This Article shows How to become an Air Traffic Controller and a Flight Dispatcher in Turkey

How to Become an Air Traffic Controller in Turkey

Before explained how to become an Air Traffic Controller, we should know what Air Traffic Controller is. In aviation, there are some false facts. Especially, people who are out of this sector know misinformation. These people can confuse air traffic controllers with marshals or dispatcher. So, in this part we will learn who an Air Traffic Controller is. According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation, aircraft in flight, taking-off or landing so through all aspects of its flight are managed safely by air traffic controllers. Their responsibility is to make aircraft safety in take-off and landing on time. An air traffic controller communicates with many pilots to give instructions or clearance simultaneously. That is, they help pilots by using radiotelephony or other communication equipment. Moreover, they provide information such as weather conditions, emergency situations to aircraft. Also, they prevent accidents between aircraft and aircraft or aircraft and ground vehicles or aircraft and obstructions.

Air Traffic Controller may be the most stressing job because in every minute accident can happen because of them. If air traffic controllers who are absentminded cause an accident, it means that hundreds of people can die and hundreds of millions of dollars can be lost in a minute. Therefore, this circumstance makes air traffic controller feel stress in working time. However, although this is known by people, people in Turkey apply for this job a lot because of some reasons such as highly-paid job and less working hours a week than other jobs. Therefore, thousands of people apply for this job every year or every application process. There are two ways to be an air traffic controller. One of them is to have a four-year university degree. And other way is to graduate from Eskişehir Technical University Department of Air Traffic Control.

First of all, Directorate of State Airports Authority (GDSAA) gives this job postings. According to GDSAA, there are some general requirements to be sought for candidates. That is, this job has so many criteria to apply for it. Initially, candidates must be a Turkish citizen. Also, they are not be deprived of public rights. They must be at least 18 years old. In case of military service; they do not have anything to do with military service, or if they are not the age of military service, they can apply for air traffic controller position. Moreover, they went into the army but now it must be done, so they are available. In addition, if they are on this age, they must postpone it. Furthermore, they become involved in crime or not sentenced to more than six months’ imprisonment. Also, they should not be convicted of offenses committed against the State. In addition, they do not get involved in bribery, theft, fraud, misconduct or misconduct in official tenders, and for disclosing State secrets and so on. If a candidate has one of them, he shall not be evaluated by the institution. Candidates should both have a security investigation and archive research. One of the other requirements is to have four-years degree from university. And they are not 27 years old. They must have a health report sought for this job advertisement. Also, the candidates must get minimum 70 scores from public personnel selection examinations. These are YDS and KPSS 3 score type. After they take at least 70 points on YDS which is English proficiency examination, they must take at least 70 from KPSS, the public personnel selection examination. After these examinations, many requirements are looked for. One of them is not to have any criminal issues. In addition, they need to know Turkish and English well. To put it another way, they must speak Turkish and English fluently and they have a good writing skill. Also, their pronunciation must be good, and they should not stutter. Moreover, they should not have excessive excitement. If people who are candidates have these documents required, GDSAA can evaluates these applications. After that, candidates have to complete so many special phases. To illustrate, after they reach until this phase, they have to take general proficiency test. And then GDSAA tests in different ways whether candidates are enough for this job or not. To put it another way, written exams are conducted to test their computer-aided selection exam or general reasoning, intelligence, memory, and quick decision-making. After written examinations, oral exam is made in English and Turkish to understand whether they have a defect by speaking. Generally, they reflect their defects in conversation due to the fact that the physical problems can come to light in the interview. If decision makers see their problems in conversation, specialists eliminate them. To illustrate, if candidates are stuttering, this is understood in oral examinations. By the way, they have to pass written exams at first. And then they can have a right to take oral examinations. On the other hand, they have to take an examination, The First European Air Traffic Controller Selection Test (FEAST). After they passed these phases, they cannot be an air traffic controller directly owing to the fact that they do not have knowledge to control airways and to manage aircraft. So, they start to work as an intern. If they show success in intern, they can be accepted. However, they are evaluated three times as they do internship in there. If they do not achieve this responsibility in three times, they fail, and they cannot be an air traffic controller in no case.

In addition, students must study the air traffic control department at Eskişehir Technical University. Their program is four years, not including English preparation class. If one student starts to English class, he will study for five years. After students graduated from Department of Air Traffic Control Department, they have worked as student air traffic controller in GDSAA for two months. Their working area in Aerodrome Control Tower of Anadolu University for two months. If they completed their job training successfully, they can take air traffic controller license exam. After that, they can apply for assistant air traffic controller at airports of GDSAA. Also, there is one requirement which is KPSS 3 score type at least 70 to be assigned.

In this part, Özgür interviewed with Atakan Çolak who interned in Dalaman Airport as an air traffic controller. That is, we will see Atakan’s experiences in this paragraph. To begin with, air traffic controllers are working eight hours a day shift, so there are three shifts a day. In one shift, there are three air traffic controllers. Neverthless, we can observe different schedules in different airports. For instance, they can work more at Atatürk Airport because of the aerodrome traffic volume. Normally they have two working days and one off day. They have much technological equipment to measure temperature, damp and so on. This information is shared with pilots in flight or on the apron by air traffic controllers. And they have three services such as area control, approach control, and aerodrome control. Those are working together correspondingly. That means, they have different working areas and responsibilities, but they share any situation with each other and pilots. Also, in their working area, many helpful materials or equipment are provided to them to work well. To illustrate, there are seats, beds, kitchen, refrigerator and so on.

How to Become a Flight Dispatcher in Turkey

Before clarifying how to become a Flight Dispatcher, we should know what a Flight Dispatcher is. A Flight Dispatcher is known as a flight operations officer. To put it another way, by looking at the information of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Flight Dispatchers are monitoring all operation and planning all flight on a safe basis. Flight Dispatchers are working in the airside area and their office. They have so many responsibilities such as all flight planning, monitoring the flight besides providing information to the flight crew. Their vital mission is to ensure the flight both safely and securely. They both observe and control all activities such as cleaning, fueling, loading of baggage and cargo, technical issues and so on. This information is given to cabin crew and pilots by Flight Dispatchers. The aim is to ensure the flight. Moreover, they prevent all kinds of emergencies such as sabotage, accident, incident, destruction, and hi-jacking and so on for taking measures. If they see any problem in an operation or before the operation, they have to report it to DGCA.

In addition, we should perceive their working conditions. During the summer of 2018, Özgür Arslan interned in Turkish Ground Service as a passenger service officer. Nonetheless, he had both knowledge and practice in different areas such as dispatcher, air control service and so on. Initially, they plan the flight operations. And they check where aircraft have been before landing. They should be on the apron 10 or 15 minutes ago before aircraft did not land. They look at the around its parking area. If they notice any foreign object in the parking area, they must bin to FOD. And They have a checklist which has all operation is written step by step and they should identify all processing time. By the way, before landing, other services such as baggage car, fuel truck, and cleaning services should be near to the parking area. After landing, they monitor whether everything is fine or not. Before departure, they give information about operation and aircraft to pilot and cabin crew. After the doors are closed, they help aircraft to push back. They issue a command to ramp officer when the aircraft is ready for take-off, and an air traffic controller gives the permission. By the way, they work on the apron. So, every minute apron has a changed environment. To illustrate, they cannot only get wet but also become out in the cold for hours. That is, physical factors affect flight dispatchers directly.

Apart from the explanation of a flight dispatcher work, when we look at the procedures of how to become a Flight Dispatcher, there are many requirements to be a Flight Dispatcher. By looking at the DGCA.gov.tr, firstly, candidates must be at least 23 years old. They graduate from a high school or its equivalent, and they must complete the training successfully at Training Organization which is DGCA. There are so many Dispatcher Training Organizations in Turkey such as Turkish Airlines, Duha Aviation, and Training Services, Onur Air Transportation. Generally, these organizations are in İstanbul.

Moreover, a candidate who wants to be a flight dispatcher must know some information about this exam. In this section, we will learn about a Flight Dispatcher Exam. In each year there are four flight operation expert license exams. Deadlines are announced by DGCA. DGCA conducts these exams. The exam is generated by exam commission. Candidates cannot use any material or notes during the exam time. Forty percent of the exam consists of English questions. There are 120 multiple questions in the exam. It is totally two hours thirty minutes. After they pass this exam, they have also another exam, a practice exam. In the practice exam, candidates are responsible for ten open-ended written questions in ninety minutes. If they pass it successfully, they start to work as an intern. By the way, the candidates who did not pass it has three times right to take licensing exams.

Taking everything into account, in this report, Özgür examined two main topics. These are how to become an air traffic controller and a flight dispatcher. Also, it was explained them in detail. That is, he clarified what an air traffic controller and a flight dispatcher are in the first step, and then we give information about main topics. In an air traffic controller part, Özgür Arslan interviewed with Atakan Çolak who did the internship in Dalaman Airport as an air traffic controller. Also, he used many resources from public websites and private websites. This information is in reference part.

References

1. Air Traffic Controller information:

2. Eskişehir Technical University information:

3. Air Traffic Controller: https:

4. The General Rules about Applications:

5. The Information about flight dispatcher:

6. The Flight Dispatcher Exam :