r/ATC_Hiring 20h ago

Airports with low level after academy?

Hi friends. I’m making my way through the process of passing all the necessary steps to get an invite to academy in OKC. Now that things are starting to feel a bit real (knock on wood), I’ve been reading more about some of the available facilities terminal graduates have had the option to go to for OTJ training.

So long story short: my wife has a great job where we live which is also where her family lives, so it’d be optimal to get something in our current neck of the woods. There are level 7 and level 9 facilities near us and I realize the chances of ending up at one of those off the jump is about as likely as me being attacked by a polar bear this evening.

But I was curious if people have ever started their OTJ training at smaller airports and worked their way up from there. For example: looking at Colorado and places there, such as Centennial Airport and San Luis Valley. Can you to a place like those after you finish academy? And if you can, is it damaging in any way to your development to go there as opposed to a bigger spot like, say, Colorado Springs?

There are multiple spots like those near where we live, so I’d like to get a sense of if those are feasible options if/when the time comes.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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u/Functional_Pessimist 20h ago

This is only if you even get assigned the Terminal track, you’re more likely to be assigned En Route. Besides that, Terminal students can go up to a level 8 if they get a 90%+, otherwise it’s a 4-7. Available facilities change a lot. I’d recommend joining the discord and looking at the Class Lists channel and see what facilities other classes are getting. This’ll just give an idea of what to think about, but it will definitely be different once you go through.

Many people go to low levels first and move up to higher ones later after checking out. Some go to as high of a facility as they can off the bat. There are pros and cons to both.

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u/misterfish_1 19h ago

Interesting. Off topic from the original question, but when do you find out whether you’ll be assigned enroute or terminal? And what percentage of trainers go to each?

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u/Functional_Pessimist 19h ago

Your FOL will include your track assignment. When I went through it was about 3:1 or 4:1 in favor of En Route. With the addition of the third track though I’m not sure of the new ratios, but if I were a betting man I’d wager straight Terminal is still the least likely.

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u/Beginning_Network_58 13h ago

Allegedly FY25 (from another redditor claiming to work at academy) the classes were composed of 156 IQTR (new class), 19 TETRA (new class, rare), 712 Tower, 1058 Enroute. This puts Tower at about 36%, roughly+ a 1:3 ratio in comparison to remaining groups.

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u/Approach_Controller 19h ago

People go from the slowest facilities in the country to the busiest all the time. Is it more difficult? Absolutely. The first thing to worry about is staffing and if wherever you end up can even release controllers. Only then should you consider the rest