[TeddyG]

My friend think about what you r doing. I'm a controller working with the FAA. It's not all peaches and cream. The new pay scale sucks trust me. I'm there now and i was converted to it I didn't come in knowing about it like new hires. As far as time with the family depends where u get sent. At lower level facilities you might be fine some actually close at 9PM but I'm at a level 7 tower that is open 24/7 365/year. Over time here is not that big of issue rarely does it happen. My suggestion to people that have aviation background is to explore the FSS (flight services) route. Lockheed Martin has the FSS's. Let me tell you my wife and I were both hired together and then I got a job with FAA and split didn't know anything about this new pay ####. On the flip side my works 3 times less than I do and absolutely loves her job and makes almost 30k more than me a year no ####. I get paid 22/hr she gets paid 26/hr in training and once she gets done 34/hr(she is 75% complete). So u do the math. If u want details pm me willing to help out and clear the air. Allot of people say this and that and provide smoke clouds of inaccurate info get it from the source.