haven't written the intro or conclusion yet. it's a research paper on air traffic control (what i do). looking mostly for organization and punctuation.

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The nature of the work may vary considerably with the assignments. Some air traffic controllers work in control towers ensuring aircraft safe operation in the immediately surrounding airspace as well as on the airport surface. Others deal strictly with airborne aircraft such as departing aircraft, en route aircraft, and approaching aircraft. Air traffic controllers use radio detection and ranging equipment as well as other complex radar equipment in their work. They may also use computers and database systems for flight plan information. Some air traffic controllers train and supervise other controllers, provide pilots with useful information such as weather conditions and suggested routes, and other information crucial to the safe operation of the aircraft.

For those individuals assigned to a control tower, training begins in the clearance delivery position. In this position, it is the controller’s responsibility to issue initial route of flight and altitude to aircraft. Next, the controller will move on to ground control. In this position, the controller is responsible for taxiing departure aircraft to the runway, as well as taxiing arriving aircraft back to their gate. After completion of ground control, the controller will move on the local control position. In this position, the controller will clear aircraft for takeoff and clear aircraft to land. It is both the ground and local controller’s responsibility to relay pertinent weather information to the aircraft.

Although not present at all airports, at some major airports there is an approach facility. In this facility, controllers will accept aircraft handoffs from en route facilities and guide them to the arrival runway using radar scopes. They will also receive departure aircraft from the local controller and guide them safely out of the airspace before handing then off to the en route facility.

Unlike the terminal radar and tower controllers, en route controllers do not work at airports. En route controllers are responsible for the safe operation of aircraft throughout the airspace that exists between the departure airport and the arrival airport. There are twenty-four en route facilities located throughout the United States. Each is responsible for hundreds of miles of airspace. With that much airspace, is because necessary to divide it up into sectors. A team of two-to-three controllers is usually responsible for one sector. When first assigned to an en route facility, a controller is trained in the assist position. In this position, the controller does not talk to aircraft, they simply coordinate with other sector teams and facilities for airspace and handoffs of aircraft. After this position comes the radar control position. This controller guides the aircraft safely through the air before handing it off to another sector.

Twenty years ago, the FAA fired about 11,000 air traffic controllers because of a strike. Replacement controllers were trained and hired, and it is now nearing the time for those same replacement controllers to retire. As a result, over the next decade, air traffic controllers will be in high demand. Additionally, increasing numbers of flights will require an increased number of controllers. However, despite the increasing number of job openings, competition to get into the FAA will remain highly competitive.

Air traffic controllers have tremendous responsibility placed upon them daily. To prevent hiring individuals not capable of handling such responsibility, the Federal Aviation Administration has stringent guidelines and prerequisites to be followed before an individual is considered for employment. The first step to becoming an air traffic controller is enrolling in an FAA-approved education program and passing a pre-employment aptitude test which assesses an individual’s ability to learn the functions of an air traffic controller. Additionally, aspiring controllers must have three years of full-time work experience or four years of college, or a mixture of both. They must also pass a medical examination, drug screening, and security clearance. Once an individual completes all pre-employment requirements and is selected for employment in the FAA as an air traffic controller, they must attend the FAA Academy located in Oklahoma City. This twelve week course is designed to teach students the fundamentals of the airway system, federal aviation regulations, and familiarize them with air traffic control equipment. After completion of the academy program, controllers are transferred to their new facilities and begin their combination of on-the-job and classroom training. Depending on the type and geographic location of the facility, this can take up to three years to complete.

Air traffic controllers normally work eight hours a day, forty hours a week. Overtime is available; however, due to the stressful nature of the job, a controller can not work more than ten hours in a day. Additionally, they must have at least twelve hours of crew rest between shifts. Because total concentration is required of the controller at all times, proper crew rest must always be achieved. In addition to a thirty-minute lunch break, controllers must also be granted fifteen-minute breaks after every two hours of working aircraft.

Training, experience, type of employment, responsibilities, and complexity of the facility all influence salaries for air traffic controllers. The annual salary of an air traffic controller in 2002 was $91,600 with the lowest ten percent earning less than $46,410, and the highest ten percent earning more than $131,610. Controllers employed by the Federal Government also enjoy fringe benefits such as paid vacations, sick leave, life insurance, and health benefits.

Have you read Ender's Shadow? What a rediculous story. Card creates two different characters (Ender's Game Bean and Ender's Shadow Bean) and then tries jump back and forth without his reader knowing. Every line of dialougue between Ender and Bean has a good paragraph explaining why Bean is talking out of character and why Ender cannot see Bean for who he is. I've read a quite of few of Orson Scott Cards books now and the majority are just crap. Infact Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead where the only good ones that I have read.

Anyway, I had a copy of Ender's Shadow on my pda. I got half way through it and found the rest of the text was garbled so I had to buy the damn book to finish it. 11 bucks for 200 pages, most of which was ender/bean crap. I was dissappointed.

orson scott card is a total lunatic

http://www.ornery.org/