Oh look, an update!

I (obviously) haven't updated this much since my interview a handful of months ago, namely for the fact that there hasn't been a reason to update. Aside from some minor progress, things are still where they were months ago: waiting for a class date.

However on August 5th I did go down to Atlanta for the day to complete some necessary steps of the application process. Drug test, psychological exam, physical, and security checks.

I found out last week that everything has come back positive. All my clearances and tests have passed, and I'm now good to go. Now, as before it's all about waiting for a class date in Oklahoma City. As for when that will happen, HR does not have a definite answer for me. It could happen two weeks from now, or it could start four months from now.

I have been down to visit Houston recently. Took an extended weekend down to Houston late last month to do some apartment looking, weeding out a list of neighborhoods to live in, and most importantly taking a tour of Houston Center.

Overwhelming is the word I'd use to describe the first impression. It was a similar tour to when I interviewed in Aurora and toured Chicago Center.

First off, here's the airspace that we deal with at Houston Center (ZHU):


The heavy white line is the actual airspace we operate within. Each light white line is the boundary of the different sectors within our airspace. One humorous thing while taking the tour, is those air traffic controllers who operate in the New Orleans sector have their little area and radar screens decorated with Mardi Gras beans.

In addition to the whole overwhelming feeling, there's tons things that need to be memorized. Airport codes, airplanes, sector maps, a bajillion acronyms, etc etc.

All in all, I'm looking forward to it. I need to put in a shit ton of work, but they payoff in the end will be well worth it. Luckily there's an insane amount of training for a career like this. Four months of training in Oklahoma City. Then once I get to Houston I'll be in a classroom setting for another four months or so. After classroom training we move to simulators. Couple more months of training behind the simulators, going over every possibly scenario known to man. Then we actually get to get behind a real radar scope and talk to all the metal in the sky. However this starts a year of on the job training. During this time certified controllers are at our side, correcting us if our phraseology is off or wrong. Once that year is up we are officially certified and we can be on our own. Though like any job, that's not to say nobody is watching, or listening.

Still a long way to go, but once school starts and once I move it'll all fly by, and if all goes according to plan I don't end up washing out. Then I'd be fucked.