Not good news for people looking to be a controller
- Thread starter ColtsATC
- Start date
I don't think this is really a surprise though to anyone. Of course automation and less traffic are going to reduce the number of controllers needed, but for those who are well on the way to getting hired at this point (holding TOLs or close), I don't really think there is much to worry about. With the way controllers retire and are hired in waves, I would think they will be able to manage their total numbers through natural attrition over the next years/decades/whatever time frame they're talking about.
I don't see any gloom and doom situations happening for a decade or so. With any mass hiring, there are going to be mass retirements in 20 or so years. It will happen again 20 years from now. Besides...they've been threatening us with NextGen for years..
It's a government position. Anytime you are dealing with the government, you must multiply the timeframe by about 10x to get the accurate answer. For example, you will be hired 3 months after graduation typically becomes 2-3 years. NextGen in the next 10 years..more like 100. Seems to work.
Nobody knows when they will replace us with a machine that does what we do as well as we do it, or better. However, they've been trying to get there for at least thirty years now, and we still have jobs (Get the Flick: FAA History Lesson -- November 30).
On the en route side of things, the platform for all of these future improvements was ERAM. But then the sequester happened, and we lost funding for SMEs to help us make the transition from HOST to ERAM, and none of the cadre are current any more. Nobody knows when there will be money to make ERAM happen now, especially not since the "fix" for air traffic control furloughs ends with the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. Does Lockheed Martin have the juice to make Congress find new money just to get ERAM done, nationwide? Not so far.
ERAM was supposed to take about four years to implement, back in 2007 when Denver and Salt Lake started playing with it. It's 2013 now, and none of the East Coast centers have it yet. Long story short: don't sweat improvements in automation.
On the en route side of things, the platform for all of these future improvements was ERAM. But then the sequester happened, and we lost funding for SMEs to help us make the transition from HOST to ERAM, and none of the cadre are current any more. Nobody knows when there will be money to make ERAM happen now, especially not since the "fix" for air traffic control furloughs ends with the start of the new fiscal year on October 1. Does Lockheed Martin have the juice to make Congress find new money just to get ERAM done, nationwide? Not so far.
ERAM was supposed to take about four years to implement, back in 2007 when Denver and Salt Lake started playing with it. It's 2013 now, and none of the East Coast centers have it yet. Long story short: don't sweat improvements in automation.
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I feel like every time i see something like this, it will help weed people out who aren't hell bent on this career. There are plenty of people who are determined to get in, regardless of rumors posted on the internet. Good riddance, I say. More room for me. :cya:
I LOVE how people like to rag on Fox News yet they are the ONLY network that consistently gets everything right 6 months before the corrupt media catches up. Now I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, but I completely understand why America is full of such low information voters, because the media (except Fox) is in the tank for Obama. Want proof? Ask any random person on the street about the Benghazi coverup, the IRS targeting scandal, wiretapping, PRISM, Fast&Furious, etc. You will get blank stares.
I rubbed my eyes twice just to make sure I read this correctly.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're a staunch Republican. The only reason you think Fox is a good news source is because you're probably anti-Obama and Fox is a consistent source of negative opinions on him. Its exactly the same as all the liberals who think CNN is the tits and Bill Maher or Rachel Maddow "are the only ones who've been consistent on the [insert negative George Bush view here]".
How many Rush Limbaugh bumper stickers are on your F350 dually right now?
I rag on foxnews because I know the demographic that watches it, and it ain't the ones moving this country forward.
Republicans are assholes, liberals are assholes, politicians lie, cheat, flipflop, and everyone has a cousin somewhere who's making nice. Your vote doesn't mean shit, and the people who are really in charge behind the scenes making Ben Bernake and Obama dance intend to keep it that way.
