I'm thinking of been an air traffic controller is the pay good?

Answer 1

The starting salary is £10,000 during the first year of training. This rises to £15,000 - £18,000 on appointment, depending upon location. Salaries typically rise after validation (two years into the first appointment) to £42,000 - £47,000, depending on posted unit (salary data collected June 06).
The typical salary for airport controllers with 10-15 years' experience is £60,000. The typical salary for area centre controllers with experience is around £82,000 (salary data collected June 06).
Salary figures include payment for shift working and any extra responsibilities.
Working hours include unsocial hours, bank holidays and weekends. The typical shift pattern is two days 'early' (7am - 2pm), two days 'late' (2pm - 10pm), two days 'nights' (10pm - 7am) and then four days leave.
Controllers work in control towers with an overview of the airport, or in approach or area control rooms with radar. They sit in a fixed position all the time. For safety reasons, controllers will not spend more than two hours sitting at a screen without a half-hour break.
Jobs are mainly located in National Air Traffic Services (NATS) control centres in Swanwick, West Drayton (due to close in October 2007), Prestwick (Glasgow) and Manchester. Swanwick, Prestwick and Manchester handle aircraft flying through UK airspace. Prestwick also deals with aircraft flying the Atlantic. West Drayton handles aircraft within the London terminal control area. There are also smaller numbers of opportunities at most UK airports.
First postings are decided by NATS, depending on the needs of the company. NATS employment contracts include a mobility clause, which can require employees to work at other locations.
Major airports with the highest volumes of traffic employ only aerodrome controllers. Control centres employ approach and area controllers. Controllers at regional airports may be licensed to perform approach and aerodrome controller roles.
Self-employment/freelance work is not possible or is unlikely.
Approximately 25% of controllers are women, but this is increasing as more women are applying. NATS is keen to increase the level of applications from ethnic and cultural minorities.
This is very responsible and pressured work.
Air traffic controllers are subject to the Rail and Transport Safety Act (as are train drivers and air pilots). This act sets strict limits on blood-alcohol levels (well below the drink/drive levels) and drugs are forbidden. Random testing could take place.
Overseas work or travel is uncommon.

Answer 2

As the other answers advise the pay can be very good but from which country are you asking? The other answers are only about the UK.

The one thing to seriously think about is whether you can handle pressure and boredom well. There can be hours of routine traffic and then a spell of very busy, extremely intense traffic so you have to be able to handle extreme stress in a cool and calm manner without ever making a mistake! It's the most stressful job in the world. You have to ask yourself whether the pay is worth it.

Answer 3

I had a friend who was an air traffic controller in Atlanta. He made really good money but it depends on the airport you work out of. The busier the airport the better the pay. It is also one of the most stressful jobs there is out there so be ready for that.

Answer 4

The pay is exellent but so are the responsibilities. Join the Air Force and learn how to do it there first.

You will also have to pass many tests and go through a very long training and evaluation process. There is also an age limit for doing this job.

Answer 5

For the stress and responsibility and the inconvenient hours? Is the pay 'good'? Nope. But it's a good secure job. An extreme profession if ever there was one. Thousands of people's lives in your hands every day. 47 thousand pounds is about the same rate of pay as a crane driver in Oakland docks. I sometimes wonder if I should have been a crane driver...

Answer 6

The pay is superb, but, you'll need it for the heart problems.

Get a great medical plan, and keep it alive so you will be in your 40's. One of the riskiest careers for high heart disease... less so, now that it is understood that three pack a day cigarette habit was the leading cause...

Still, more money and less blame ride on System Administrators, especially any who are competent at Linux, as 78% of all corporate and Internet servers run Linux. Microsoft.com, Hotmail.com, and MSN.com run 45,000 Linux computers, and each is remotely administered, worldwide.

Then, Google.com runs 100,000 Linux computers in clusters.
Yahoo.com runs sister Unix clone, FreeBSD. All universities that are successful now run Linux on their servers...

Pay is considered low, at $72,500 per year for a Linux Sys Admin, in the USA. (Career Watch; un-solicited offers)

Answer 7

The starting salary is £10,000 during the first year of training. This rises to £15,000 - £18,000 on appointment, depending upon location. Salaries typically rise after validation (two years into the first appointment) to £42,000 - £47,000, depending on posted unit (salary data collected June 06).
The typical salary for airport controllers with 10-15 years' experience is £60,000. The typical salary for area centre controllers with experience is around £82,000 (salary data collected June 06).
Salary figures include payment for shift working and any extra responsibilities.

Answer 8

The pay is supposed to be marvellous but you have to remember that you're only playing video games and the dots on your screen aren't really aluminium tubes filled with hundreds of people. Can you cope with that?
The mental awareness required to think of everything in 3D, planes criss-crossing at different heights, speeds and directions in all sorts of weather conditions,coupled with paperwork and anti-social hours working will probably lead to burn-out and cardiac problems........but lots of people go for it......it's supposed to be glamorous.
Then again...you might get the occasional emergency where you really have to work to earn your pay.

Answer 9

i guess so! you do have lots of VERY VERY presice job. And you cannot afford to make any mistake really. But your question has a mispelling.. :P .Anyways, i think you can be an air traffic controller.

Answer 10

The pay is very good, but you would be wise to interview someone who does this job to get some insight about the pros and cons.