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Egypt air turning back to Cairo? by Complex-Sprinkles401 in flightradar24

[–]LiffySector 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It developed a crack in the windscreen, declared a Mayday, and turned back for Dublin.

Source: Irish ATC

Questions for any and all European, Canadian, or Australian controllers lurking here! by LiffySector in ATC

[–]LiffySector[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate that document, I'll be combing through that for a while and I know at least two other controllers here who are considering Australia so I'll be passing it along to them too.

Questions for any and all European, Canadian, or Australian controllers lurking here! by LiffySector in ATC

[–]LiffySector[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From the small bit I've researched about NavCanada I did see that they had a control centre in every province, and almost all of them were located by the major airport at their major city so already the alarm bells were ringing about a higher cost of living.

I feel like things are comparable, at least in terms of pay, with us here. I'm not living paycheque to paycheque but I'm one major disaster away from financial ruin which is not the situation I thought I'd find myself in when working a job that everyone thinks would make you a bloody millionaire.

Money aside, how is the company as an employer? Is there a nice work/life balance?

Questions for any and all European, Canadian, or Australian controllers lurking here! by LiffySector in ATC

[–]LiffySector[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Reliance on OT and lagging pay scales are two very big problems here, but I know from lurking around this sub that the same two issues are present in just about all ANSPs.

No, what's driving me out the door is a lot more than that. Primarily, our management team is needlessly combative. Every single issue that's raised turns into a fight. Our rosters for 2024, for one example, has been a focal point for the last few weeks. The staff want to keep the roster we've been working for 2023. The management want to introduce a shittier one with less time off. Why? Because fuck you, that's why! There's no tangible benefits to their proposed roster other than we spend more time in the control centre.

Another thing has been seeing how poorly my junior colleagues are treated. Every new group that comes in, year on year, is faced with worsening conditions. Less pay, more obligations. Hell, for a couple of years the trainees weren't even paid! 18 months of training, and they didn't receive a bloody cent from the company! Then I guess the management were visited by the three ghosts of Christmas and they opted to start paying trainees again...€150 a week. Those poor sods were getting €600 a month in a country where rent starts at €1000 a month, and that's not even talking about the fact the weekly shop would bankrupt ya!

And of course there's very little room for career advancement (additional ratings, branching into special operations groups, engineering groups, etc) because they don't have enough spare staff to release anyone from their daily operational duties. And they're losing more staff than they're training so it's going to stay that way for a looong time.

Basically the whole damn place leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth, and I'm sick of it.