What the hell website is that? Virtual controllers? Is that a flight-sim thing?

They hide it well. I've been trying everything I can to get to Manitoba but the company seems to be having none of it. What do you mean by this? What have you been trying that the company doesn't want to have? Edit: Nevermind, I read your previous posts and realized you're an FSS. I thought you wer...

natej, do you know which towers your class has been assigned to yet?

There is a clause that Navcan will not 'contract out' during the life of the collective agreement.

Training is done in the center, for IFR or VFR. It will be done at YVR, YYC, YYZ, and YUL towers in the future. As for right now, if your wife applies in YWG, she'll be training at YWG Center. If she chooses IFR, she'll stay there. If she chooses VFR, she'll go somewhere in the YWG FIR (YQT, YWG, YA...

I can say with certainty that he is not an English teacher...

you aren't wrong to enter the zone after being told to standby.... but if the tower guy is busy as hell, and tells you to standby, do you really think it's in your best interest to "keep 'er comin' "?

Don't forget, any fss at ymm that want to become controllers still have to get a basic vfr course. That means 4 months in cornwall, then back to ymm (if they pass) to begin OJT.

They're probably doing this so that one day they can sell NCTI for a small fortune, and not have to worry about where the trainees will go, or try to lease part of the building they just sold.

Not saying it's a good way to train people.

Long story short, if you are entering a control zone talking to a tower, you don't need to tell them you are starting descent. In fact, don't, it's not necessary at all. When you call up at 8500, the tower controller knows that you need to descend at some time. When you do is up to you. If there is ...

Some very rough math: $70 per diem 30 trainees at each ACC 7 ACC's 250 Training days per year per student equals $3.675 Million per year. Add all the other expenses that are already present. That's starting to add up to quite the expense. Then factor in the check out rate. Let's say that this method...

You do have to get a medical though (every 2 years if you're under 30 (or is it 40?), then every year if you're over).

I could understand people complaining about having to pay for tuition and not being paid while training, if these trainees didn't know exactly what they were getting into before. Don't like that VFR or FSS get paid as soon as they're out of NCTI? Why did you choose IFR? Don't like that VFR or FSS ge...

Jerricho wrote:I'm also teaching them sarcasm and irony.

While sarcasm is a key skill in a controller, I have worked with plenty of guys who had very wrinkly shirts, and they were just fine to work with.

It used to be that tower controllers had to say "check gear down", but they stopped doing that because the legal implications if the controller forgot to say it and the pilot landed with no gear. I don't understand that. There are a multitude of tasks and/or steps that controllers must follow for e...

VFR trainees get paid the same amount as IFR trainees until checkout.

It used to be that tower controllers had to say "check gear down", but they stopped doing that because the legal implications if the controller forgot to say it and the pilot landed with no gear. I can just imagine if we were required to ensure that every piece of a pilots equipment was certified an...

The minimum age is 18, and there is no maximum age (otherwise it would be discrimination). It's an aptitude test, so some argue that you either have it or you don't. Personally I only studied the cube section, but then got to the test and found completely different ways someone could lay out a cube ...

If somethings not on the atis, then we have to make sure that each pilot is informed about information that we have. All we can do is tell you that there's lots of birds in the area, it's up to you not to hit them. But if they find out we told the 8 airplanes before you about birds, and not you, and...

controllers work 34 days in a 56 day period. Some variant of '6 on 5 off, 6-4,5-3; 6-4,6-4,5-3; 6-3,6-3,5-5' repeated twice (to make 56 days). Or six 5-3's, then a 4-4. All regularly scheduled shifts are 8.5 hours long. They can be extended due to short staff, but no longer than 12 hours. You can wo...

It's a huge risk for the amount of money involved in a short period of time. The difference being, even if you get your "Diploma" in IFR ATC, and don't qualify on the floor, the training is completely useless in any other field, and the money is gone. At least with a university degree, it can be co...

on my VFR course, we weren't in the Jet Set every night either. That's because we found it much more economical to buy a case of beer at the beer store every night.

In my opinion, the best way to get into ATC is to go VFR to begin with. Get your VFR licence (checkout rates are higher in VFR than IFR, plus you don't have to pay for living expenses with VFR), then once you have a couple years under your belt if you want to go IFR then you can, but you have a lice...

Anytime an aircraft takes off from an intersection, whether the pilot has requested it or the controller has suggested it, the phraseology is "from (interesection) cleared takeoff runway #". When the takeoff clearance is issued, the request or suggestion has already been made, and it has been decide...

the_professor wrote:
(Is it YXE where the 'YXE VOR' is around 17nm north of the airport?)

Nothing else to add to the conversation other than the YXE VOR is right at the airport. I believe YQR is the one you're thinking of.