Well my sleep schedule is unbelievably horrible I normally won't go to bed before 4am. Now with a little added dranks, I have no hope. Getting off at midnight ftl. What do you do if you don't mind me asking? If you don't want to say it's completely cool.

See my avatar...?

^ haha well played sir, sorry

Question that seems like a really interesting job, what schooling do you have to do and is it true it is ridiculously stressful? I could only imagine being in control of all that.

wow impressive, but I don't think that quite conveys it enough lol.

Ok next question the single worst experience I have had with flying. When being taxied to the runway a plane a good ways ahead of us took off through a flock of birds so we had to sit on the tarmac for I think an hour and a half while they cleaned the runway off. How often does this happen?

It is a really interesting job! Not every day is stressful though, but there are days where you really earn your pay.

There are a few ways to get in if you're really interested. You can join the military as a controller, and then when you get out you are qualified. You can go to college and get an aviation degree, which is what I did even though I was also in the USAF (weather man.) Or you can apply for a slot right off the street. There are certain rules of course as far as age, background checks, if you have any speech problems etc.

Here is a good site: NATCA | About NATCA | How to Become an Air Traffic Controller

Let me know if you have any questions.

There is no exact answer. Depeding where you are, the time of year, how busy the airport is etc will effect bird strikes. That must have been a huge flock of birds for the runway to be closed for that long. Most times a vehicle will go out on the runway and do a check for any airplane parts that may have fallen off, and then pick of the birds/pieces. They try and keep track of what kind of bird/s it was.

Good info thanks. Currently I'm in school for Finance, this has always intrigued me since I have flown a lot in my life. It always seemed to me to be the behind the scenes yet most important people, which I know it is now that I'm older, but that is why I always liked it. Just never knew what it took to become one.

I couldn't see the runway, it was a flight out of Philly that was already behind schedule, and I'm assuming since we were just being taxied and pretty far behind on the runway is why it took so long. Nothing went right that flight though, we had electrical problems before we left the gate, the bird flock, missed the connecting flight because of it, oh I'm just going to stop there it pains me to think about lol.

There's actually a good ATC school in PA. It was one of the first to offer the degree.

https://my.ccbc.edu/ics/Future_CCBC_...n_Sciences.jnz

well i guess it's time to attempt to get some sleep. later tin

Wow Tin, that honestly doesn't sound like too bad of a gig.

Anything local I might be able to look into?

How is the job hiring/turnover rate right now for air traffic controllers?

I lol'd. Is that a joke?

i wanna be an air traffic controler if engieering doesnt work out

You can e-mail me or send me a PM. The Salem tower is not FAA, it's run by contractors. The closest facilities to you would be mine and PDX tower or TRACON. It depends week to to week who is hiring based on who has washed out of training or who has retired or moved some where else.