics class and the beginning of our tower basics class.

Wednesday morning we arrived at our last day of aviation basics. The comprehensive final was scheduled for 7:00a and encompassed all the lessons we had been taught up to that point. There was over 37 lessons that were taught to us in the 6 weeks we had been here. To pass the comprehensive test we needed to score a 70% or better. The test was 100 questions long and we were given 2 ½ hours to do it. While I was pretty confident I could have taken the test without studying and pass without any problems I still gave a good effort to go over all the information we were given.

It took me about 45 minutes to finish the test. While I was taking it I marked down the questions I thought I missed. I wanted to compare just how many I thought I had missed to how many I actually did. When I was finished I had marked 7 questions that I was sure I missed and 4 maybes.

When we returned at 9:30 we were told that our test results would be ready around 10:00 so we were given free time to chat it up with our buddies and even the instructors. 10am came and went and still no scores… Finally at about 10:30 the test administrator came back and gave us our scores. I was surprised at my results. I was definitely glad it was over and done with though. I don’t think I could have taken the stress of another one. This test had different rules than all the other block tests we had taken. If you didn’t score a 70% then you had to go thru a remedial training session with the instructors the same day and retake the test in the morning… missing the first day of classes across the street.

Oh, I guess you’d actually like to know what my score was huh? I scored a 95%!

Thursday morning we began classes across the street in the Stafford Building. As I’ve mentioned before the Stafford Building houses the tower simulators as well as simulators for other job fields.

Just walking into the building makes you feel a lot cooler than you were before… like your coolness meter just went up a notch. Gone are the drably hallways and plain classrooms of the administration building. We now sit in a classroom where we have computers (with 2 huge monitors) on each of our desks, headphones to use to interact with the computers, and really cool programs to learn equipment functions we might see in our own towers.

Thursday morning we met our new instructors. All of them have experience working busy control towers. Within an hour we hit the books. Unfortunately it was on subjects that we had already gone over previously with some new information sprinkled in here and there. Most notably was aircraft recognition and weather.

The objective was to make sure that we knew that information because we would see it again and again here. We also discussed control tower equipment and their functions. This included weather equipment such as low level wind shear indicators, runway visibility range sensors, lighting detectors, altimeters, wind indicators and precipitation sensors. Also in this lesson we covered the use of airport lighting equipment, instrument landing system indicators, and communication equipment.

On Friday we spent much of the day going over weather… again. And again, it was from a person from the National Weather Service. We couldn’t make him understand that we had gone over these exact lessons across the street only 2 weeks prior. Still, it made the end of lesson tests that much easier to do. Friday afternoon was spent going over what we can expect during our training at our facilities. It focused on what my responsibilities will be when I get to my facility as well as the responsibilities of the people who will conduct my training AND oversee the training process. It was very interesting to know that it’s a coordinated effort with lots of paperwork and procedures to follow to make sure I at least have a fighting chance.

Next week the big topics will be a block test on Monday and a weather observer certification test on Tuesday.

Until then…

2009-07-08T20:47:00.004-04:00

One hurdle down, one to go...

2009-07-05T21:23:00.004-04:00

Hey, check out over on the right hand side of the page. We now have a t-minus clock to see just how long I’ve got left. Kinda nifty huh? I’m going to upgrade it as soon as I find a better one. But this will do for now.

Week 5 down and here comes week 6. The most important week of training thus far. Week 6 marks the end of the basics class and the beginning of the tower cab training. I am officially 1/3rd of the way through training. On Wednesday our class will take the comprehensive written test. It will cover everything we have learned up to this point. Thursday morning we will transition across the street to the simulator building.

The past week was mostly spent on weather. As expected it was long, drawn out, and extremely dry. The biggest problem with the weather course was the manner in which it was taught. We had an extremely intelligent meteorologist from NOAA come to teach the class. The problem was that he was too smart. I don’t think he understood the meaning of “basic” weather. Imagine having a Physicist come and explain to 3rd graders the reason we don’t all float away.

The weather focused mainly on hazards to flight. Types of weather including thunderstorms/rain, icing, and turbulence. We learned how to identify different types of clouds that have the ability to produce large hail, wind such as downdrafts, and severe turbulence. Turbulence is a threat to aircraft that usually can't be observed. There are several different types of turbulence. There is CAT (Clear Air Turbulence, which is found near the jet stream up near the tropopause), convection (caused by the un-even heating of the earth's surface which causes hot air to rise), and windshear, which is caused by winds flowing in different directions near each other. There are several other types as well but we focused mainly on these. We also focused on downdrafts and microbursts. These are huge powerful winds that flow straight down to the ground and explode outwards across the earth. These winds are responsible for several air accidents over the years. They are mostly invisible to pilots. Downbursts are usually associated with Thunderstorms. Avoid a thunder boomer and you'll most likely avoid a downburst...

We learned the different types of icing that pilots can encounter during flight and how each type has a different effect on the aircraft's ability to fly. Icing develops when an aircraft is flying through visible moisture at or below freezing. It begins to cover all the leading edges of an aircraft and adds massive amounts of weight. The weight, associated with the buildup of the ice itself disrupts the airflow over the wings and other lifting surfaces causing the aircraft to lose lift. Pretty nasty stuff really.

Lastly, we took a look at types of perciptiation and their effects on both the aircraft and the airport environment. Rain, snow, ice, freezing rain, sleet, etc... Heavy rain can peel paint off of an aircraft. Think how hard the rain hits your car when you're driving on the interstate only to slow down and stop and realize that it's not really raining all the much at all. Multiply that by 2 or 3 and you can imagine the force against an airplane flying through the rain. Snow and freezing rain can clog inlets used for various aircraft instruments and make them unusable. All forms of precipitation cause airport conditions to be less than favorable. Just as in a car, rain, snow, and ice play a roll in aircraft braking action on the runway. Aircraft can hydroplane out of control if not properly controlled on the runway. Ice and snow can make aircraft braking action zero if not taken into consideration during landing.

But, after 3 days of torture we finally emerged from the weather lessons a little older, balder, and in somewhat of a stoned persona. Needless to say we were more than thrilled to have are old teachers back to teach us PIREPS (Pilot Reports) before we took the end of block test. I truly believe that many of us thought we wouldn’t pass this thing. I heard a lot of mumblings of people knowing they were going to have to retake – including myself. I came home Wednesday evening and began studying. After about an hour and a half of going through the book all the words began to run together and my eyes began to cross. It was at that point where I said “to hell with it”. I’m either going to pass the damn thing or take the retest. Either way I’m as prepared as I’m going to be. I only missed 1. How in the world I did that I’ll never know… There were only 2 retakes in the entire class. Pretty good considering the amount of information we had to learn.

Monday and Tuesday of this week will focus on the last 2 subjects we’ll cover in basics. Basic communications and strip marking. The basic communications covers everything from the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc…) to the correct pronunciation of groups of numbers based on the circumstance. (Altimeter Two Niner Niner Two, Altitude One-Seven Thousand, Heading One Eight Zero, etc…) Strip marking is a technique used to display pertinent information regarding an aircraft. It allows the controller to mark down what instructions he has given a pilot, what the pilot has told him, and other information that is beneficial in the interest of safety. These strips are also a vital tool when forwarding the strip to the next controller. That way he know exactly what the aircraft has been instructed to do and/or has done up to that point. Also on Tuesday we will have a comprehensive review for the final.

Wednesday we will take the final first thing in the morning. After that I have no idea what we will do for the rest of the day. We’ll see I guess.

This week we only worked 4 days. We were off on Friday for the 4th of July weekend. A lot of people in my class went home for the extended holiday weekend. The complex I am staying at was a ghost town for most of the weekend. 2 days of is fine but having 3 days to sit in your apartment is pushing it. I’m looking forward to getting back to class tomorrow. Next weekend I’ll rent a car again and go do some sight seeing. I’m still looking for find a good Mexican restaurant. You’d think being this close to Mexico that you’d find some good Mexican food but I’m yet to find it. The place I went a few weekends ago was OK. But Rio Grande back in WV is better.

See you all next week,
Chris

53 days and counting

2009-06-28T21:11:00.002-04:00

Happy Sunday to everyone.

Ok, first off let me begin by saying this. I have concluded that Oklahoma City is the black hole of technology. The internet here is almost as slow as dial-up and my flippin cell phone only works in certain parts of the city. Ugh!

Also, let me just go on record as saying that 6 weeks of basics is overkill. Some of the things we have learned have no bearing on our job whatsoever. While I agree that Air Traffic Controllers should know how an aircraft flies and the basic principles of flight I don’t believe that we need to know that the pitot tube supplies ram air to the airspeed indicator and that if the static vent becomes clogged the vertical speed indicator will not function properly. I also don’t think an Air Traffic Controller needs to know that the Heading Indicator and the Attitude Indicator use a gyroscope. Which, by the way, is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. We spent 3 days on all of that…

Well, now that that’s out of the way… Week 4 is in the books and we move into week 5. Counting Monday I have 8 days left of the basics class. Week 4 was spent mostly on charts. This is another subject that I feel doesn’t warrant such an in depth study of. Especially for Tower/Tracon controllers. (Enroute, maybe) We studied each type of chart. Enroute High and Low Altitude, Sectionals, World Aeronautical Charts, Terminal Area Charts, VFR planning charts, approach plates, SIDS (standard instrument departures), STARS (standard terminal arrival routes) etc… We studied each and every symbol. Why there were there, what they mean, etc… Even the instructors admitted that we’ll probably never use most of these in the Tower/Tracon environment. We also had another block test. I found this test to be easier than the last 2. I think it might be because I already knew a pretty good amount about the charts before we began. I actually found this test to be easier than the aircraft recognition/performance section.

I can’t remember if I explained what Tower/Tracon and Enroute meant. The control tower is the facility that issues the aircraft their clearances to their destination, is responsible for controlling aircraft on the ground and clears them for takeoff. The TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol) is responsible for the aircraft from the time it leaves the runway until the time it leaves the airport airspace. It also is responsible for aircraft approaching the airport and issues them vectors (headings to fly) to guide them to the airport. Of course this is the simple definition. There is a lot more involved but that’s for another issue. After the aircraft leaves the TRACON area they are handed over to the center controllers. (ARTCC – Air Route Traffic Control Center) Also called ENROUTE. The Enroute controllers are responsible for the aircraft during its cruise phase of flight. When the aircraft begins its descent into the airport they are handed back off to the Tracon and the process is reversed. I’m going through the Tower/TRACON training BTW.

Friday we began the weather portion of the course. Again, another section where I feel we are being given too much information. For 4 days we will learn the fundamentals of weather, hazardous weather, forecasts and advisories, METAR’s, TAF’s, PIREPS, etc. This section will be about as dry as charts. We have a teacher from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As you might expect, he is not very “user friendly”. You know those weather types… Too much brain, not enough people skills! (That should get a few comments from the wx folk here) He has a big problem of going off course and explaining a hell of a lot more than any person needs to know about weather.

The end of this past week marked the end of night shifts for the foreseeable future. The upcoming week and the week after are both day shift weeks. Thanks goodness. We are also off this Friday for the 4th of July weekend.

This week has been the hottest week so far in OKC. Several days this week saw over 100 degree temps. No rain has fallen in at least 2 weeks here. Apparently that’s normal. I also have a stopped up sink. Just thought I’d throw that in there.

Chris

61 days left.

Week 3

2009-06-16T17:23:00.016-04:00

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Well, with that out of the way - Happy Sunday to everyone! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Happy Father's Day to MY dad. This week I've learned a lot of new things. Both inside the classroom and outside. We'll go over what I've learned outside the classroom first.

First, I'm pretty sure my morning bus driver doesn't have a license. Does anyone remember the saying "drive it like you stole it"? Yeah, its a good thing I don't get motion sick from driving.

Secondly, we've already gotten to that part of the summer where the heat index never falls below 100 degrees. Which is fine because we're always in a nice air conditioned classroom but isn't fine when yours truly steps out into the oven and begins to melt. I think I've lost a few pounds just from the heat.

Third, you know you're in tornado country when a guy looks at a tornado and says "wow, check out that tornado... bitchin..."

I attended the NATCA (National Air Traffic Controllers Association) meet and greet this past Thursday. NATCA is the union that represents the Air Traffic Controllers. I found it pretty interesting to listen to what they were doing on our behalf. I was particularly interested in what they had to say about the on going union negotiations between NATCA and the FAA. Several years ago both of these agencies went back to the table to hash out a new contract since the existing one was set to expire. Neither side could agree on the terms of the new contract and in the end the FAA implemented a set of "imposed work rules" on the controllers without any negotiated contract. These work rules outlined many changes, most notably less pay for controllers. NATCA tried to get the FAA back to the table (as per federal law) however they found loop hole after loop hole and were able to side step any obligation to the union. What made matters worse was a President who had no regard of the law (any law really) and an FAA administrator who didn't much care either.

When President Obama was elected president one of the first things he did was order the FAA back to the table with NATCA. The White House has imposed a gag order on all parties involved with the negotiations however there have been hints that the negotiations are going well and that there should be word on the final result soon. This is particularly good for the newer controllers on the new pay scale because they stand to get up to a 30% pay increase because of the new contract. Enough about NATCA.

Week 3 is over and we are officially half way through the basics class. This upcoming week we move back to night shift. 3:30p to 12:00a. I can't decide weather I like the morning or evening shift better.

The first part of last week we finished up the section on aircraft recognition. I had a good time with this. I was able to help a lot of students study the aircraft and help them recognize all the different aircraft we were required to identify. I even pointed out several things on some aircraft that make it unique and able to easily identify.

Wednesday through Friday we focused on navigation charts. There are lots of different charts that pilots use to navigate from point A to point B. (Sectionals, Low Altitude Enroute, High Altitude Enroute, WAC, Terminal Area Charts, etc...) For this class we are required to understand what each chart is used for as well as understand ALL the symbols and markings. The charts section takes nearly 5 days to complete. It is, without argument, the most boring part of basics. Even the instructors know this so they make sure to give us a few extra breaks.

One benefit of the charts section is that the instructors break up the monotony scheduling a couple of "field trips" to neighboring buildings to show us what we're in for next. Friday we took a trip over to the tower simulator building. This is where we will go after we graduate from the basics class. There are 2 portions of the training in this building. Tabletops and simulators. Tabletops are the basic 3d version of the actual simulators. Very basic. Students hold airplanes in their hand and "fly" them around a table that looks like an airport. Other students stand up on a platform that resembles a tower and issue commands to the aircraft that the students are holding. Since the sims are expensive and in demand it makes sense to use these tabletop simulators to get the basics down so we don't waste time in the sims themselves.

We were allowed to go into the simulators and watch students work aircraft on the ground and in the air. These simulators are very sophisticated. The students talk into a microphone and the computer recognizes your voice and obeys the command. These simulators are an invaluable tool to get you ready for the real thing. Needless to say I can't wait to get over there and begin some hands on training!

Next week we will finish charts and begin a weather training course. This course will certify us to make weather observations from the control tower. The course spans out across 4 days. I hope it will interesting.

Saturday, I took a trip to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It was important to visit the site of such a terrible tragedy. I remember when this happened but I was too young to really understand the scope of such an event. I would like to visit the memorial for the 9/11 attacks as well someday.

Also, we went to Cattleman's Restaurant tonight for dinner...

Guess who I met. Ned Beatty. He played Rudy's father in the movie "Rudy". He also played along side of Bert Reynolds in the movie "Stroker Ace".

I have uploaded more photos of the simulators/tabletops/OKC memorial

to Flickr. Click here to take a look. I will update with more photo's as I take them.

68 Days

Chris

2009-06-14T18:54:00.006-04:00

Week 2 is over and we begin week 3 tomorrow. Last week we ran the night shift - 3:30p - 12:00a. It was relatively easy for me to adjust to it since I worked almost this same shift for the 5 years I was at WSAZ.

One note before I go on. I mentioned in my last post that Oklahoma City had it's share of hills. (we'll call them hills for the sake of this post) I have discovered that Oklahoma City is in fact HIGHER in elevation than the Charleston/Huntington area. The airport here has a elevation of 1,295ft. In contrast, Yeager Airport has a field elevation of 981ft and remember it sits on top of a mountain. The airport here is at the same level as the rest of the city. Hum... go figure!

Monday and Tuesday we finished up the 1st block of lessons. There are 4 blocks which have 10-15 lessons in them. We took the block 1 test Tuesday. It was EXTREMELY nerve racking since you must score a 90% or above to pass. If you don't pass then you get 1 retake. Fail that and you're out! The tests are 30 questions so to achieve a 90% or higher you can only miss 3. I never did take tests well so it is safe to say I spent most of the night after class Monday studying. I woke up with a pounding headache. I suspect it was mostly due to nerves and the fact that my poor brain had never actually experienced the action of studying before. It's odd how you do stuff like that when your career and way of life is on the line.

I only missed 1 by the way.

Wednesday through Friday was spent on the second block of lessons. Unfortunately for me, all of these lessons contain information that ANY pilot should already know. So it should be no surprise that, to me, this entire block seems to be dragging on... One of the lessons is on aircraft recognition. Suffice to say that when the instructor asks the class what type of airplane they are looking at on the screen, its hard to keep the ole' trap shut.

The good news about it is that I won't be nearly as tense and nervous about the upcoming block test on Tuesday. That's not to say I won't study but at least I won't have to worry as much about failing this test.

The class is really beginning to band together. On Saturday a bunch of us got together and went to dinner and to a movie. (see photo) It was really nice to get out and get to know each other outside of the classroom. I can't speak of anyone who isn't very nice and easy to get a long with. This helps a lot since most of us are in the same boat - we've left family and friends behind to get out here and get this part of our new job done. Interestingly, I've found several people in my class who have left spouse and child behind. It's good to know I'm not the only one.

I mentioned in my last post about the attitude of the instructors. They seemed to have lightened up quite a bit since last week. The classes have become more enjoyable (even if they are dry) and everyone seems to be adhering to the rules.

On a side note - I'm not used to being in a class were EVERYONE actually wanted to be there. I'm used to being surrounded by several people who want to succeed and then a bunch of people who just don't care. It's very strange to see EVERYONE working hard to achieve the goal. I hope it continues this way.

Thursday we were allowed to go across the street to eat in the Stafford Building. This building is where we will go after we graduate from this basic's class. I must say that I'm really excited to get over there. The Stafford Building houses all of the simulators we will use to learn how to actually work aircraft both on the ground and in the air. They feature high tech computer systems that offer voice recognition so you can actually speak a command and the computer will follow it. In short - lots of buttons, dials and blinking lights to wow the inner geek in me!

The next 4 weeks will seem the longest. It will contain all of the dry book work that we need to form the foundation of our career. Once we're done with that it's all hands on until we graduate!

I'm really beginning to miss home. Being alone 1,000 miles away is rough. All of the fancy e-mail and video messaging I've been doing has helped quite a bit. I think it will be enough to hold me over for 2 1/2 months. Can't wait to see Maddy though... oh, and Beth too.

75 Days left.

2009-06-06T22:24:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Week 1 is over with. I arrived in OKC Monday afternoon and spent most of Tuesday unpacking and going to the store. Oklahoma isn't nearly as flat as I thought. Apparently Kansas is the place you want to go if you want to see for 100 miles in any direction.

Wednesday was the first day of class. The bus picked me up from the apartment complex I'm staying at around 6:10a. Class starts at 7a. We were all dropped off at the front security gate for processing and photo id's. As expected all of the day was spent on discussing EEO, Civil Rights, conduct in the workplace, Sexual Harassment, etc... I never knew someone could talk for an hour and a half on Civil Rights. After awhile it seemed like each person who came in a talked said almost the same thing as the last person did.

Thursday we began the actual coursework. The course is called Air Traffic Basics. Which is exactly what it is. It teaches the history of aviation, the FAA, different types of facilities (Enroute, TRACON, Towers, and flight service), airport markings, radar basics, aircraft separation, NOTAMS (notices to airmen). It's pretty long and drawn out. Any job requires a foundation I guess.

The apartment is OK. I really didn't expect much more however with as much money as I'm throwing at them in rent per month I would have thought it would be a little nicer. I didn't drive out here. I beginning to think that was a mistake. I'm really limited as to where I can go on my off time. Simply put, I can't go anywhere except to Wal-Mart to buy food. They have rental cars but for $20/day you have to have it back by 4:30 which I think is kind of a rip off. I will have to come back here in about a year for 4 weeks to finish my training and I will seriously consider bringing a car then.

The people in my class are all great. Very nice people. We all seem to get along.

There are actually 2 separate classes that I will attend. This basic class, which ends July 8th and then the tower cab training class which will end August 26th. Still looking forward to getting this done and getting back home! More to follow

83 days left.

Hurray!

2009-04-08T16:40:00.001-04:00

I start the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City on June 3rd! More info to follow.