Air traffic controllers: six months of training and the possibility of having a salary of 200,000 euros

The demand for air traffic controllers is going to be increasing. In fact, air traffic in Spain will increase by 20% by 2020, with more than 2 million flights per year, according to some training schools for this profession.

The last call for 130 new positions for air traffic controllers offered by Enaire this month is still insufficient to cover this gap. As a result, air navigation service providers in Spain are reinforcing their staff, which is why they require new professionals. Likewise, the average age in the public area is around more than 51 years. On the other hand, in the private sector, around 35 years of age.

Air control was publicly owned until 2010, when it was partially privatized, assigning the private companies FerroNats and Saerco the management of a dozen control towers. The rest remains in state hands.

youtube video

Basic formation

To get into the world, where these professionals give pilots specific direction to maintain separation between aircraft (although pilots have a responsibility to see and avoid other aircraft when visibility permits), initial training is a must.

Controllers guide aircraft as they take off or land. For airports without towers, controllers at remote approach control facilities are responsible for guiding aircraft onto and off the runways.

After an initial training process (there are three types of rating: Tower, Approach and Area), a student-controller license (issued by EASA) is obtained, which is useless if the unit training process is not completed in the job. In Spain there are six schools (Senasa, Flight Training Europe- FTE- Jerez, Ineco, Saerco, Enaire and FerroNats TS Air Traffic Services) that provide training.

The public entity Enaire, attached to the Ministry of Public Works, manages air navigation in Spain. It has five control centers and 22 towers and manages 1.8 million flights a year. Enaire is in charge of the selection processes for hiring new controllers for its towers, while FerroNATS, SAERCO, Eurocontrol have their own selection processes. All the companies are providers of Air Navigation services, so their selection processes are aimed at joining the company in a controller job position.

private towers

For its part, FerroNATS manages the towers of A Coruña (LECO), Vigo (LEVX), Sabadell (LELL), Valencia (LEVC), Alicante (LEAL), Cuatro Vientos (LECU), Seville (LEZL), Jerez (LEJR) and Ibiza (LEIB). In addition, they have launched SkyWAY (FerroNATS ATC Training Academy), which arises as a response to the current lack of professionals in the air control service that the sector suffers.

As recently announced by the Professional Association of Air Traffic Controllers (Aprocta), the sector calls for the incorporation of hundreds of controllers to cover traffic management needs in Spain. The new FerroNATS school will offer students real career opportunities, not only in a leading company in the liberalized market, but within a sector in continuous growth. SkyWAY is located at the FerroNATS headquarters (C/ Albasanz, 14 – 28037 Madrid), and will have two simulators equipped with the latest technology, among other resources.

Senasa, 100% owned by the General Directorate of Assets of the Ministry of Finance and dependent from the functional point of view of the Ministry of Public Works, and FTE Jerez are training centers, which have their own selection processes, but basically, they only offer training. Once you get your learner-controller license, you have to look for a job.

How to access the profession?

The requirements to access this training:

– be 18 years of age and be in possession of a baccalaureate degree or a degree that allows access to university or equivalent.

– pass the selection tests and the initial training courses and qualification to which you choose in any of the training providers certified by AESA.

– be in possession of a valid and current medical certificate.

– Knowledge of English, at least ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) operational level 4.

The European Selection Test for Air Traffic Controllers (FEAST) assesses the knowledge and skills of applicants for Air Traffic Control (ATC) training, which are relevant and necessary for the job of an air traffic controller. The FEAST will measure skills such as calculating distances and directions of certain aircraft following the route they tell you (mainly mental calculation), multitasking ability, where tracking sheets of various flights are worked on and they have to be organized in order as they go through different points notification, level of English, in an interview with an evaluator that includes a conversation and a presentation of a proposed topic, and a personality test to prepare a session with the psychologist, which is scheduled the next day.

The goal is to find staff with mental agility, concentrated and divided attention, self-control in stressful situations, teamwork, emotional stability, spatial orientation, resistance to fatigue…

It should also be noted that the myths around this profession are not real. People often think, “All air traffic controllers are always stressed” or “they must be really good at math.” Although mental arithmetic is useful in calculating where an aircraft will be relative to another aircraft in X minutes time, taking into account aircraft performance and wind factors; Also computers do that job.

Theory and practice with simulators

Once the access tests have been passed, the content to be learned has two parts: a common basic theoretical load for all controllers and qualification training, depending on the type of service to be provided (tower, approach and area). Students must learn certain skills through simulators that faithfully represent the work environment, so that accredited centers must have facilities that reproduce said environment.

Likewise, they must know the European Union Regulation 2015/340 and matters such as aviation law, air traffic management, meteorology, aircraft, navigation, equipment and systems and abnormal and emergency situations, among others.

The training lasts between five and six months. Initially, some theoretical content is required (200 hours, which is equivalent to 6/7 weeks), a qualification that takes place in 90 hours (2/3 weeks) and, finally, the practices last 12 weeks (65 simulator sessions).

Subsequently, in order for the student controller to obtain a license for qualification and specific registration in the job, he has to carry out “unit training” in the work centers, in the control towers or the route control centers (approach or area) accredited for it.

In order to subsequently obtain the student controller license, in addition to having passed the training course, a certificate of linguistic competence in Spanish and English issued by one of the evaluation centers accredited by AESA will also be required.

This is very important because the European Commission establishes the mandatory use of English in communications between aircraft and the controller at airports with more than 50,000 international air operations for reasons of air traffic safety.

Training prices

The prices are between 25,000 and 30,000 euros (first tower license, that is, only the driver course). For example, FerroNats has a fee of 27,500 euros per student (with a minimum of 12 students per class); For its part, FTEJerez offers this course for 31,000 euros without accommodation, and 39,000 euros with accommodation; SENASA, a state company, can charge up to 75,000 euros for these courses.

Other schools, such as the one in Jerez, have all the courses (which include higher prices up to 66,000 euros, regulated by modules). Thus, the Radar and Procedures Course (a combination of two in one) is specially designed for those candidates who already have previous training in a control tower, it provides the student with all the necessary qualifications to be eligible for Enaire.

Employment

Despite the fact that the schools say that the job is insured, the Union of Air Traffic Controllers is a professional union that brings together more than 90% of the collective of air traffic controllers in Spain, indicating that reality shows that there are quite a few applicants who have finished without a job after having invested a lot of money in obtaining a license. Likewise, the group has demanded that access to the profession of air traffic controller be public again and be subsidized by the Air Navigation provider.

The salaries of these professionals range between 50,000 and 100,000 euros per year, although if they hold several licenses and other complementary training, they can exceed 20,000 euros per year. However, when the initial training is finished, the salaries do not even reach the minimum. The collective agreement states the following:

4.1 During the internship contracting period, as controller student, 60% of the corresponding amount will be received for this concept, once the first unit annotation has been obtained.

4.2 If the incorporation to AENA occurs with an indefinite contract, as controller, once the first qualification is obtained, during the first three years, 60% of the amount established for the destination unit will be received for this concept.

4.3 During the following three years, 80% of the amount established for the destination unit will be received for this concept.

4.4 After the previous period, from the seventh year and after, 100% of the amount will be received…