A job that makes a difference
Tales From the Tower
Here are some testimonials from our Air Traffic Controllers on how they started their careers.
Alice Palmer
Alice Palmer is living proof that complaining about your job can change your life! Alice was working at an entry-level government job in Wellington that largely consisted of pushing paper around and staring into a computer screen. One evening, Alice's flatmate had a friend over for dinner and halfway through her agonizing recount of her boring day at work, the dinner guest said ‘You should try out my job’. He was an Air Traffic Controller (ATC).
“My flatmate’s friend was an ATC at Wellington Tower, so he said to come up to the tower for a visit to see what I thought. I went up there on a sunny day and I was hooked within five minutes. I had no aviation background whatsoever.
I just thought it [ATC] looked cool because you got to talk to planes, the view was amazing and there was a real sense of responsibility! I just knew this is what I should be doing.”
Exactly 12 months after farewell drinks at her old job, Alice was enjoying celebration drinks at Airways upon completion of Ab Initio training to become an ATC.
Training to be an ATC happens in Christchurch and each Ab Initio intake is usually around 6-8 students. It is not, as Alice soon discovered, for the faint-hearted.
“It was full on. There’s a high workload and high expectations on you to achieve. But in saying that, there is also enormous support to ensure you do succeed. The instructors stay until you get it, they are so passionate. The thing I liked is that you know exactly what’s expected of you right from the start. It’s not like university where you sort of go along and sometimes wonder what you should be doing or focusing on; training to become an ATC you know what you need to be learning and there’s not a single moment wasted.”
After 7 months at Airways Training centre, Alice was posted to the regions where she undertook just over 4 months of on-the-job training at Woodbourne Tower in Blenheim. She has now rated and is working full-time in her brand-new career.
“Coming out the other side [of training] is just awesome. I started with no idea about ATC and in just one year, I’ve got a job I love.”
Karen Bradley
Karen Bradley has traded apertures for aircraft with the help of Airways New Zealand. A former self-employed photographer, Karen is now working towards her air traffic controller rating at Tauranga Airport . Having been indirectly involved in the aviation industry for some time (her partner Tim is a pilot), Karen had taken a keen interest in air traffic control.
"However I never really saw myself doing it until a couple of years ago when I started getting a bit tired of being self- employed and began looking for a career change.''
Enrolling in Airways New Zealand's Diploma in Air Traffic Control, Karen made the shift from Mt Maunganui to Christchurch in May last year for the six-month initial training programme.
"Returning to study for the first time since my Bachelor of Media Arts and the prospect of not earning anything during that time was daunting but I found myself really looking forward to it. Being away from Tim and changing to a whole new mindset were also really hard, but once I started my training I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do and really enjoyed living in Christchurch .''
She says she particularly enjoyed using the Christchurch training centre's state-of-the-art computer-generated airport simulator.
"It makes training so much more fun and realistic. You really feel like you are getting a good grounding for the real thing.''
Fortunately for Karen, the real thing meant coming home to Bay of Plenty .
"I felt pretty well prepared for my first day at Tauranga, although there's always a bit of apprehension. However, I got a fantastic welcome on my first day and found that my training had given me all the basics I needed to know and really set me up well.''
Her job involves controlling the planes from the terminal, out onto the runway, up into the sky, and all the way to wherever they're headed, until they're parked up at the terminal again.
In controlled airspace, whatever the destination, whatever the aircraft, there's an air traffic controller always in contact with the pilots making sure they're safe. The controller will tell them what the weather's doing, where the other planes are, and anything else they need to know to make sure they get up and down again safely.
"Tauranga is a busy aerodrome and it is just getting busier all the time," says Karen.
She says she particularly enjoys the fact the job is never boring and no two days are ever the same.
"While we have a small team here, there's always someone else in the tower with you. The time really just flies by and you have to be on the ball all the time. We have morning and afternoon shifts which I really like and I'm also looking forward to achieving my rating which will mean I'll be able to leave my work at the door rather than taking it home. Really, the whole package appeals to me.''
Oliver Gibbs
Oliver Gibbs is fairly new to air traffic control (ATC). He graduated in September last year and now looks after air traffic across some of NZ’s 30million kms of airspace. It was a career he’d never even dreamed of – until about a year ago when he saw something in the paper about Airways NZ, the company that provides air traffic control services around New Zealand and the Pacific.
“At the time, I was driving tourists around Wellington during the day and working in a pub at night. I had an interest in aviation but to be honest, I had never considered ATC as an option. I remember my maths teacher at high school left to become an air traffic controller and that had always reinforced to me that you had to be really brainy to do this job.
Like most people, I thought ATC was only for people who went to university and did maths and physics. I had no idea you could walk off the street and into ATC as a career if you had the right skills.”
Those ‘right skills’ include the ability to make good decisions fast; to be able to think and visualize in 3-dimensions; assertiveness; the ability to think and plan ahead; to be confident and get on well with people.
“The minute I thought about ATC as a career option for me, it made sense. And it wasn’t until I’d completed the on-line tests that I even realized I had the skills that Airways wanted in an ATC.
From what I’ve come from - driving a bus and working in a bar – I’m just so much more challenged and satisfied now. Once you get through your training, you’re guaranteed a job and working for Airways means you can move around the company and around the country. It’s all good.”
Oliver’s ATC career took off from simply logging onto the Airways website. He filled in the on line application form and underwent some written aptitude tests, followed by a short interview.
Next he completed a day-long assessment centre, before being accepted into the formal training programme. Training lasts an average 9-15 months and despite it initially being “intense”, there are lots of hands-on and practical learning opportunities, so you’re not confined to learning out of enormous text books and lumbered with a huge student debt.
“Training was pretty full-on, but it’s completed in a pretty quick timeframe and before you know it, you’re on the job – talking to real pilots in real planes. That is such a rush the first few times.”
Oliver’s advice to anyone thinking about a career in air traffic control: “Just do it. Get on the internet and fill out the application form. Talk to people about ATC and come in and see for yourself what it’s all about.”
Trainee ATC Quick Links
Tales From the Tower
Alice Palmer
Alice Palmer is living proof that complaining about your job can change your life! Alice was working at an entry-level government job in Wellington.
More >>
Karen Bradley
Karen Bradley has traded apertures for aircraft with the help of Airways New Zealand.
More >>
Oliver Gibbs
Oliver Gibbs is fairly new to air traffic control (ATC).
More >>