What Can I Do to Prepare for the Academy-- And WHY

The Side by Side ATC Podcast

In this episode, I talk about 3 things that I think you should do to prepare for the FAA Academy. Whether you are going into the en route program or the tower program, there are 3 things that you should do BEFORE you get to OKC.

First: Learn the Phonetic Alphabet for ATC

• This is probably the easiest of the 3 and that's why I put it first. It is essential that you know this before getting to OKC. Knowing this will not get you ahead of things when you get there, this is the bare minimum.

Second: Learn the Map

• This is actually almost as important as knowing the alphabet and it doesn't matter if you are going en route, tower or terminal radar. You need to know your airspace.
• I go over 3 reasons I have seen given on Discord for not learning the map before you get to OKC and I give my rebuttals to those arguments.
• Knowing your map BEFORE you get to OKC will put you ahead of where the FAA thinks you will be on day 1. It will put you level with students who have gone through CTI schools ( their students have not started going directly into towers, yet). That is a starting place that you want to be at!

Third: Have a Game Plan set up Before You Get To OKC

• I talk about how you will need to have a plan to deal with when you have night shifts and need to plan study time. Each of you are different and you need to have a plan in place that plays to your strengths as well as those of your classmates.

Finally: I get on my soapbox a little and talk about the teamwork and sacrifice that it will take if you really want to have a 100% class. IT IS NOT EASY, BUT CAN BE DONE!

Thank you all for listening!

I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful week!

If you need anything, email me at [email protected]

or go to sidebysideatc.com

to set up a call to talk about where you are in your air traffic control journey.