How to become an IFATC within the shortest time?

ATC
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FYI: IFATC is a team made of professional controllers that control the expert server.

Requirements:

To become an ITATC apprentice you need to accomplish the following

  1. Sign up through the link posted on the community forum, and make sure you meet all the requirements before sending in your application.
  2. Once you are signed up, an IFATC recruiter will DM you, then you will be asked to take a knowledge exam based on the ATC manual Introduction | Infinite Flight
  3. If you scored higher than 80%, you will then proceed to the practical exam, if you did not pass 80% on the knowledge test, you will have to wait for 2 weeks until your next opportunity to take the test. (All the details are clearly written in Tylerā€™s topic pinned on the ATC channel.)
  4. Once you are at the practical test stage, you will have a chance to practice with an IFATC trainer to better prepare you for the practical exam or you can take the practical exam straight away if you feel confident enough. Again, failing the test will result in a 2-week ban from taking the test again.
  5. After you pass both the knowledge and the practical exam, you will then become an IFATC apprentice that is certified to control at any Charlie/Delta airport.

Above is some information about the IFATC application process. In the following writing, I will talk about some advice and my own experiences when I was a trainee.

Here is my timeline with IFATC

I signed up for IFATC on July 29th, 2022
I received the greeting from my recruiter on the same day.
I took the test and failed with a 68% on the same day
I waited for 2 weeks
Took the test again on August 12th, 2022, and passed the knowledge test with 88% on my second attempt.
I decided to join the training sessions.
Had 12 consecutive sessions with my trainer every day for 2 weeks.
Passed the Practical exam on my first attempt on August 29th, 2022.
On August 29th I became an IFATC apprentice.

Here is my advice:

If you want to become an IFATC within a month, there are no shortcuts! Unless you are an ATC in real life, please read the ATC manual as many times as you can! It really helps with your overall understanding. I read the manual probably 5-8 times over the last month. Familiarizing the ATC manual should be your first task before you send your IFATC application.

After you are 99% with the manual you will have no issue with the knowledge exam. You just need to practice using the knowledge mock test provided by your recruiter. I did 5 mocks before I took my second attempt. I made sure that Iā€™m able to answer different types of questions from the manual. I scored 100% five times in a row to prove to myself that Iā€™m fully prepared. At the knowledge exam, take your time reading each question, as some of the questions are really tricky, and some are even word games. Please be extra careful when you are answering them. Double check, triple check your answers, and pay close attention to what the question is asking for. Take it as a final exam in school, then you will be able to pass it.

After you pass the knowledge exam and begin to prepare for your practical exam. I strongly recommend you to join the training session program. One thing is that you will be assigned a trainer that can answer any questions relating to infinite flight and IFATC directly. For another thing, training sessions really help you to become a more professional controller, and the sessions prepare you for everything tested in the practical exam. So, if you have a chance to attend a 1-on-1 training for free, why donā€™t you take it? A good pilot or controller is always learning! If you have the dedication to become an IFATC within the shortest time, you need to be proactive in scheduling training sessions with your trainers as they have a lot of trainees to work with. First come first serve, so you better squeeze out your time for any potential training sessions. Besides training with your trainer, you can also watch tutorials that help to build your overall understanding of control. The Perfect ATC Test - YouTube This is so far the best tutorial that helps you to prepare for a practical exam. Watch it as many times as you can, and all the effort will redeem in your practical exam,.

All in all, if you want to become an IFATC ASAP, you need to put in the work yourself and have the confidence and dedication to accomplish your goal. If you read until the end, I really appreciate your dedication and passion for joining the IFATC team, and I hope to see you on the team ASAP. Good luck with your preparation for your exams!

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Lovely post! I do want to add one thing to this. At the end of the day, the time is individual. It can take someone much longer to join than another person. When I joined IFATC for my first time, It took me more than 1.5 months to get in, and that is ok! Everyone has their own skills/timeline. Sometimes, it can save time in the long run to go a little slower in the written or practical.

I also 100% agree with this. Many controllers who want a speedy way in jump straight into IFATC skip the training, and it really shows. Those who do the training are much more proficient, and sometimes its about quality instead of speed. Like I said, taking your time can sometimes save time in the long run.

Nice work on this @Potkukelkka

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Indeed! Extra preparation is needed to ensure success at every single stage of the application process. I cannot emphasize how training sessions benefited me, I can clearly see my improvements along the way. Thank you for posting! @Marina

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If you ask our Trainers nicely, you may and shall receive said access to an unlimited supply of candies in the IFATC vault located in [CLASSIFIED LOCATION]. Oops, seems like you have to apply to find out folks! šŸ˜‰

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Thanks for the Location! Im lucky i have a lvl 2 and still got to see the location!

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I think the steps needed are very person specific. I for one did not do formal training or create a training thread and passed the practical within a week of taking the written. I found the manual and the video on the practical to be enough. Others may as well. Some though may find the whole process helpful or necessary. There is really no right or wrong path.

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Lovely topic! Each time is invidual for the person. If i am talking about me i signed around Christmas. Failed the first written test with 76%, waited two weeks and passed the second. Then i requested atc trainer and received it. Then made trainings for about one week (Monday-Friday) (dont remember) and passed my practical from first try! My advice is to request Training. Its just soo helpful with many new things! Good luck to all guys who applied!

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I think for local it really depends if you need it or not. Personally my route was planning to join the training program, but when the wait time started feeling long and backlogged, I decided to just try the practical and I failed I would take training. That made a lot of sense since if I failed I would be training in the cooldown time.

For radar though, I think itā€™s vital to have training.
I have no clue how anyone would past the radar test without any training (if that was allowed and even then, ES is a whole different game). Since it has so much more complexity, itā€™s mandatory

I donā€™t think itā€™s worth it to ā€œspeedrunā€ any sort of process as long term it can just cause more issues (such as failing the practical), but instead when you think youā€™re ready after practice.

If you really wanted to ā€œspeedrunā€ you could prepare everything before recruiting then try doing the written and practical asap. Thereā€™s not really a good way to actually speedrun the learning and practice other than just doing more, as there isnt really a shortcut to that.

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My timeline went like this:

May 23rd, 2020: Application sent
May 24th, 2020: Application processed, written test passed (92%), applied for training, got a trainer, first training session
May 25th, 2020: Second training session
May 26th, 2020: Third training session
May 27th, 2020: Passed practical

Biggest things for me were watching the YouTube tutorials provided as well as doing training sessions. Reading the manual was also helpful for the nuanced situations on the tests.

Also, if you do train, expect big blocks of feedback after each session. It can be disheartening but the feedback is easy to follow and is like a cheat code for your practical.

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Not vectoring your trainers into mountains also helps, I figured that one out a tad later.

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Totally! You have to acknowledge that you are very smart, not everyone has the ability to learn things themselves in a such quick time, but you are right, it is really person-specific, there is not a right path that fits everyone.

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The was quick! I bet you were really dedicated to becoming an IFATC back then. Nice work buddy! Thanks for your years of service!

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Wow, doing only 3 training sessions is impressive! Did you have a tracking thread before your training?

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Kudos to those that have streamlined the process and becoming IFATC in such a short time and to all the members as a whole. Itā€™s a really nice achievement and a truly great team to be part of.

This is just my opinion and Iā€™m not saying anybody is better or worse because you should be proud of all the goals you achieve. As stated above in some of the comments, that it can depend on the person, timing, or if you decide to use a trainer, their availability, and letā€™s not forget about sessions that can be cancelled due to lack of attendance. Ultimately, I think becoming an IFATC member is a big achievement. I think that going through the process and understanding what you are doing is extremely important. To provide the best and most efficient service. Did I want my journey to go a little faster? Sure I did. But at the end, I am glad I took the time to correct things, learn from mistakes prior to ES controlling. While mistakes happen, training is the best place for them. Again, just my opinion and everyone is different. I just wanted to share a little about my experiences.

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Practice makes perfect,

And tracking threads and training times makes practice hahaha!

Use every tool you have, the journey is just funnier!

šŸ˜‰

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I think I may have held one for a brief brief time but Iā€™m not totally sure to be honest.

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