The Air Traffic Controller Crisis is Real in America

You reap what you sow? Some agencies are their own worse enemies. I have a similar story…..it’s called flogging a dead horse.

Are you happier as a dispatcher or you think ATC with all the issues they face now would’ve been a better career choice?

When did the salary become so low? I thought FAA ATC made $100K at least. Perhaps I just thought they did.

Denver area pay starts at $59K. Pay progresses with position certifications to $89K, $103K and finally $118K at BJC and APA, which are the lowest paid facilities in the metro.

Agree. This was a poorly written and researched article. No data, no interviews, no analysis, just hyperbole and hearsay.

Hire a 'check the box' is ridiculous! Would you want a doctor performing open heart surgery on you, only because he/she 'checked the box' . NO. I've heard stories from within...pilots freezing during landing, near crashes into the ocean (United-Hawaii) because the pilots/copilots were in the 'check the box' category. Only the best should be hired--regardless of race/gender. PERIOD.

All federal government jobs are on the usajobs website. Why would they use a commercial website when they can waste taxpayers money on their own website?

https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?jt=Air%20Traffic%20Control%20Specialist%20-%20Trainee

It would have been helpful if this opinion piece cited even a shred of evidence to support the drinking claim. This is a serious charge. Yet, there is nothing here behind conjecture. The New York Times took a swing at this topic on Dec. 2 (and it looks as if the author of this piece took inspiration from it).

The idea seems attractive and has already been tried in Canada in some specialized schools but has not yielded the expected results for the simple reason that these schools did not have the means to support the human, technical and financial infrastructures required to simulate an air traffic control unit to bring candidates to an interesting enough level of proficiency for the “final” employer. When we refer to “Flight simulation”, we generally refer to ONE simulator, ONE or 2 pilots depending on the type of aircraft and ONE instructor (who usually plays the role of ATC for radio exchanges). The reproduction of an air traffic control unit requires a large number of connected consoles with an equally large number of trainees to allow the simulation of a significant traffic flow with all the coordination/interaction that this implies. In the background, you need a proportional number of actors/pilots (feeders) to enter the flight controls data in the computers, the controllers' instructions, and give the radio feed-back. The selection and training of these feeders is not straightforward in the sense that they must already be skilled and fast enough to understand and correctly enter the data corresponding to the controllers' instructions that often arrive at them in bursting sequences. During high-density exercises, a feeder can hardly represent more than one aircraft. This means that an exercise with 20 aircraft in flight simultaneously will occupy more or less 20 feeders. In addition, they must be familiar with the phraseology of air traffic control and aviation in general and, last but not least, familiar with the characteristics of the type of aircraft they simulate so as not to accept clearances/instructions outside the actual flight capabilities of the aircraft in question. So, it cannot be an ad hoc workforce. It must be a group of permanent employees who will receive training and periodic refresher classes. Maybe this is an area where AI could bring significant improvements. It should also be remembered that if you simulate a unit with radar consoles, communication lines, etc., these devices will require the same level of maintenance as those in the real environment, otherwise your simulator will soon or later come to a halt. Finally (as I have been told once as an instructor at the national school), training in ATC as one primarily purpose: skim from the start candidates who do not have the potential to later occupy a position in a large unit, minimize long-term investments and free up places for more promising candidates.

Empirically, I would say your data is correct. It was my experience. However...I would disagree with your assumption the system is flawed. It worked. It weeded out the candidates that couldn't hack it for whatever reason, in fact it's become easier now (in general) to be certified and I'm sorry, but that's not a good thing. The problem is in the PIPELINE. The Academy has been shut down numerous times over the years due to budgetary constraints, the Plandemic, etc... The CTI schools were just making a buck and passing on students that couldn't be successful. They need to go back to hiring "off the street" to candidates that can pass the OPM knowledge test and make it through the Academy pass/fail. I had to quit my job, pack up my household goods and put them in storage in California to drive to OKC on 3 weeks notice with no guarantees whatsoever. I studied my a** off with other classmates during 4 months of hell on earth, only to be sent to a facility not of my choosing. Bring all that back. If you really, really want it, and you have the talent, you'll succeed. Otherwise, hit the bricks and find something else to do.

I had the "privilege" of working with about a dozen "rehires" that Clinton authorized back in the mid-90s. All of these guys were in their 60s or early 70s even back then, while mandatory retirement age is 56. I can only remember two that managed to certify, and they were still terrible. The rest were hopeless. ATC is a young man's game. I'm 60 now and there's no freakin' way I could do that job any more. So, that ship has sailed. You do realize they were fired in 1981 and it's now 2023?? SMH...

The youngest of Whom would now be in their late 60s now.