If I was to get training for ATC S2 in the Asia Pacific region, specifically for Australia, will I be able to control in other countries aswell?
The short answer is No. You can become a visiting controller, but you’ll always have to get approval by the local vACC, which includes some training on local procedures etc.
Ok so building on that, if I was to have training in Australia, would I have to go through the whole process again? Or just learn local procedures etc?
It really depends on how the vACC you want to visit deals with visiting controllers.
If your home vACC and the vACC you want to visit have similar procedures, the process will likely be rather quick (I think some vACCs with extremely similar procedures may even have agreements that essentially allow people to visit without any real further training - I feel like I once heard something about Australia and New Zealand having such a thing? (don’t take my word for it though, obviously)), but if the procedures differ greatly, you will likely have to go through more training. It may also be worth to keep in mind that many vACCs have minimum controller rating requirements before you can visit them and as vACCs obviously prioritize training of their home controllers, there may be a waiting period before you can start your guest training or it may even be impossible to become a guest controller at the moment if the vACC’s mentors are already saturated with home controller training.
But in general: just look at the website of the vACC(s) you want to visit and look at the information they provide for potential guest controllers.
As David writes so well different vACC has different rules. One thing though is, that when you get a rating (like S2) this rating can not be taken from you. You are an S2 controller. So the training is not focussed on having you to take the S2 rating again.
Before becomming a visiting controller you’ll normally have to have a good number of hours in your backpack. And also remember to “give back” the hours you’ve been given by your mentors during your training by sitting as controller in that vACC. There is nothing worse than seeing a controller leave after been throu the training. That really feels like a waste of ressource taken from the vACC, that has been committed to educate you. Sometimes we see persons, who simply try to find the vACC with the shortest waiting list, get their rating and then leave to be transferred to another vACC.
Choose your future vACC wisely and stay with them. That’s most benificial to anyone, yourself included. Then you can sometimes spend times visiting other vACCs or when you eventually get your C1 rating helpout in areas were atc are needed, e.g. during the cross the land events, where there sometimes are requests for external atc.
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