I find myself a bit in awe of the fact that we're beginning another new decade. Y2K really doesn't seem that far back, and yet, here we are, 2010. Is anybody else feeling like the calendar is flipping by faster and faster?
Imperfect Hope has languished for the last 6 weeks. As I'd mentioned in my last post, writing during the holiday period has felt nearly impossible. I know it would be different if I were writing full time, and not putting most of my energy into keeping my head above the water at the FAA. Though our traffic levels are down a little from last year, it felt busier than ever, in a large part due to the extra load we veterans have to carry while the new generation of trainees learn the ropes. With retirements coming fast and furious, the trainees are getting pushed hard to get checked out on the various sectors, sometimes too rapidly for them to absorb it all in a meaningful manner. When I went through the training process some 22 years back, it took nearly 4 years to complete. The technology has changed dramatically since then, but the core of the job is the same. It still takes about three years for the newbies to get through the program, and honestly, I think it takes another year or more for some of it to really sink in.
I've looked at my skill progression and have come up with a comparison to medieval times. Back then, (and I'm playing a bit loose with hard facts because, frankly, there are dozens of different facts that contradict each other to some degree, so I'm picking the ones that I remember from readings that seem most relevant.) Anyway, back then, in the skilled artisan or trade guilds, an apprentice (trainee) spent many years learning the job (Controller wise, that's 2-4 years college, plus 3-4 years on the job training). Once they became a journeyman (we call them "FPL's", or full performance level controllers), they might spend 15 years or so perfecting their art. Then, they became masters. In the ATC world, I see the trainees get checked out, and spend about three years becoming what I consider a "journeyman" level, then another 12-15 years before I feel that skill levels are at the "master" level. Yes, there is a definite difference between a 6 year "journeyman", and an 18 year "master". There's an efficiency in action, a calmness, and frankly, a confidence in the way the master handles things that a journeyman, even though he may have all the technical skills, just can't project with the same smoothness.
Thats where the challenges this year have arisen. We've got two humps of ages in the ATC system, a hump of 40 percent or so of controllers with 20+ years of experience who are all "masters", many of whom will be retiring in the next few years, another hump of 30 percent who are "journeymen" with 5-10 years of experience (yes, there was a period of ten years where the FAA just flat out ignored hiring new controllers because "we've got enough right now"), and the remaining 30 percent who are either trainees, or less than 5 year veterans. The burden is falling on the "masters" to train the newbies, not because the journeymen can't, but because the stress levels in 1 on 1 training pushes them much harder than it does the veterans.
However, it is tiring. Sitting in front of a radar scope for 2 hours at a time with full attention on projecting what will happen in the next 10 minutes is fatiguing enough. Sitting behind a trainee with full attention on both the radar scope and the trainee is doubly so. A good trainer's eye spends almost as much time on the trainee because, basically, you want to sense trouble forming in the trainee's mind before he or she even realizes it is there.
I watch my trainee's shoulders, hands, and leg movements. I listen to the timbre of his voice, speech rate, note stumbles and the frequency of "Calling Center, say again?". Some trainees start bouncing their knee when they begin to stress. Some lean further and further forward until their noses seem to almost touch the radar screen. And some just flat out freeze.
A "journeyman" controller probably isn't aware of those telltales, so the trainee gets in trouble, and the journeyman trainer notices it about the time he see's that the sector is almost beyond control. He then has to jump in, pull the trainee out of the way, and spend the next 15 minutes shoveling furiously until he's out of the hole. Meanwhile, the trainee sits back and fidgets and stresses and, by the time he or she jumps back in, often has lost confidence.
A veteran trainer might simply mention that the trainee is leaning too far forward, and perhaps he should unclench his fist and let his microphone button breathe a bit. A simple suggestion to head off a problem 15 minutes before it's a problem might be the key that a veteran see's, but the trainee hasn't. Rescue the trainee from the stress before it begins, and quite probably, the trainee will be able to get through whatever is building. He'll learn from it.
Obviously, some veteran controllers have no business sitting behind a trainee. And some journeymen instructors do very well. There are as many training styles in the center as there are controllers. Some of us use more than one, depending on what is needed.
Bottom line, though, is that, as I'd mentioned last month, we're tired. With Ski-country routes and traffic levels climbing again, it will be until after spring break before it starts to wind down. I'm on a crew with 6 FPL controllers (4 of whom are "veterans"), and three trainees, one of whom is a complete beginner, only having arrived at the center a couple of weeks back. Looks like it's going to be a long year...
However... It is a new year. The FAA is 40-48 hours a week, and it is a stable job, something many out there don't have. It is up to me to shed the fatigue and stress of the job as I leave the facility and drive home, and be grateful for the blessings that have come my way. I just have to remember that the rest of the time is our time, so I'll keep my eyes on the stars... Just like Randir and Cerryn are supposed to do in Imperfect Hope... ;-)
Clear skies, all...
Jim
Imperfect Hope has languished for the last 6 weeks. As I'd mentioned in my last post, writing during the holiday period has felt nearly impossible. I know it would be different if I were writing full time, and not putting most of my energy into keeping my head above the water at the FAA. Though our traffic levels are down a little from last year, it felt busier than ever, in a large part due to the extra load we veterans have to carry while the new generation of trainees learn the ropes. With retirements coming fast and furious, the trainees are getting pushed hard to get checked out on the various sectors, sometimes too rapidly for them to absorb it all in a meaningful manner. When I went through the training process some 22 years back, it took nearly 4 years to complete. The technology has changed dramatically since then, but the core of the job is the same. It still takes about three years for the newbies to get through the program, and honestly, I think it takes another year or more for some of it to really sink in.
I've looked at my skill progression and have come up with a comparison to medieval times. Back then, (and I'm playing a bit loose with hard facts because, frankly, there are dozens of different facts that contradict each other to some degree, so I'm picking the ones that I remember from readings that seem most relevant.) Anyway, back then, in the skilled artisan or trade guilds, an apprentice (trainee) spent many years learning the job (Controller wise, that's 2-4 years college, plus 3-4 years on the job training). Once they became a journeyman (we call them "FPL's", or full performance level controllers), they might spend 15 years or so perfecting their art. Then, they became masters. In the ATC world, I see the trainees get checked out, and spend about three years becoming what I consider a "journeyman" level, then another 12-15 years before I feel that skill levels are at the "master" level. Yes, there is a definite difference between a 6 year "journeyman", and an 18 year "master". There's an efficiency in action, a calmness, and frankly, a confidence in the way the master handles things that a journeyman, even though he may have all the technical skills, just can't project with the same smoothness.
Thats where the challenges this year have arisen. We've got two humps of ages in the ATC system, a hump of 40 percent or so of controllers with 20+ years of experience who are all "masters", many of whom will be retiring in the next few years, another hump of 30 percent who are "journeymen" with 5-10 years of experience (yes, there was a period of ten years where the FAA just flat out ignored hiring new controllers because "we've got enough right now"), and the remaining 30 percent who are either trainees, or less than 5 year veterans. The burden is falling on the "masters" to train the newbies, not because the journeymen can't, but because the stress levels in 1 on 1 training pushes them much harder than it does the veterans.
However, it is tiring. Sitting in front of a radar scope for 2 hours at a time with full attention on projecting what will happen in the next 10 minutes is fatiguing enough. Sitting behind a trainee with full attention on both the radar scope and the trainee is doubly so. A good trainer's eye spends almost as much time on the trainee because, basically, you want to sense trouble forming in the trainee's mind before he or she even realizes it is there.
I watch my trainee's shoulders, hands, and leg movements. I listen to the timbre of his voice, speech rate, note stumbles and the frequency of "Calling Center, say again?". Some trainees start bouncing their knee when they begin to stress. Some lean further and further forward until their noses seem to almost touch the radar screen. And some just flat out freeze.
A "journeyman" controller probably isn't aware of those telltales, so the trainee gets in trouble, and the journeyman trainer notices it about the time he see's that the sector is almost beyond control. He then has to jump in, pull the trainee out of the way, and spend the next 15 minutes shoveling furiously until he's out of the hole. Meanwhile, the trainee sits back and fidgets and stresses and, by the time he or she jumps back in, often has lost confidence.
A veteran trainer might simply mention that the trainee is leaning too far forward, and perhaps he should unclench his fist and let his microphone button breathe a bit. A simple suggestion to head off a problem 15 minutes before it's a problem might be the key that a veteran see's, but the trainee hasn't. Rescue the trainee from the stress before it begins, and quite probably, the trainee will be able to get through whatever is building. He'll learn from it.
Obviously, some veteran controllers have no business sitting behind a trainee. And some journeymen instructors do very well. There are as many training styles in the center as there are controllers. Some of us use more than one, depending on what is needed.
Bottom line, though, is that, as I'd mentioned last month, we're tired. With Ski-country routes and traffic levels climbing again, it will be until after spring break before it starts to wind down. I'm on a crew with 6 FPL controllers (4 of whom are "veterans"), and three trainees, one of whom is a complete beginner, only having arrived at the center a couple of weeks back. Looks like it's going to be a long year...
However... It is a new year. The FAA is 40-48 hours a week, and it is a stable job, something many out there don't have. It is up to me to shed the fatigue and stress of the job as I leave the facility and drive home, and be grateful for the blessings that have come my way. I just have to remember that the rest of the time is our time, so I'll keep my eyes on the stars... Just like Randir and Cerryn are supposed to do in Imperfect Hope... ;-)
Clear skies, all...
Jim
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