Real Class

Published: June 23, 2016

Okay, another double header today for the post. Lots of studying to get to, so I won’t be writing much.

Yesterday was my “first” day of tower training class, since Tuesday was just a “get oriented” day. In the morning we had to take a series of physiological tests, some of which we already took during the hiring process, others that are being used to track our progress throughout our careers (or heaven forbid, lack thereof). The agency is in the process of revamping and testing parts of the hiring process right now, so I imagine that is why we were asked to participate.

After lunch in the afternoon, we met our instructors for class. They are both hilarious, down to earth, and seem like they will be great instructors to learn from. Best of all, they’re witty and sarcastic, two personality traits I get along well with. Most of that afternoon was spent going over the first lesson in our book which was mainly an orientation to the course, explanation of grading and different labs, and some human factors stuff. We also took another tour of the facility for those who hadn’t been in this building yet (I already had for my first day).

The second actual day of classroom was today. Each day our instructors go over little phraseology things and procedural things so that we aren’t blindsided when we get into lab since none of this is technically taught until lab. We go around the room and practice basic clearances and taxi instructions.

Next we cracked our books open to the lesson about what happens when you get to your facility in terms of training and certification, etc. That took most of the morning. We then got into aircraft recognition and identifiers. Most of this was a review for me, but here at the Academy we use some airplanes school didn’t have, so I’ll be busy tonight memorizing all of those.

After we finished that lesson, we had a short lesson on the structure of the system in terms of personnel and management. They breezed through this lesson pretty fast, so I get the impression it won’t be heavily tested.

We had about a half an hour left at the end of the day, and both of our instructors offered some insight to us as we prepare to get started in this field of work. I’m only posting one of the quotes from what they said here, but it really summarizes my thoughts on this whole process…

“Do you want to drive out of here on the last day, look in your rearview mirror and say, ‘If only I had tried a little harder… ?’ I sure wouldn’t want to. I believe each and every one of you can do anything you want in life, and it’s all about sacrifices – so think about how badly you want this job, this career, and this lifestyle. After you decide how badly you want all that, then decide how much you’re willing to sacrifice to make it happen. It’s up to you.” -WS

"spread your wings and fly"