Table Five - Civilian
Meteorological
Technician Courses and Conferences (see Notes)
(all course photos by year of
graduation
unless noted)
Much
Help Needed with Names and / or Dates
Acronyms:
| TM |
Technician
Meteorological |
| MTQC |
Meteorological Technician
Qualification
Course |
| UATS |
Upper Air Training School |
| TCTI |
Transport Canada Training
Institute |
| AOTC |
Aerological Observers Training
Centre |
| F |
Cours en français |
| WSS |
Weather Service Specialist |
| APTP |
Apprentice or Professional
Training Program |
Notes re
Civilian Technician Courses (with thanks to Gerry Flucke)
There were: Presentation/Operations
courses,
Presentation courses, Operations courses, and Advanced Met courses from
the early '60s to the early '80s. In 1967, the
Presentation/Operations
course was split into three separate courses: Advanced Met,
Presentation,
Operations. The Advanced Met was a pre-requisite for the Presentation
and
the Operations courses. The Operations Course faded out a little
earlier
as the computer-generated products took over in the major offices.
More on the History of ASTS by Otto
Andres
(January, 2009)
The DOT (Transport Canada) decided to
centralize
the regional training in Ottawa in 1960. The new airport terminal
was partially vacant, to the embarassment of the Department, so it was
decided that the new school be located there. There were three
faculties,
Air Traffic Control, Telecommunications (Radio Operator and
Electronics)
and Meteorology. Meteorological training was provided by the Met
staff to all three faculties. Radio operators were included
because
they took official weather observations at most of their stations.
Initially, only a three-month basic
weather
observing course was taught to the new recruits. Later,
introductory
training was provided to Met Officer courses and subsequently to
advanced
Met Tech courses (Presentation, Operations, Advanced and Field
training).
The first staff consisted of several instructors transferred from the
various
regions. The new ones were selected through competitions.
When Ottawa Airport flying increased
significantly,
other facilities had to be found. Various closed military bases
were
considered but in early 1970's a fairly new convent was occupied while
a new Transport Canada Training Institute was being built.
Cornwall
Ontario was chosen as the preferred site and the move was made to the
residential
school in 1976. The Upper Air training School relocated to Cornwall
from
Scarborough in the late 1970's.
Still more (with thanks to Dave
Tidbury and
others) .......
During the 70's - 80's when technicians
were
hired by AES, there were 2 options (not necessarily choices) - take the
3 month surface weather observer course held at the Ottawa Airport,
where,
upon graduation, you returned to your region as an EG-1. While on
course
you received an allowance. The other option was to go Upper Air. You
had
to successfully pass the Surface Observers course upon which you were
hired
as an EG-1 on probation. You then proceeded to the UATS in *Scarborough
for a four month course in Upper Air with one week dedicated to
Seismology.
You had to pass both to graduate. Later (from 1979), the upper air
training
school was called Aerological Observers Training Centre (AOTC) in
Cornwall.
Approximate dates for locations and
names of technical training (Surface / Entry and Upper Air) courses:
very early training was at
Toronto
Airport (not documented yet)
UATS Toronto Island (and Edmonton):
about
1953 to summer 1959
ASTS Ottawa beginning in 1960
TCTI Ottawa from some time in the 1970s
to 1978 when consolidated in Cornwall
UATS Scarborough fall 1959 to fall of
1978
AOTC Cornwall opened in early 1979, and
entry courses, formerly called Surface Ob became TM
1979: Entry courses renamed Technician
Meteorological (TM)
1986: Entry courses renamed again to:
Meteorological Technician Qualification Course
First entry courses have been called
variously "Surface Met", Surface Obs" and "Basic Met". We have
standardized the naming of these courses to Basic Met. Later they
were called simply by their number, eg TM 80-01.
The last upper air course given in
Scarborough
was 79-01 with the last training flight being done on April 11,
1979.
The last of the staff left Scarborough on May 23, 1979. The UATS
moved to Cornwall during the summer of 79. The first TM, course
TM 79-01,
was given in Cornwall.
Upon graduation, you were entered into
the National Upper Air pool as an EG-3 and you could be posted anywhere
in the country, although preference was given to the region you were
hired
in if there were vacancies. After one - two years you would be promoted
by one level - Surface techs to EG-2 and Upper Air to EG-4. The next
promotion
for many would be as Officer In Charge (OIC) of the station. If you
were
in the surface Weather Observing program, you were promoted to EG-4, if
Upper Air program EG-5, if combined Upper Air and Surface or Upper Air,
Seismology and Ozonesonde program, the OIC was an EG-6.
After a few years, the option of taking
pre-Advanced meteorology by correspondence would be offered. This was
followed
by the Advance Met Course, which then in turn you took the Presentation
course. Your level on graduation depended on the station you were
posted.
If at the site, the tech was required to do both surface weather
observing
and Presentation, then you were an EG-5. If you did only
Presentation,
you were an EG-6. The next step in their career path would be as
Officer-In-Charge
(OIC).
Many Upper Air techs who received a
posting
to an Upper Air site in the south often stayed in Upper Air for the
rest
of their career. For many southern Upper Air techs the option of being
promoted from an EG -4 to EG-5 was not enough to convince them to go
from
Upper Air to Presentation when they compared working Upper Air shifts
versus
the shifts worked by many Presentation techs.
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