I assume those making $95K+/year are at the larger facilities- JFK, Boston, LAX etc., and for good reason I'm sure. Is the "lack of training" you speak of due to poor management or poor controllers Thanks

zabnut wrote: [TO: adkryan]
I would imagine you will get something you want in your offer(s). I have the feeling that people are being pressed to take the only offer from the FAA and those few places are the only places the FAA needs bodies. In fact most of the offers are for the same places over and over, simply because at $33K you are not getting many bites at a Southern Cal opening or a New York Tracon position mainly due to the high cost of living. I can't see you having to wait for 3 years to get hired either if you decline the first offer, if you ask for a job in a place that needs bodies (Which like I said is pretty much nationwide)

You are correct, the $95K salary is the higher range NOT the average new person's salary. A Fact the FAA distorts and makes it sound like you can go to Minot, ND and make a lot more than the average person and live like a king there, when the facts are the top of the salary range there might be closer to $45K. Additionally that $95K salary quote, if you read carefully, includes diffs and overtime estimates. Although OT will be used a lot in the near future, you should not count on it to survive.

The lack of training is mostly local management problems and overall FAA problems. You can not hire a lot of people to train and expect to get everyone trained in a timely manner. The FAA waited too long to hire people and we have log jams all over the FAA. Also by lowering pay too much the FAA can not hire enough people to work in Oakland, CA for example and keep them long enough to check out before they get fed up with living on starvation wages.

Pick your poison carefully, I for one, would LOVE to live in Southern California. Then again I would hate to try to live there on $33K a year. There are a lot of cost of living comparators on the web, I would suggest looking at that if you do not know the places that are offered to you and then see if you can look up the current staffing numbers (the natca.org website has some pretty recent numbers) You can see pretty clearly how good or bad the staffing and training situation is by looking at those numbers. Some facilities appear to be 110% staffed but looking closer at the numbers you see 50% are trainees.....You will be one extra cattle to be moved from one pasture to another in that facility. You might pick a small facility with 15 people total CPCs that should have 17, with 2 that are able to retire and 1 in training. You might only get $55K when you check out, but that might only take you 11 months to a year 1/2 there and the cost of living might be dirt cheap.