Hey everyone, so I don’t want to jump ahead but I have a quick question. I have my date for 5/30/2018 and assuming all goes well and I don’t fail out, I was curious how much pto I would accrue. The reason I ask is because I am getting married with a planned date of 9/13/2019 in my home state of Illinois. I would hope with a year difference I would be able to use pto for it or at least have accrued enough. But I just don’t want to assume anything. The other reason I ask is because I need to put a deposit down for the hall and am just getting concerns that it might be an issue. Like I said I know it’s a lot of stuff to kind of assume goes according to plan, but I just wanted other people’s input on my situation. Do you guys think I will be fine and shouldn’t worry about it?
Random Question Regarding Time Off
- Thread starter colandoj
- Start date
Depending upon your facility that may not be how it works. Controllers bid their RDOs (typically) once a year and you have those days off the entire year. (I hear rumors some facilities do this more than once a year). You will then go through prime time leave bidding, for the entire year. Different facilities have different restrictions on number of people off at a time, amount of leave you can bid in one round, etc. Everything is done based on seniority. As a trainee it generally isn't too difficult to get time off, but as you certify on positions it can be more difficult because you start to count.
Then there is spot leave. Obviously you can't plan everything a year in advance. I e been at two facilities. The first you could request spot leave up to a year in advance. That means at 12:01am on Christmas morning everyone was on their computer requesting the following Christmas off. My current facility picks a day in Jan and at 12:01 on that day you can request spot leave through June. Then they pick a day in April and at 12:01 on that day you can request leave the rest of the year.
So this concerns me then. I am just worried about planning this wedding now. I literally am about to put down a deposit for the hall. I know I can’t be certain about where I will end up. (I hope I can stay in Chicago, but being enroute I only have the one option of aurora) but do you think that I would be safe Based on your experience with being able to get that request approved? Like I said, I know it’s hard to tell where I will be and what their system is. But this is becoming a huge concern now.
Perhaps there is someone on here who can comment how centers bud their leave as I have only been terminal.
You get 8 days worth of change of station leave. This leave can only be used in conjunction (unless your supervisor is cool) with moving/homestead purposes. It can be used in 15 minute increments and it is good for up to 2 years after you graduate. My advise to you would be check with your supervisor once you graduate and ask what can be done.
You could end up at any one of 22 centers in the U.S. In addition, there is a handful of pass-fail events ahead of you, and if you fail one, you're out of the FAA or moving to another facility.
But if all of those things go okay, you will have accumulated between three weeks and a month of annual leave that you can use for this purpose. At some point this fall, your area will bid schedules and leave, which will allow you to put in your request for the time you need for your wedding.
But if all of those things go okay, you will have accumulated between three weeks and a month of annual leave that you can use for this purpose. At some point this fall, your area will bid schedules and leave, which will allow you to put in your request for the time you need for your wedding.
.... hm. I thought I counted 52 or something once lol. I’ve had that number in my head for a long time. I was also under the impression that they aren’t all open to new hires? As some are too complex
Lol there definitely are not 52 centers. 22 sounds correct. And they can potentially all take new hires, depending on staffing not difficulty.
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/air_traffic_services/artcc/
There's a list if all the centers
Ya I know that list well lol. I actually made a google map of centers when I was bored.... really not sure where I got 50 from. https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1vabCIY3T01MmiBOHVYvTIcX7j_A?hl=en
hahha ya I remember thinking it must not be popular enough. I wonder if theres a list of staffing numbers by location.
I read on this site or pointsixtyfive.com that when you are at your facility you work week days/day shift and getting time off when you want it is not hard since you are not considered essential and are not part of the regular bidding process. Only after certification is time off difficult. Things could be different in the various centers but if I were you I'd make the reservations for the wedding and don't worry about it until you are at your facility.
Yeah no it's not like that at every facility. I had weekdays off the moment I started training. Not weekends. But it is easy to get time of when your training because your non essential until you certify on a position