Tower classes cancelled?

[FinalApproach]

Has anyone else been told that they are not scheduling tower classes at this time? Maybe I am out of the loop, but that was the information I was given. Has anyone been scheduled for an initial tower class in OKC recently? Thanks and good luck to all

 

[Barney13]

Re: Tower classes canceled?

11 Tower classes have been cancelled for 2010 starting in Feb.

 

[CLEATCT2010]

I"m scheduled to start Jan 13th for Initial Tower Cab.

 

[NYTWR9]

I'm supposed to be in the January 13th tower class too. Hopefully that date stays because I already booked my flight and all my living arrangements

 

[CLEATCT2010]

Same here. I'm also moving just before I go to OKC and I only have enough money to pay rent/bills there through March (pending my tax return, maybe a little longer than that) and I've been waiting long enough. Although at this point I don't think they're going to cancel the class as I think there is only one more tower class to start before the 13th (I think a class starts on the 4th). Could be wrong, may be a class (or two at the most) that start later this month too.

They can't cancel everything... lol!

 

[LIQB]

I was just called and told that my class was cancelled for Jan 13th... Ugh....

 

[n9nuq4]

My son's class that was scheduled for 1-20-09 was also cancelled. So I sent a letter to my senator from Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin, who I expect has the ear of our president who is also from Illinois.

I also sent a copy of a letter that was sent September 8, 2009
The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader

See the link and write to your senators.


http://www.aaae.org/_pdf/_govpdf/Reid 09-08-09 FAA Letter to Lawmakers.pdf

 

[Rosstafari]

My son's class that was scheduled for 1-20-09 was also cancelled. So I sent a letter to my senator from Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin, who I expect has the ear of our president who is also from Illinois.
...
See the link and write to your senators.

I wouldn't expect much to come out of that. Training of new controllers is of trivial interest to a Congressmember -- it's highly specialized and they don't know a thing about it, nor do they have control over "technical issues", so to speak. Cutbacks are happening in every sector of government, from local to federal, and besides, the issue is as much of a lack of trainers as it is a lack of money.

Not saying that the FAA hasn't screwed up all sorts of stuff on this process, but a handful of canceled classes during an economic crisis isn't going to be starting any Congressional inquiries.

 

[kaudbron]

i was bumped from the Jan 4th class to Feb 4th

 

[The Heatles]

while I was there a few months ago they had brand new simulators put in that were supposed to be up and running... the FAA apparently didnt like the way the voice recognition was going and decided to not "accept" them.

Im sure they were projecting training classes off of these new simulators which they now do not have use of. That could be a big reason they are cutting back on tower training at OKC.

 

[NYTWR9]

i was bumped from the Jan 4th class to Feb 4th

just curious, when did they let you know your class was cancelled?

 

[BoomerSooner77]

Don't forget their end of year report indicated Retirements and Training attrition are well below projection (-29% / -17%, respectively).

That's pretty significant.

 

[kaudbron]

just curious, when did they let you know your class was cancelled?

I'm not sure if it was canceled, but I won't be in it. I found out last week.

 

[futureatc1515]

im at the academy now and talked to my instructors about this it has more to do with the budget and the backup for rtf training. many people are just sitting around there facilities because there is either not enough people to train them or controllers are not retiring because the pay scale is increasing and they want to make it up for their retirement. i waited 18 months and finally made it here while some people made it here in as little as 8 months. all u can do is wait it out and hope for the best. good luck to everyone

 

[Irish]

Has anyone else been told that they are not scheduling tower classes at this time? Maybe I am out of the loop, but that was the information I was given. Has anyone been scheduled for an initial tower class in OKC recently? Thanks and good luck to all

The Feb 17th Tower Class I was supposed to be in was cancelled. I now have a Tower Class Date of March 8th.

 

[NYTWR9]

kaudbron, thats pretty crazy that they let you know your class was postponed just 3 weeks before you were supposed to head down there. i still havent given my resignation to my job for this reason after seeing what you and a lot of other people have gone through on this board. i think id rather risk getting a bad reference than give my 2 weeks and have no job at all in the end... goodluck man

 

[n9nuq4]

Do not take the power of the pen and congressional inquire likely. My son leaves in July although he had to transfer to another region.