FAA is recruiting gamers

The Federal Aviation Administration is pitching gamers on air traffic control jobs as it opens its annual hiring window at 12 a.m. Eastern on April 17. (faa.gov) Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said the campaign is aimed at young adults whose gaming experience may translate into multitasking, spatial awareness, strategy, and fast decision-making. The agency’s ad tells applicants, “You’ve been training for this,” before adding, “It’s not a game. It’s a career.” (faa.gov) (abcnews.com) The Federal Aviation Administration says it has about 11,000 controllers in service and more than 4,000 trainees in the pipeline. The agency says this is its highest staffing level in six years, but it is still trying to expand the workforce. (faa.gov) Air traffic controllers direct planes on runways and in the air so aircraft stay separated and traffic keeps moving. The Federal Aviation Administration says controllers work from more than 400 towers and radar facilities and help manage about 50,000 flights a day during peak travel periods. (faa.gov) The hiring push comes after years of staffing strain. The Government Accountability Office said in January that the number of controllers fell about 6 percent over the past decade even as flights relying on the system rose about 10 percent. (gao.gov) The Government Accountability Office said the shortage was worsened by the 2013 and 2018-2019 government shutdowns, a four-month training pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, and high attrition from 2019 through 2024. It said most new candidates also face a 4-to-6-month academy course in Oklahoma City and then years of on-the-job training before certification. (gao.gov) The Federal Aviation Administration says applicants must be United States citizens, speak English clearly, be younger than 31 before the application period closes, and have at least one year of full-time work experience or one year of higher education. The agency says it has cut the hiring process from eight steps to five and shaved more than four months off the old timeline. (faa.gov) The pay pitch is central to the campaign. The Federal Aviation Administration says trainees start at $22.61 an hour with health and housing benefits during academy training, and its April 10 announcement says the job can reach six figures within three years. (faa.gov 1) (faa.gov 2) The National Air Traffic Controllers Association backed the broader idea of widening the applicant pool but said standards cannot change. Union president Nick Daniels said the union supports outreach to gamers “so long as all pathways maintain the rigorous standards required” for a safety-critical job. (abcnews.com) The Federal Aviation Administration says very few applicants make it all the way through training, and the Government Accountability Office put that figure at about 2 percent. The next test for the gamer pitch starts early on April 17, when the agency begins taking applications for one of the government’s hardest jobs. (gao.gov) (faa.gov)