These questions are addressed to those who have been to Air Traffic Control School.

1) What are some things we (potential CCT's) can do do better prepare ourselves
for the academic requirements of ATC school?

Are there particular areas of study should we focus on - math, physics, engineering?

I would appreciate it if someone could get back to me on this.

- Variable -

You will not be studying any math, physics or engineering at ATC school. ATC is a new language, with the stress of crashing planes into each other. Go there with an open mind and prepped to spend hours hitting the books. Spend a lot of time with your teammates quizzing each other and going over scenarios you'll be presented with. ATC school itself is tough (academically), plus you'll be required to keep up with PT (CCT wise).

are there any good books out that can give an overview of ATC? i dont want to learn the whole system, thats what the school is for...im talking about describing basics of it, just to let me know a bit of what to expect?

cpaquette,
On the start page of this site (specialtactics.com) scroll down and there is a list of books. One of them is:
ATC Handbook (7th Edition)
Great start for CCT! Learn the fundementals of ATC and get a head start on ATC school!!

I'm not in ATC or CCT, but judging by the description that TE gave with this book I'd say it's probably a good start.

PRC117F,

With all due respect, what do you mean when you say that ATC school is academically tough?

As far as the math, physics, and engineering is concerned, are you telling me that at ATC school we will NOT be using math formulas and principles to solve existing and potential problems that may be related to flight control?

I appreciate the response.

-Variable-

You will NOT (to my 18 years ATC/CCT experience) be using any calculations to solve any supposed, proposed, or imagined flight control problems. That is NOT your job. That is the responsibility of pilots. Your job/task as a ATC is really quite simple: Keep Planes Separated.

Yes, I meant what I wrote: ATC school is tough academically. Have you ever learned a new language? Imagine learning Russian or Japanese, a daunting task, wouldn't you say? You will be learning a new language called Aviation. Words like: Minimum separation, three in the green, downwind, base, final, full-route clearance, 7110, etc. Words that are unique to ATC and the flying community.

Can you imagine this scene: You are controlling 14 planes in the local pattern, and one advises that he is an emergency. He tells you that he's got 16 souls on board, 14K JP-4 and smoke and fumes in the cockpit. Do you have time to pull out your handy Texas Instruments calculator and use the latest trig formulas to figure out the parabola of the final arc this aircraft will fly in order to make the approach end the runway on a 2.5 degree glide slope angle? I DON'T THINK SO.

Hope this gives you some insight. For more background on ATC surf the web and lokk in your local library for basic ATC books. Good luck and hope to see you in the pipeline!

PRC117F,

First, let me say that I meant no disrespect by asking my questions. The way you responded to my inquiries make me want to believe that you were upset at the way I asked them...

Second, I appreciate the clarification about ATC school. I just wanted to be certain about what to expect and not to expect...

Three, since you asked, yes, I do speak two other languages outside of English... Russian and Korean. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

You can bet that your A$$ that you will see me in Combat Control. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Thanks,

-Variable-

Variable,

Look at your own response. PRC said you would not use math, etc then you question his answer. You will need a good imagination and the ability to think logically for ATC. You have to keep a 3D picture of all the aircraft, call sign, altitude, heading, intentions in your airspace. Oh yeah I forgot, sometimes you have to do this without seeing the aircraft and you have to make decisions and respond immediately not think about the problem. You will use some math for explosives calculations, airdrop release points but this is no big deal. The ability to look at a situation and determine a viable solution is more important than determining the "perfect" solution.

IMHO

Some things you could do to improve your odds at ATC School:

1. Attend the private pilot ground course; it&#8217;s the least expensive part of learning to fly.

2. Make friends with a private pilot to get VFR flight time. Help him with cleaning and maintaining his aircraft and always pay for as much of the fuel bill as you can afford. While in flight, pay attention to air traffic procedures in the control zone. Always wear a headset and if you don't understand what was said between the controller and pilot, ask the pilot when he isn't too busy. The ability to hear and understand what&#8217;s said over a radio is important. Learn to read a FLIP.

3. Learn to say the alphabet phonetically.

4. Learn to recognize all of the U.S. military aircraft, learn their designations and characteristics.

Best of luck.

Has anyone tried the microsoft ATC simulater program that is available for most computers and if so how realistic is it?

Does it have the tower, ground, arrival, departure, rapcon , et?
any info would be appreciated....
PD
OUT

Damn you guys. Don't worry so much. Just pay attention in class, do your reading, quiz and cram with your mates and you will be fine. ATC is not a smoke school. book work, studying, and hte simulator, that is it. For ATC school at least. There is CCT Trainee stuff to be done also.
OK, bear in mind I went thru Keesler back in 1993, so I imagine that things have changed. I just want to stress that you may be over prepping yourslves for this.
Good luck either way.
BG

I agree with matrix, of course knowledge is POWER, but if you are focused on your goal, you will SUCCEED!!!! I am not saying not prepare, but a person who knows what he wants, will get it!

-2 cents

Flame,

I'm making at a decision that will affect my life for the next several years... Of course I'm going to ask very specific questions about what my career choice involves... To include ATC school...

You all have been helpful with information. Thank You.

-Variable-

You could order the ATC book on the main page, and gain some insight into the whole ATC thing...thus being better prepared...just a thought...

ATC Basics

TE,

Your insulting my intelligence... About the book, it hasn't arrived yet!

-Variable-

Well since you started...it shouldn't be "your" which indicates a possessive...it should be "You're" which is a contraction indicating "you are"...didn't mean to insult you, just trying to help...

Some other pet peeves:

Can not (wrong) as as apposed to cannot (correct)...
There (as in over there), their (possessive as in "their ball"), and they're (contraction as in "they are")...
To, two, and too (as in go to the game, two balls, and he went too (also))...

Just FYI to all...

TE,

I'm afraid your right! A gross spelling error on my part, but the concept remains the same. Thanks for the correction. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

-Variable-

Damn! did it again...

-Variable-

Maybe some of you don't know this, but our good book, the 7110.65, is available online for free!!

This FAA publication is basically the bible for ATC. Procedures, rules, correct phraseology, etc.

http://www.faa.gov/atpubs/ATC/

Also, as for Air Force ATC procedures that go along with the 7110.65 there is AFI 13-203

http://afpubs.hq.af.mil/search.asp?keyword=13-203&Go.x=16&Go.y=5

Have fun,

PY

I love it ! Useful advice about special tactics and English class all in one. Guys, save TE the headache of having to mention things like grammar and spelling. I'm sure there are better things he could be doing with his time.

ATC school is academically challenging, however I caution anyone trying to learn it on your own (It could end up confusing you at the school). The material is well presented here and there are other checks and balances to make sure that you learn the material, such as SIA(specialized individual assistance), and mandatory study groups. The students that have a hard time are the ones who do not put forth the effort, just don't care or the rare student who just doesn't get it. If you want to better prepare for the CCT Operator Course(ATC) I recommend coming here in good shape, and be prepared to work your butt off. The days are 12 hours long before you are released back to the barracks to study. If you want it bad enough then you will find that the course will just roll on by. But slackers need not apply.

What would you say is more challenging, ATC school or CC school?

From what I have read, ATC is more academically challenging than CCS. CCS is very physically challenging, but I think by the time you have reached CCS, you can take on anything. ATC is the beginning of the course, so a lot of recruits don't know what to expect yet, and have a lot of work ahead of them with class and pt. But I think it is how the recruit takes it, if he tries and excels and puts 110% forth towards everything he will negogiate the course much easier and faster than the recruit trying to breeze by.
-2 cents

CCS is more challenging!

ATC school appears hard because it is the beginning. ATC (hopefully) helps set your routine so you are better prepared when you arrive for CCS. CCS is more diverse in the information you need to assimilate including variations to the basic information that you learn at ATC. Kinda like algebra seems hard but is need to make calculus easier.

CCS is definitely a ball-breaker. From what I hear, the FTXs are pretty ridiculous. It makes sense, though. You attend ATC, SERE, and Airborne beforehand, and at CCS you put it all together. Sounds fun to me.

Hooyah!
SJP

Ah, bringing back some memories of Cody Hall at Keesler AFB where ATC is taught. Since I used to be in ATC maybe I can shed some light. You can't really be enough prepared to go to ATC school because if you do there might be a chance that you taught yourself something wrong and might forget to correct it. But I'll try and shed some light on the subject. The whole course is broken down into five blocks:
Block 1 - Intro to ATC
Block 2 - Intro to Tower (You start to learn "phraseology"
Block 3 (the most fun one to me) - Tower Simulation
Block 4 - Intro to RAPCON (Radar)
Block 5 - RAPCON Simulation
Which combined is 14 weeks and two days.

You can start learning about ATC and what you'll be studying by reading FAA Manual 7110.65M, otherwise known as the "Bible" of ATC. Every regulation and rule that applies to ATC is in the ".65". And since the FAA regulates "all airspace in the U.S." (even the military air space) the military follows the FAA regs & rules. You will be introduced to the book in Block 1. And use it throughout the course (especially in Block 5). Also, start to study the theory of "wake turbulence" because if you don't understand that concept it will haunt you and really hammer you in the Block 5.

The tower sim (Block 3) is fun. Alot of people either hate it or love it, what's funny is that the people that hate Block 3 love the RAPCON sim in Block 5. Alot of people will washout in Block 3, simply because they either don't want to continue and "find ways" to get out or they just really have a tough time understanding the concepts in ATC. And the instructors won't "baby" you either. If you have trouble during the course and score badly on either the written or the sim tests you will recieve "SIA" which stands for Single Individual Attention. All that is, is when everyone leaves at the end of the day you get to stay behind while the instructor explains it to you so you can understand it. If you get SIA alot and fail you block tests then the instructor puts your name up for elimination and you will be washedout.

Block 4 isn't really that hard aslong as you study and keep up with the work. Block 5 is the real killer. It's the Radar Sim (RAPCON). You will watch people drop like flies also. And the instructors will also do their best to "weed you out" and make your life a general hell. Block 5 is five weeks long so it's also not a short block. So if you have made it this far don't go out on the weekends all the time, study, it will be worth it because after this block and you have a 70% or higher you are awarded your three level. I was in ATC school and not CCT school so I only had to deal with the mental portion not the physical. Good luck, ACT/CCT are probably the hardest mental enlisted jobs in the Air Force, so it's no cake walk by any means. Good luck!

Unless I am mistaken a new curriculum has taken effect (on the enlisted side) students either go Tower or RAPCON, I would assume CCT is going the Tower route (one of the instructors at Keesler should be able to give that info), so the block schedule that Slilock posted probably is no longer correct.

A51,

AF ATC has never taken the FAA exam, per se. When I went through ages ago, we took the whole course. When I arrived at the teams, the only part of the radar training that was useful was radar out procedures since we didn't use radar. Someone else can correct me but I believe they have removed the radar procedures but still teach area control or radar out.

A51
I went through on the Officer side of the schoolhouse, so the new curriculum doesn't apply to me. But from my understanding you learn either Tower or RADAR, I don't think you get any training in the other. We just got two new troops at my unit that went through the new course but I haven't had a chance to talk to them.
As for the FAA question, I am pretty sure you will have to earn your pink card in order to graduate because regardless of the schoolhouses curriculum the FAA still governs ATC.
If any of the instructors at Keesler could pass this info on it would be appreciated.

Here is the way ATC school works since Oct 1st
The course is actually 2 courses for everyone.
The first course is ATC fundamentals which all students attend it is broken down into 3 blocks
1. ATC Fundamentals
2. Tower principles
3. Radar principles
this course is 28 days long, upon completion all students will take the CTO exam and earn their pink cards from the FAA.
This is where Radar and Tower split. If you are going to be a Radar controller in the AF you will then Attend the Radar performance course. And if you are going to be a Tower controller or CCT you will attend the Tower Performance course. Both courses are 44 days long and are broken into 4 blocks of instruction
1. Intro
2. Basic
3. Intermediate
4. Advanced
These 4 blocks are all done in a simulator and are all performanced based. So it is true to say that if you are going to be CCT "you will not recieve any RADAR simulator training" but you will learn the princilpes of Radar. I hope this clarifies any questions anyone may have.

I stand corrected. We did receive a "pink" card and the FAA is the controlling authority. I would point out that the pink card is not the equivalent of an FAA certificate as an air traffic controller.