I actually lived at Candlewood Suites for the first month and had absolutely no problem with it aside from paying ~$1500 a month. You get room service once a month, a $100 giftcard once a month, free internet, fitness center and laundry facility. It’s more or less a studio than a hotel as once you walk in you have a kitchen on your right with a dishwasher, a desk, tv, a bed and night stand on the left, a decent sized bathroom and closet all stocked with the necessities (dishes, tupperware, coffee machine, ironing board bathroom products, etc…). I would definitely recommend Candlewood as they provide a shuttle bus to and from the Academy and it’s location is very convenient being within walking distance to plenty of restaurants and a fun night club called Club Rodeo with live bulls!

A classmate and I decided to move downtown to Park Harvey Apartments, since a lot of locals said Bricktown is one of the biggest attractions in Oklahoma City and we each save about $500. We’ve lived out here for a few weeks now and have loved it. We can walk to Bricktown on the weekends without having to worry about a taxi or a designated driver. We also have a great view overlooking the city and the drive is only about 10 minutes to the Academy. If you want more information send me a comment and I’ll see if Wendy at the front desk could send you a information package.

We have classmates living in other establishments such as Isola Bella and Mary’s place, but for the price you cannot beat the location and view of our place downtown!

As of right now I have attended about a month of basic training and I am now into my second week of phase two learning about strip marking and separation.

I apologize for such a small post, but if you all would like to know anything else as far as air traffic control goes, feel free to comment below!

Late 2007 an Embry Riddle student told me that if I had 4 years of schooling, 4 years of work experience, or 4 years of combined work/school experience then I was qualified to sign up as an Air Traffic Controller Trainee.

I have always heard that Air Traffic Controllers are very well off as far as pay goes and retirement works out in their favor. I found the FAA application system (https://jobs.faa.gov/asap/) and signed up that day.

It took about 3 months until I received a letter in the mail stating that I had to take the AT-SAT on January 1st of 2008 in Peach Tree City, Georgia. I made sure not to have too much fun on New Years and made the drive to GA early in the morning to take the test, of which was fairly simple if you have any experience with basic math and pointing a mouse. A couple of weeks later I received the test results online and they were well above what I needed as a qualification.

The next step was to schedule an interview. While I was waiting for the interview I decided to go to school at Florida Community College for Aviation Operations to become certified.

Just as I was finishing my first classes; Environment for ATC and Aviation Weather, I was interviewed in December of 2008. The interview went well, and the interviewer was very pleased to meet me and understand why I chose the FAA.

Once the interview was complete I received a “Tentative Offer Letter” of a bunch of information that I had to fill out based on my background and medical release forms. I also had to schedule a Physical, Psychological Test and Drug Test. I haven’t received feedback of any other than the Psychological test. I was told that if the Psychological test (567 questions) was “invalid” I would have to personally speak with a psychologist to further analyze my answers.

Turns out I had to personally see a psychologist to verify my answers to questions and retake the complete psychological test. Everything else went fine and I was told that I need to wait for a specialist to contact me for employment.

It has been months and I have not heard from the FAA. I’m starting to wonder if they lost my information or if the position was filled. Anyway, I will keep you updated. Until then best of luck to any of you who are also pursuing an ATC career!