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Originally Posted by Polarbear  I have great respect for you as your in the position I hope to get to.
I will not argue with you, however the controllers I talked to in my high school days (I graduated nearly 10 years ago) through 2004 all believed OTS would return when retirements started occurring. All stated CTI was too much of a gamble, especially with the little amount of hiring going on. |
I always enjoy a good argument... errr... debate... LOL.
The core idea of what you are saying is on track... I agree with that. I was told many years ago not to wait around for the FAA to call... because they may never call. That was good advice then and is still good advice now.
If you graduated HS 10 years ago that put you in your late teens in 97', you had time on your side with the age 31 cutoff. Other folks did not have that luxury... back in 97' people who were in their mid to late 20's were starting to get close to aging out for ATC. With no OTS test on the horizon CTI was really the only option. I have been asked about CTI for quite a few years and I always tell people whether in person or on this forum to follow your dream... BUT, when it comes to the FAA have a plan B.
I'm more of the opinion that much of the blame for broken promises to ATC students falls on these aviation colleges and their ATC programs. This is based on my first hand experience. I have spoken to some of the CTI new hires at my facility that graduated from places like UND and Riddle and was just blown away on what they spent and what they did. Some of these programs were 4 years in ATC ! All kinds of labs and stuff... IMHO a waste of time and a lot of money. Much of their expectations were based on what the schools told them.
As for the PFT I view PFT as paying for training that the employer would normally pay for. I last spoke (Q&A session) to students in a CTI program sometime in the mid to late 90's (back when NATCA and the FAA were friendly) and back then it was not PFT. Just some basic classes to see if the students could be taught some basic ATC info and pass tests on it. After reading your post and spending some time on websites of aviation colleges offering CTI I have to admit... a lot has changed on the CTI landscape in the past 10 years, some programs read a bit like PFT... yet the students still have to attend OKC.
I still feel that CTI's did get a bit of a raw deal... though my blame for that is spread more towards their schools then the FAA. I feel ALL new hires are getting hosed by the FAA... I believe the current management structure is setting many of these people up to fail buts that's a debate (argument... LOL) for another time.
This is a touchy issue, don't take anything personal. Best of luck to you in whatever path you choose and if you have any ATC questions, technical or about the job itself, don't hesitate to post or PM me.