Agreement Enables Bypassing ATC Academy Amid Shortage

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s first cohort of students in its air traffic control program is on track way to advance to FAA facilities for controller training. Skirting the FAA’s ATC Academy was made possible by a 2024 agreement signed onto by the agency and University to fast-track controller hiring as the agency faces a staffing shortage.

The four students have entered the testing phase that includes both a written exam and ‘check rides’ in ERAU’s enhanced ATC labs at its Daytona Beach, Florida, campus. Two faculty members in the University’s Air Traffic Management program have been fully certified by the FAA to evaluate the students, who will be able to complete the testing prior to their graduation in May.

Embry-Riddle is among the first three institutions approved under the FAA’s Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative, or AT-CTI, a program that the agency established that permits students to skip training at its ATC Academy in Oklahoma City as long as they pass the same rigorous evaluations. The other two schools are Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma.

The program benefits both the students and the FAA by accelerating the hiring process, which is very desirable because the FAA has been chronically short-staffed for years, a situation that has received much more scrutiny in recent months due to several high-profile accidents and incidents.

Students who pass all the testing as well as the Air Traffic Skills Assessment exam, may advance directly to ATC facilities for further facility-specific training, provided they also meet the medical and security requirements.

Dr. Mike McCormick, Associate Professor and Air Traffic Management program director at Embry?Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus said, “Whereas previously it would take one to two years for students to go through the process post-graduation, now they are able to enter into the workforce immediately.”

FMI:  erau.edu/