Jay Honeck wrote:
The
centers have to get them before they wise up because they'll never get
them after.


That's interesting. Why are the centers so unpopular with controllers?

You never see outside. You work with 400 people, of which you know 25.
I know everybody and have vacationed and hunted/fished/flew with most.
As a matter of fact I'm buying a half a cow from one next month.
Usually your airspace is hundreds of miles away from where you are right
now, I know my airspace intimitely. Everyday my day is different,
usually the center does the same thing at the same time every day. Each
person has to make his own determination on what constitutes quality of
life. In three hours we are leaving for Boise because my kids hockey
team won the state tournamnet and thus the team qualified for the
regional tournament. I set up this time off two weeks ago. Try that at
Atlanta. I can take just about any day off and make that decision on
the same day I don't want to work. We bid for prime time annual at this
time each year. We only do that because we have to, we can always get
any time off that we want. For example we have decided to go to OSH
this summer so I signed up for two weeks off around that time frame, but
I'm going to need more than two weeks. I'll take care of it in July.
The money can be a lot better in a facility that is short staffed
because you are forced to work a lot of overtime. I have zero desire to
work more than 40 hours and on the odd occasions I do get OT I usually
take it as credit hours earned and not the money. The top controller
made $196,000 last year. I don't know for sure but I'll bet that he
worked six day weeks for most weeks of the year and could never take a
day off. Not in a million years is that worth only $200K to me. That
way I can use the day off when I want. Every summer like clockwork the
forests start on fire out west. Almost every summer the Forest Service
calls in the FAA to setup temporary towers at some uncontrolled airports
or possibly just a field where the helicopters operate from. So I pull
the 5th wheel over there, set up the satellite dish and work 16 hour
days. That's about the only time I do take the money. Don't get me
wrong, some people love the center, god love 'em. Somebodies got to do
that job. It just won't be me.