Are you wanting to join IFATC but not sure how your controlling skills are?
Have you taken the written and/or practical test and didnt quite pass and would like some assistance?
In an effort to spark recruitment, the IFATC trainers (along with our fearless leader @Tyler_Shelton) have decided to start a thread to help facilitate training either before or after contacting a recruiter.
Here’s how it works.
- First review the requirements in the recruiting thread to make sure you are eligible.
- Make sure your trust level in the forum allows you to send a private message. A big aspect of IFATC is participation in the community.
- Private Message one of the trainers and schedule a time to control. You may post below but it is better if you schedule it with a trainer. Please keep in mind that we are not on the forum 24/7 so please try to give us some sort of advanced notice. Avoid asking for training on FNF and other event days.
- Open Tower and Ground at the specific airport. Choose an airport with two runways (parallel works best) in a not so busy area
- The trainer will fly a few patterns and may get others to join in. The trainer will be looking for pattern entries, sequences, runway changes, proper commands, etc.
- After the session is over the trainer will PM you their feedback items and usually schedule a followup.
Available Trainers:
US: @JoshFly8 @anon66442947 @art_martinez @Henrik @Furtive_masstwofourf
UK: @stevenwalker109 @AdamCallow @RAH @Matt_1
Denmark: @Emil
Italy: @MarcelloM
Norway: @DotWallop
Sweden: @Paul_petropoulos @Samuel123abc
India: @dush19
Australia: @anon88794458
More light reading / homework:
IFATC Recruiting Requirements/Process
The Perfect ATC Test - Gives a great idea of what we are looking for on the test.
Ground Control Tutorial
The Art of Sequencing
Sequencing Explained by Jason
If you have any questions regarding IFATC please feel free to reach out to one of the trainers. We will be glad to help.
Over the years I have heard and seen a number reasons that people have given on why they have not joined IFATC:
I want to be IFATC but I can't control when they want me to...
IFATC is a 24/7 service. We have controllers from around the world at all times of the day controlling.
I want to be IFATC but I only want to control my home airport...
It is our goal that we get enough IFATC members to where we can allow anyone to control wherever they want. Until that time we coordinate internally on where we open. Our goal is to provide the best service to the pilots.
I want to control on IFATC but I am not comfortable with controlling Approach or the larger airports...
Entry into IFATC is initially only tower and ground access. There is an additional test after you master tower/ground to control approach/center/departure. You can stick with tower/ground if you choose. You can also choose which airports to open. You don’t have to open Miami, Dallas, or LAX. You are welcome (and encourage) to open the smaller fields.
I controlled on the training server and it was crazy. I'm scared about IFATC.
The expert server takes a little to get used to because the pilots generally follow instructions and the volume of planes is less. Plus at busy times you can coordinate with other controllers and let one take tower and one take ground. This allows you to focus completely on one busy frequency. This is advised on events like FNF. Controlling is all about having a plan and taking care of each pilot one at a time. Doing it that way makes the region much smaller to control.
How does IFATC communicate internally?
IFATC uses slack to communicate internally. We have training discussions as well as announcing when we open/close frequencies. This allows us to coordinate efforts such as runways and runway crossing.
What if I have a question while controlling in IFATC regarding a specific scenario?
Inside of our slack instance we often discuss scenarios we have seen and talk about the best way to handle it. Between Tyler, the controllers, and our real world pilots we can usually get to a solid answer. Often times we will talk about the real life situation and then translating it into how best to apply it to Infinite Flight.
A big aspect if IFATC is being able to learn and absorb information on your own. We cannot teach you every little item from start to finish, you will have to put effort in to learn these on your own. IFATC is not a “rec league” group. We take our job seriously and have pride in providing the best service to pilots. We would love to on-board new members to help staff this large world.
We know the past few months have been hectic while most of the recruiters and trainers were beta testing the new release. If you sent a message, with all of the requested information, and did not get a reply please reply to the PM so we can make sure nothing fell through the cracks.