Int'l Air Traffic Control Employment

noid Curtis E. Carr Jawja

This thread will become a database on employment requirements for ATC in other countries outside of the US.

Right now, the following foreign ATC organizations are listed:

NAV Canada
Eurocontrol
NATS

If there is any information you would like to add or if you have a request for another organization, please send me a PM.

For information on other countries not mentioned, visit the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) website.

noid Curtis E. Carr Jawja

Canadian Air Traffic Control

Written by NAV CANADA
Friday, 27 January 2006

How to become an Air Traffic Controller.
The Selection Process

Selection Requirements

At least 18 years old
Canadian citizens or permanent residents
High school graduate
Available for training within the next 18 months
Willing to relocate
Willing to undergo a medical exam

Prepared to undergo a Secret Level security check
Willing to train intensively
English-speaking, or fluently bilingual (French and English)


All applicants must take written tests that measure their ability to learn and their suitability for a career in Air Traffic Services. A $200 fee, plus any applicable taxes at the session site, is required for the test administration and scoring. Please bring a copy of your most recent resume to the testing session. The tests take between four to five hours to complete and are held throughout the country. Your test score will determine your eligibility for the next step in the selection process - an interview.

You will be asked to complete five separate ability tests and a behavioral styles questionnaire. The ability tests are all timed assessments (lasting between 10 and 30 minutes) which will examine your ability to deal with the type of information that Air Traffic Controllers and Flight Service Specialists use on the job. The behavioral styles questionnaire takes approximately 45 minutes to complete and asks you about your preferred or typical style of behaving at work.

The test administrator will make sure you understand what is required before you start each test. The tests are designed to be done under time pressure so it is unlikely that you will finish all of the items in any particular test.

The ability tests include:

Verbal Evaluation
Numerical Estimation
Diagramming
Spatial Reasoning

The important thing to remember with the testing session is to arrive prepared and be relaxed during the session to allow you to perform your best.

Before the session:

Get a good night's sleep - fatigue effects performance. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the session and be on time; no candidates can enter the room once the testing has started.
If you wear glasses, be sure to bring them with you.
If you have a disability that you feel would effect your test performance or have specific accessibility requirements, please contact SHL prior to the testing session in order to ensure proper arrangements are made.
Ensure that you have your identification, payment and a copy of your most recent resume ready to bring to the session, as required.

During the session:

Listen to the instructions and follow them carefully.
Do not be afraid to ask questions during the introductory segment of each test.
Read each question carefully before answering.
Work quickly and accurately, remember that the tests are timed.
Try as hard as you can.

If you are unsuccessful in the testing process, you may reapply after one year from the date of your test, by completing a new application and obtaining a new Applicant/Candidate Number. You will then be tested again.

Please note: It is not current policy of SHL and NAV CANADA to provide candidates with additional information or feedback relating to the assessment process. This is due to the complexity of the scoring process, the large quantity of candidates tested, and the need to maintain the integrity of the process.

Language Test

Fluency in the English language is essential for all Air Traffic Controller and Flight Service Specialist operational positions. In addition, knowledge of French is required for some Flight Service Specialist and Air Traffic Controller positions in Eastern Canada, and for all positions in Qu?bec. You will be required to pass a language test (oral communication test) for bilingual training positions. The oral interaction test assesses your ability to speak and understand French or English as your second official language.

Interviews for Suitability

Applicants who pass the testing process will be asked to attend an interview. Interviews are held between three to five weeks after the testing session. In order to reduce inconvenience to applicants, interviews are conducted in major centres throughout the country. During this conversation, our trained interviewers will look for evidence that you possess the necessary characteristics required of all ATS employees. During the interview you will be asked to provide examples of specific situations you have been involved in that illustrate the skills that are required to be successful in Air Traffic Services.

Reference Checks

After successful completion of the interview, reference checks will be conducted as appropriate.

Security Clearance and Medical Examination

Once you have satisfactorily completed the selection process, and upon being referred to the NAV CANADA Office of The Registrar, you will be asked to undergo the appropriate medical check and Secret Level security check. Specific Medical Requirements for Air Traffic Control

Among other requirements, you must meet the standards outlined in the "Canadian Aviation Regulations" (CARs) in the "Personnel Licensing and Training Standards - Section 424 - Medical Requirements. The CARs are a publication of Transport Canada, Safety and Security and can be found on their website, Welcome Page | Page d'accueil All applicants for controller positions are required to provide a urine sample during the medical examination.

Some of the medical requirements which you must meet are listed below:

Vision

You must have a distant visual acuity of not less than 6/9 in metric (20/30 in feet) in each eye separately with or without the use of correcting lenses. Where the standard of visual acuity can be obtained only with correcting lenses, you may be assessed fit provided that:
1. you wear such correcting lenses when exercising the privileges of the license or rating applied for or held;
2. you have a visual acuity without correction in each eye separately of not less than 6/60 in metric (20/200 in feet) and the refractive error falls within the range of plus or minus five diopters (equivalent spherical error); and
3. you have a spare pair of suitable correcting glasses available for immediate use when exercising the privileges of your license. Applicants whose refractive error in either eye falls outside the range of plus or minus five diopters (equivalent spherical error) may be accepted as fit (according to accredited medical conclusion).

You must demonstrate normal colour vision.

You must meet the medical standards outlined in the Canadian Aviation "Regulations Part IV, Subpart 4". For information on these standards you should contact the closest approved Civil Aviation Medical Examiner for ATC.

Note: Physical disabilities may not be detrimental to eligibility. The requirement is to meet the medical standards.

The Regional Aviation Medical Officer (RAMO) will review the results of your medical examinations to determine your medical fitness for an ATC position.

Specific Medical Requirements for Flight Service Specialists

All applicants for Flight Service Specialist positions are required to meet the medical requirements listed below: You must have corrected vision of 6/9 in metric (20/30 in feet) in the better eye and 6/15 in metric (20/50 in feet) in the other eye. You must demonstrate normal colour vision.
You must meet the medical standards for Flight Service Specialists.

The NAV CANADA appointed medical examiner is responsible for reviewing the results of your medical examinations to determine your medical fitness for a FSS position.

Falsifying Information

Falsifying any information throughout the process may disqualify you or, if discovered after appointment, may result in your dismissal.

We realize that it is sometimes difficult to answer certain questions (such as those concerning convictions) but this type of information may not be disqualifying. Please bear in mind, however, that failing to provide the information could be grounds for disqualification or dismissal.

Qualification Processing

Including the completion of additional forms and reference checks may take from one to four months. So don't leave your current job or be discouraged if you don't hear anything from us for a while.
Last Updated ( Friday, 29 August 2008 )
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IFR Air Traffic Controller
The Strategist
Take Charge as an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) Air Traffic Controller

Seven area control centres across the country. An airspace that stretches from the east coast to the west coast to the Arctic Circle. Responsibility for thousands of flights every day.

As a NAV CANADA IFR air traffic controller, you’re at the controls of the world’s second-largest air navigation system. Your top priority: ensuring the safety of each and every flight.

What’s in your toolkit? Top air traffic control training. Leading knowledge and finely honed skills. And some of the most advanced technology in the world.

IFR air traffic controllers coordinate the safe, efficient and orderly flow of air traffic from seven Area Control Centres (ACCs) across the country. Each ACC is responsible for air traffic in a large section of Canadian airspace known as a Flight Information Region. Flight Information Regions are further broken down into smaller “sectors” and handled by controllers who know that airspace. Using radar and advanced flight data management systems, you track all flights within your sector, give pilots en route instructions, and give terminal clearances at certain airports. When your job is done and a plane leaves your airspace, you’re the one who hands off to your colleague in the next centre, or at an air traffic control tower.

By helping pilots fly the most efficient routes, NAV CANADA IFR air traffic controllers also help reduce fuel consumption—having a positive impact not only on safety but also on the environment.

Apply Here

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VFR Air Traffic Controller
The Arranger
Take CHARGE as a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) Air Traffic Controller

NAV CANADA VFR air traffic controllers see it all. From on high, in one of the 41 air traffic control towers at airports across the country, you keep watch over every approach, every departure, and all the taxiways—keeping it safe no matter how much traffic you’ve got on the go.

You’re the conductor. The orchestrator. You’re the one who gives taxi, take-off and landing instructions. And once you’ve guided a flight safely into the skies you hand it off to your Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) colleague in the appropriate airspace.

To do your job effectively, you depend on the expert training you’ve received from NAV CANADA, advanced technology, and the team around you.

By helping pilots take-off and land efficiently, VFR air traffic controllers also help reduce fuel consumption—having a positive impact not only on safety but also on the environment.

Apply Here

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Flight Service Specialist
The Planner & the Advisor
Take CHARGE as a Flight Service Specialist

Every decision a pilot makes has consequences—for themselves, for their passengers and crew, and for everyone else in the skies. From the fliers of single-engine Cessnas to the specialized Medevac flight crews, what they need first and foremost is reliable, dependable, up-to-the-minute information.


That’s where you could come in. As a NAV CANADA Flight Service Specialist, you:

• Provide pre-flight weather briefings after interpreting charts, reports and satellite imagery.
• Assist with flight plan filing.
• Provide information to help pilots to safely land and take-off from uncontrolled airports.
• Stay in contact with pilots during their flights.
• Communicate safety updates.
• Provide hourly weather reports to Environment Canada forecasters for their predictions.
• Trigger search and rescue activities for missing or overdue aircraft.

Flight Service Specialists work in Flight Service Stations (FSS) and Flight Information Centres (FIC). Flight Service Stations provide local weather information and airport advisory services; while the country’s eight FICs deliver flight planning, in-depth interpretive weather information and en route advisories to aircraft operating in Canadian airspace.

Apply Here

noid Curtis E. Carr Jawja

The Job of an Air Traffic Controller


Have you ever dreamt of having an Airbus A380 or a Boeing 747 at your finger tips? If so and if you have a genuine interest in aviation, why not become an air traffic controller?



Air traffic controllers: guardians of the skies
There are two main types of air traffic controllers:
tower controllers (who ensure the safe landing, departure and taxiing of aircraft at airports) and
area (or en-route) controllers (who ensure the safe and smooth flow of traffic along airways
at higher altitudes).

Since we are an en-route air traffic control centre (we control aircraft at high altitudes), there are no tower controllers at EUROCONTROL’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre.



Keeping aircraft safely apart
As an air traffic controller, your job will be to ensure that aircraft fly safely apart from each other. To achieve this, a minimum of 1,000 feet vertically or 5 nautical miles laterally is maintained between aircraft. Although safety is the top priority of air traffic controllers, the job does not stop there.

With air traffic growing every year, it is crucial that aircraft fly as smoothly as possible, with maximum punctuality. This is also done by air traffic controllers.

Controllers at Maastricht work in a control room, on what are known as “sectors”. A sector is a portion of airspace under the responsibility of a team of two or three controllers.

Their tools are radar screens (displaying radar and flight data information), a radiotelephony system, telephones and computers.



Enthusiastic professionals
The job carries a high level of responsibility and thus requires a high level of professionalism. Specific skills and training are required to work in a safety-critical environment. But job satisfaction is very high; air traffic controllers remain enthusiastic professionals throughout their careers.

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The Skills to be an Air Traffic Controller


What does it take to be an air traffic controller?

The job has something unique and requires talent. Therefore when you apply, we will take a close look at whether you have the necessary skills to be able to do the job.


Air traffic controllers are people who:
have an interest in the aviation industry
have a good spatial orientation
have a good memory
are able to think fast
are able to make quick decisions
have multi-tasking ability
are comfortable with numbers
enjoy working in a team
are able to work shift (i.e. also during the night, early in the
morning, late at night, during official holidays etc.)
are assertive and confident
are stress resistant and stay calm under pressure
are able and willing to adapt
are serviceable
have an excellent eyesight and hearing, and in general an
excellent health
do not use psychoactive substances which could affect their
alertness.


In addition, you must have a good command of English since that is the language of aviation.

If you have what it takes, we will take care of the rest and provide you with the training to become a highly skilled professional.

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The Selection Procedure for Becoming an Air Traffic Controller


Before you can join the training course, we will have to take a close look at whether or not you have the specific skills that are necessary to do the job of air traffic controller.


The selection procedure involves the following steps:
1. Initial screening of your application.
2. If you pass the initial screening, you will be invited to the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre for tests and an interview. You will be tested on your knowledge of English and undergo psychometrics and situational awareness testing.
3. If you pass the tests and interview, you will undergo a medical examination to make sure that you are medically fit for a controller career.
4. You will have to sign an undertaking to complete the training programme and work for at least 4 years for EUROCONTROL as an air traffic controller.
5. You will provide a number of documents.
6. You will need security clearance from your national security authority.

For more information, please read the following .pdf: Notice of Competition

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How to apply

If you wish to apply for a student air traffic controller vacancy, please send us an email at masuac.students@eurocontrol.int, specifying your:
full name
email address
date of birth
telephone number
nationality.

We will then send you an ID number/user name, password and the link to the online application form.

noid Curtis E. Carr Jawja

NATS: National Air Traffic Services

Air Traffic Assistants

Working at our operational units, the role of our Air Traffic Service Assistants is to support our ATCOs in the execution of their tasks. Duties include simulation support and the printing and distribution of flight strip information.


Air Traffic Controllers

Our controllers are at the heart of our business. They issue instructions and information to pilots by radio to keep air traffic flying safely, efficiently and quickly.

Because it's a 24 hour business, our controllers, as well as some of our engineers and assistants, work in shifts. They have to deal with one of the most complex pieces of airspace in the world, and work at some of the world's busiest airports. To enable this we offer first class training, and they are rewarded with first class terms and conditions.


Types of controller

Area Controllers/Terminal Controllers
Most people assume that ATCOs are all based in airport control towers, but landing and taking off are just a small part of the aircraft's flight. Although some controllers work in airport towers, many more work at our area control centres. These area controllers control the en route stage of the flight, using radar and the latest technology to track the aircraft's exact position.

Controllers at Swanwick, Manchester and Prestwick handle domestic traffic and aircraft flying through UK airspace. Our Oceanic controllers at Prestwick also handle aircraft flying across the Atlantic.

Our controllers at Swanwick are also responsible for handling traffic within the London Terminal Control Area.

Approach Controllers
Approach controllers take over contact with the pilots as they approach airports. They guide and sequence aircraft into the most efficient order for landing.

Aerodrome Controllers
Aerodrome controllers take over to guide the aircraft through landing. At the very busy airports, aerodrome controllers are split into air control and ground control, the latter of which guide the aircraft to its parking stand once it has landed.

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Check your eligibility

The following are the minimum criteria you should meet in order to become an air traffic controller:

• Be at least 18 at the date of application.

• Have five (5) GCSEs/Standard Grades (or equivalent) at grade C or above, including English Language and Maths.

• Be eligible to work in the UK.

Before you are given the job, you must supply references and have security clearance. ATCOs also have to pass a thorough medical examination every two (2) years until they are 40, then every year after that. A good standard of health including colour vision and full hearing are needed. Contact lenses and glasses are allowed as long as they fall within certain limits.

An applicant may be required to undergo an assessment to see if they can work safely with operational workstations.

Preparing for assessment
The following link will take you to Saville and Holdsworth’s site for candidates where you can find more details about the assessment centre and view example questions.

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ATCO medical requirements

To become an ATCO you will require a good level of physical and mental fitness. An ATCO’s role is both physically and mentally demanding; all ATCOs work shift work including night duties. As an absolute minimum requirement candidates must satisfy basic medical requirements set down by the CAA for a UK Class 1 medical certificate. In certain areas NATS requirements are of a higher standard than the UK Class 1 or even the JAA Class 1.

Whilst we are prepared to look at each case on its merits the following guidelines will give you some idea as to whether you are likely to meet the medical standards we require:

Cardiovascular: You should have normal blood pressure and no evidence of heart disease, or disease of the cardiovascular system.

Respiratory: There should be no significant respiratory disease. A past history of asthma may be acceptable but significant symptoms at time of application are likely to be disqualifying.

Gastro Intestinal Tract: This should be free of any significant disease.

Metabolic, Nutritional and Endocrine Diseases: Diabetes will normally be disqualifying. Obesity may be disqualifying. A Body Mass Index below 35 is a normal requirement for a Class 1 certificate.

Urinary System: There should be no symptoms of urinary system conditions.

Neurological: The following conditions are disqualifying:
(1) progressive disease of the nervous system;
(2) epilepsy, current or past history
(3) conditions with a high propensity for cerebral dysfunction.

Visual standards:
Candidates must have normal colour vision.
Your visual acuity must be 6/9 or better in each eye. This visual acuity can be achieved using correction, but there are limits on the amount of correction required.

Correction shall not exceed + or – 3 dioptres equivalent spherical error in each eye. Cylindrical correction shall not exceed 2 dioptres in each eye. The difference between the amount of correction required for each eye shall not exceed 2 dioptres.

For applicants aged 26 and over, the correction allowed will be considered on an individual basis. Clearly, it will not exceed standards set by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

If you have had any form of eye surgery, to include, squint correction, laser visual correction than please be aware of the following:

Even if the pre-operative correction is within the NATS acceptable range applicants will be referred to a specialist appointed by NATS for further examination.

Pre-operative corrections just outside of the stated NATS eyesight limit but within the CAA limits will be considered on a one to one basis.

However, if the pre-operative correction is outside of the CAA limits of + or – 5 dioptres then a class 1 certificate will not be granted even if the post-operative correction is normal.

Auditory Standards: there shall be no hearing loss in either ear, when tested separately, of more than 20 dB (HL) at any of the frequencies 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz, or of more than 35 dB (HL) at 3000 Hz.

Psychiatric Conditions: Ongoing psychiatric illness or current use of psychiatric medication such as antidepressants is normally disqualifying. A history of psychiatric illness or past use of psychiatric medication such as antidepressants may be acceptable after specialist assessment.

Anthropometric Considerations. Candidates must be of a physique to allow them to carry out their duties at their workstations without causing them health problems. Candidates outside the height range 151.4cm –186.9cm may require an anthropometric assessment.

Drugs and Alcohol: Due to the safety critical nature of the Air Traffic Controller’s job, NATS has a strict policy regarding the level of consumption of alcohol and a zero tolerance to the use of ‘recreational’ drugs.

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