So I guess it is always better late than never, but training at C90 ended for me in September of 2011. I felt that I was getting close to certifying on North Sat at times, but then there were times where I was struggling to keep up. It wasn't anyones fault, I simply had nothing to fall back on when traffic got complex or something out of the ordinary happened (which was more often than not). I was very sad to have to leave C90 because I had a fantastic experience there. I learned an incredible amount and I made lots of great friends . I was very lucky to have great trainers and training supervisors. I can't say that everyone who was placed off the street to a level 12 would say the same thing about their experience, but I was lucky. So the C90 door has closed for me (for now), but I think several more have opened. First of all, I didn't have to move. I was able to stay in the Chicago area and I now work at the DuPage Airport (DPA) in West Chicago. Second, I had always wanted to work in a tower and I think if I had completely certified at C90 (which would not have been a bad thing at all) then I would not have had the chance to work in a tower. In addition, I think that (once I certify) having a tower CPC as well as some radar experience that I will have a lot more opportunities to go where I want and do what I want as a controller.

So a brief synopsis of what has happened since September of 2011 follows. My training was stopped and about a month or so after I found out I was offered DPA as one of my choices. I went to OKC for tower class in December of 2011. It was nice to get in so quickly but it was also hard because our first child (for now at least!) was born on October 6, 2011. Having to leave my wife for 10 weeks wasn't great, but it wasn't the end of the world either. I can't even imagine how hard it is for the men and women in the military to leave their families for months or years. Anyways, I got through OKC and then got to DPA in mid/late February 2012. I finished FD/CD pretty quickly and then ground control a couple months after that. Now I am training on local control and I absolutely love it.

I think working in a tower is very fun, especially when there is a good mix of VFR and IFR going on. I can't say definitively that tower or radar is harder, because both have different reasons for complexity. I hope that by the end of the summer or early fall I will be fully certified. I am lucky because now I have everything that I learned at C90 to fall back on in my training at DPA. I hope that I'll have a certification post fairly soon!