Au contraire !!! Our union, NATCA, was able to turn that around. As of October 1, 2009, controllers are once again enjoying "legacy" benefits, and the "B scale" controllers will be ramped up in pay over several years.

I don't know if a new hire today will make what I did on my last day on their last day, but it should be similar. My contemporaries at ZOA have a base pay of about $170,000 now, and should have the highest base pay in the country due to the highest government locality pay.

But, as I warned; the past four years saw FSS contracted out, and guys with days to go to retirement were kicked to the street. Absolutely sickening. Then, the agency unilaterally imposed their own pay and work rules until this recent change. This change would not have happened without intervention from the president of the US.

So, like the airlines, bad stuff can happen at no fault of your own.

At ZOA, we had several airline guys (regional airlines were still just "commuters" then ;-) One, whose dad was seniority number 1 at TWA for a long time (John Maris), was hired after being furloughed right out of TWA new hire class (I think an FE in the B707?). He retired over ten years ago, after 25 years at ZOA. I'm sure he'd think it was a good plan.

We had another who was recalled by PanAm after 15 years at FAA. We went to the class, but came back to ATC. I don't think he completed ground school. That was about 1990 !!!! He also retired.

By the way, you don't have to "make a career out of it". If you're furloughed, go for it. When hiring turns around, start throwing out the apps. If you fail at ATC, there's no PRIA !!!!!