Published: July 30, 2016
That’s right folks, only 12 days left of my training here in OKC. This weekend is my last “lazy weekend” as I’m calling it.
Here’s the breakdown, in case you’ve been away for a while (or just joining me):
-Since mid-June, I’ve been in Oklahoma City, OK, at the FAA Academy completing coursework for my new job as an Air Traffic Controller.
-We started with around 2 weeks of academics, which was mostly book work
-After academics, we had 1 week in the first set of labs, called “tabletop” labs – where we learned basic phraseology (what to say), and the rules of ATC (how close planes can be, different aircraft types and performance, etc).
-After tabletop labs we moved into our final stage of training, TSS labs (Tower Simulator System), which is training in a simulated tower-cab environment with progressively more difficult scenarios each day.
-TSS consists of 13 scenarios, one scenario each day for 13 days.
Here’s where we’re going next:
-This week, we will complete scenarios 8-12 in the TSS lab. Scenario 8 will be Monday, 9 Tuesday, etc.
-Sometime this week we will receive our “placement list” which we will use on Placement Day (see more below) to select our facilities.
-Next week, we will run scenario 13 on Monday.
-Tuesday of next week (August 9th) we start our PAs (Performance Assessments) which is basically our final eval, which is a pass/fail event.
-Three days of PAs, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. PAs consist of 4 30 minute runs where you are graded. Overall, PAs are worth 90% of the overall grade, so it’s a very big deal.
-Those who are successful at completing PAs will meet for “Placement Day” on Friday, the 12th
-Placement day is where we will select our facilities (more on this process below), complete our final paperwork, and spend one last night in OKC or get a jumpstart on the long drives back to our hometowns or new facilities.
Read more on yesterday’s scenario and recap of my day.
Read more on placement day.