Welcome to the MARC School Class of December 1999's Home Page. This page is a dedication to our class, the instructors, and most of all, our family and friends that supported us in our endeavor to pursue new careers as Air Traffic Controllers. Thank you for helping to make our dreams come true! This page will also help our new "family" keep in touch and share our memories from our time together. Best of luck to everyone!!

The Mid-America Aviation Resource Consortium (MARC) School was set up to demonstrate the viability of a different concept in ATC training for future Air Traffic Controllers than the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. The Air Traffic Control Training Center is part of the Minneapolis Community and Technical College system and is located on Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The school we attended specializes in training for En Route Air Traffic Control. The following paragraphs (from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association) describe the different aspects of ATC.

The U.S. Air traffic controller workforce consists of approximately 15,000 dedicated and well-trained men and women. Most people who fly are probably aware of the controllers working in airport control towers, but many of these professionals work in terminal radar approaches, and en route control centers that few people even see or know about. These are all stressful, high energy environments where every controller knows there is no margin for error. The air traffic controller work force breaks down as follows:

TOWER CONTROLLERS

These controllers work in the glassed-in towers you see at airports. They manage traffic from the airport to a radius of 3 to 30 miles out. They give pilots taxiing and take off instructions, air traffic clearance, and advice based on their own observations and experience. They provide separation between landing and departing aircraft, transfer control of aircraft to the en route center controllers when the aircraft leave their airspace, and receive control of aircraft on flights coming into their airspace.

TERMINAL RADAR APPROACH CONTROLLERS

These controllers work in radar rooms, usually in airport towers. They, like tower controllers, are responsible for the safe separation and movement of aircraft departing, landing, and maneuvering in the airport environment. They normally control traffic below 17,000 feet.

EN ROUTE CENTER CONTROLLERS

These controllers (this is us!) work in 24 centers across the country, in a location away from the airport. You will never see them during the course of your flight, but they will normally direct your aircraft for the bulk of your ride. They usually control traffic at or above 17,000 feet. These controllers give aircraft instructions, air traffic clearances, and advice regarding flight conditions during the en route portions of flights. Center controllers use radar or manual procedures to keep track of the thousands of planes in the sky at any one time. The typical center has responsibility for more than 100,000 square miles of airspace generally extending over a number of states.