Programs Provide Same Curriculum And Advanced Tech

The FAA announced that graduates of two college air traffic control programs may bypass the training academy typically required to be sufficiently trained as a controller.

The FAA has been struggling with a shortage of air traffic controllers for some years, causing flight delays and controller burnout. Many controllers have been forced to work mandatory six-day weeks with overtime and the resulting controller fatigue has been a factor in numerous runway incursions and other incidents.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement, “The FAA is working to hire and train more air traffic controllers, in order to reverse the decades-long decline in our workforce and ensure the safety of the flying public.”

But now, the FAA has accepted graduates from the Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma for jobs and said they can “begin immediate facility training.” This means they do not have to attend the FAA’s training academy, which has been backlogged for several years to graduate new controllers.

Instead, they said the curricula and advanced technology are essentially identical to what students would receive at the academy and can go right into training at an actual control tower, where they would learn the specific area they’ll be working, radar sectors, local procedures, and so on. The FAA says, “this new program will provide the same thorough curriculum and advanced technology offered” at its own academy.

The FAA announced in September that it had met its goal of hiring 1,800 controllers in 2024, but did not specify how many the agency gained after accounting for retirements and attrition.

FMI:  www.faa.gov/