Pushing Tin

I just watched the comedy Pushing Tin. Although the plot of the movie is based around the competition between two colleagues, it takes place in New York's radar approach center (TRACON). It gives a great inside look at an approach controller's job. I found this to be a great watch all around. I was laughing most of the way through and also enjoyed the ATC side of it. I would recommend it - especially if you are a fan of John Cusack or Billy Bob Thornton.

Tower Simulator

Yesterday was our first day in the cab (tower simulator)! I was really nervous going in. We've learned so much in the last 3 days, and now we have to put it to action. The cab is split into three main positions: local controller, ground controller, and flight data. I started on ground. It was so much fun! I remembered everything I was supposed to say and traffic went soooo smooth. Ground control has responsiblity for all vehicles as well as aircraft which are in taxi to departure or just arriving. It couldn't have gone any better! It's so nice to be using the tools we've learned. After finishing with ground, I moved to local. Things didn't go so buttery smooth here, but it could have been worse. I'll be studying up today. Overall, I walked away with a lot more confidence and I can't wait to keep moving forward. After all was said and done, I had a real feeling of accomplishment. Hopefully this will continue through the rest of school and into my career...

Side note: we start night school today. This means we don't have to show up for class until 4:30pm (1630 military time) and we'll be out by 7 or 8pm. We spend the entire time in the cab. This will last for about 11 or 12 days. Then it's back to days.

Pictures
Top Left: A tower simulator similar to the one we are using here in pensacola
Lower Right: The inside of an actual tower

ATC Career Outlook

Stumbled across this today. This is largely in part to an incident during Reagan's presidency. Basically, the majority of the ATC force was fired for striking over wages (after previously agreeing to never strike). The mass rehire following the layoffs made it so that the majority of controllers are in the same age group. This age group is hitting retirement over the next few years. I'd already heard that there would be a large market opening for air traffic controllers soon. It's just nice to hear it come from someone other than the Navy recruiter! Things are looking more promising...

AWT Test (End of Block One!)

Today we were given the AWT (Airman's Written Test). After passing this test you receive the "pink card" which allows you to legally control aircraft. It's a little scary to know that after only 6 weeks in school i passed the test. However, this is merely a formality. I still have 3 weeks of tower simulator and 6 weeks of radar beforfe I'm done. Even then, most of my "real" training will be on the job. I'm sure it will be a long time before I'm controlling aircraft on my own. The most significant part of today is the ending of block one! If I make it through the next 3 weeks I'm practically gauranteed to graduate. I can't wait...

Live Air Traffic Control Feeds

Below are links to live air traffic control frequency feeds. You can listen in on the conversations I'm learning about. May be interesting to some; boring to others. Of course I'm now an official ATC geek and love this stuff...

NAS Pensacola - Probably not very active in the evening hours, but this is the local airstrip

Index of Live Feeds - You might find your local airport

Many of these feeds can be sporadic, but the index should give you a list of all currently working feeds. Enjoy...

Block One

Well, I can safely say that the gap in posts is due to the craziness of school. It's really interesting, but very time consuming. The key thing is to stay serious and focused. I've lost count of the number of people we've lost from our class already. And I've only been in class for about 4 weeks. The attrition (drop-out/kick-out) rate is an average of 25 to 30 percent. It sounds intimidating, but everyone that has left just didn't seem to care. For me, if I lost the air traffic control rating, I wouldn't know what else to do in the Navy. This provides a lot of motivation. At this point, I'm top of the class...barely. However, things that can help out are uniform inspections (an outstanding will lift your GPA by 1 percent) and physical readiness tests (an outstanding will lift your GPA by up to 3 percent). If you stay on top of your books and do what you're supposed to do, block one is cake. We have at least one test a week. Our block one classes include:
a) General Weather
b) Navigation, Airspace, and Time
c) Navigational Aids
d) Charts and Publications
e) General Tower
f) Sequencing and Separation
e) Emergency, Non-Radar

My seek and sep (sequencing and separation) test is on Tuesday. From what I've been told it is the most difficult written test in the school. Well, I'm slightly drunk and very tired. I'll finish this post later.