FAA Initial Tower Cab Training

What better way to spend my Labor Day weekend than racking up a $200 tab in downtown OKC, lazing around my room for a day and a half recovering, and updating my blog?

This weekend roughly marks the halfway point in my training here at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma.  Four weeks have passed since my arrival.  Because I have prior experience, I skipped the ATC Basics class.  My class covers Initial Tower Cab Training only.  My last day will be September 28th.  We have a smaller than average class with only 13 students.  Only two of us are prior military.  The rest graduated from CTI programs.  Our work hours switch each week from day shift (7am - 3:30pm) to swing shift (3:30pm - 12am).  Here's a quick breakdown of my training schedule:

Weeks One, Two, and Three
Day one covered typical new hire orientation information: FAA policies and employee benefit information.  Aside from day one, the first three weeks were filled with classroom work.  Most of the material was pulled from chapter three of FAA JO 7110.65 but also covered information specific to our simulated airport here at the academy.  I've found little need to study, but dedicated some time to memorizing phraseology and brushing up on my aircraft identification.

Week Four
Table tops.  Picture a large room with a table in the middle.  The table is painted to look like an airport.  Model airplanes and vehicles are positioned on the airport.  Three students at a time work as Local, Ground, and Flight Data/Clearance Delivery controllers.  A few other students follow the instructions of the controllers and move aircraft or vehicles around the airport or airspace accordingly.  It's only fun for the students working Local or Ground, but it's a good way to work out the kinks in our phraseology.  We also get to use a simulator during week four.  It uses four flat-screen monitors and is much smaller than the simulator we use in the coming weeks.  Due to the small size, depth perception is a little tricky.  I've had to send aircraft around because they look the same size at four miles away as they do at one.  The larger simulator will be much better and we also get to use a CTRD (Certified Tower Radar Display) to assist in sequencing.

Weeks Five through Eight
The rest of our time here will be spent in the larger simulator.  We will run three different scenarios a day.  As the days and weeks progress, the scenarios get more and more difficult.  On our last day we will have a PV (Performance Verification) to assess our control ability.  If anyone fails the first one, they have to come back on the following day to try again.  If they fail a second time, they go home.  A lot of people stress about it, but we are well trained to pass and the failure or wash-out rate for Initial Tower Cab Training is very low.

I realize I've breezed over many details, particularly in regards to pay, per diem, transportation, and the like.  If I feel inspired, I may write some more about these.  As always, if you have questions feel free to contact me.  Thanks for reading.