Chapter 11. FAA Contract Tower Operation and Administration

Section 3. Training

11-3-1. TESTING AND CERTIFICATION

  1. The AJT district must ensure that facility rating, control tower operator (CTO) certification, or FAA Air Traffic Safety Oversight Credentials are performed. The FCT ATM must contact the district in a timely manner to schedule CTO certification.
  2. At Limited Aviation Weather Reporting Stations ( LAWRS) designated FCTs, the FCT ATM must arrange initial LAWRS observer training and testing and coordinate certification or certificate transfer with AJT-22 via email requests to 9-AJT-HQ-ASWO@faa.gov.

11-3-2. BRIEFING/TRAINING ITEMS

  1. ATO Headquarters organizations, Service Center Offices, and districts must ensure that required briefing materials are distributed in a format that can be utilized by FCT facilities.
  2. AJT districts must ensure that all required briefing items are forwarded to their assigned FCTs.

11-3-3. CIC DESIGNATION AT FCT‐OPERATED FACILITIES

CIC designation at FCT‐operated facilities differs from CIC designation at FAA‐operated facilities due to administrative differences. For FCTs, candidates for CIC must:

  1. Have been prior certified FAA/DoD/military controllers, or have FCT CIC experience, with assessment by the ATM that the candidate's experience is suitable for CIC designation. Candidates hired via Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative or Control Tower Operator Partnership (CTO-P) must have been certified for 6 months in the facility where CIC duties will be performed. The Service Area Director of Air Traffic Operations may issue a facility waiver for the 6‐month requirement where a more immediate assignment is needed. Waivers to facilities will be for 2 years.
  2. Be operationally current.
  3. Be selected by the ATM.