A Pressing Need

Colleges and universities help FAA in training badly needed air traffic controllers. But is it enough?

With U.S. airlines posting healthy revenues in a post-Covid environment, the need for additional air traffic controllers to staff airport towers and radar rooms across the country is readily apparent. Incidents of runway incursions and misnamed “near misses” have prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make a concerted effort to hire and train more controllers of tomorrow.

In 2023, FAA hired 1,500 controllers and 1,800 so far in 2024.

As this article was being compiled, FAA said aspiring air traffic controllers had until this November 4 to apply for the next training class.

CTI and AT-CTI

At present, FAA has more than 14,000 air traffic controllers on the job, with 3,400 prospective controllers in varying stages of training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, or enrolled in various universities aligned with the agency’s Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) and the recently announced Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program. Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma are the first two AT-CTI participants and more schools are expected to sign on. Forty-one schools are part of the standard CTI program.

Graduates who receive an official endorsement certificate from an AT-CTI school will go directly to an FAA facility. Typically, trainees receive 16 weeks of instruction at the Academy. Those enrolled in the standard AT-CTI program will still need to go to the FAA Academy, but can bypass the introductory Air Traffic Basics Course. Graduates of both initiatives will still have to pass the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) test.

Prospective air traffic controllers must be under 31-years of age, pass a security investigation as well as a Class II medical examination to get hired. Trainees also must pass FAA’s air traffic pre-employment test.

Of the ongoing hiring and CTI partnerships, FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker stated: “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.”

Newly minted controllers could be assigned to various airports or Terminal Radar Approach Control Centers (TRACON), which control inbound and outbound air traffic. Center controllers handle enroute air traffic using long-range radar and radio services to ensure adequate separation of airborne aircraft. New controllers will typically be assigned to smaller towers to obtain on-the-job seasoning. Most air traffic controllers work directly for FAA, although some initially work at “contract” towers, where private companies handle ATC services.

ERAU and UND as ATC Sources

Graduates of either CTI program are first considered before walk-in candidates.

“These candidates have a greater chance of being hired by FAA,” said Michael J. McCormick (Ph.D.), associate professor & program coordinator for the Air Traffic Management (ATM) degree program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). That said, “the requirements are much more robust than the standard CTI program.” McCormick’s experience includes 33-years at FAA as a control tower operator and air traffic control specialist.

Embry-Riddle’s baccalaureate Bachelor’s of Science Air Traffic Management (ATM) program consists of 120 credit hours over four years. Students are allowed to take an additional course load to graduate six-months earlier.

Asked about the ongoing controller shortage, McCormick said: “It’s a combination of two-things. One, there has been long-standing funding problems for FAA. The agency is tied to an annual budgetary process that requires Congress to fund an annual appropriations bill. When Congress fails to reach consensus on a budget, all hiring and training processes stop. That has happened several times in the last decade.”

The other factor that adversely affected FAA’s workforce was the Covid pandemic. “With the pandemic, FAA had to shutdown the FAA Academy for nearly a year,” McCormick said. “All training of prospective air traffic control specialists stopped. Putting those two factors together created a chronically understaffed air traffic control workforce.”

As for ERAU’s participation in the E-CTI, the FAA audit team recently visited the university to see if it meets all the requirements for Enhanced CTI. There are two modes of E-CTI, Terminal (Tower) and Enroute (Center).

ERAU applied to the FAA for Terminal course in the current semester, with plans to apply for Enroute for the Spring semester. Each flavor requires course content for Air Traffic Basics. For each Terminal and Enroute course, there are around 29-lessons taught in an Intro To and Advanced course, McCormick said. With the terminal and enroute, ERAU provides 13-24 simulation exercises in the lab. Then, the student receives a graded exam and 3-4 graded simulation exercises.

The University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences (UND Aerospace) is another school linked to FAA’s standard AT-CTI program and has signed up for the enhanced CTI program.

In the 1990s, FAA asked UND Aerospace and other schools if universities could help train prospective controllers. All said the concept could work. UND Aerospace graduated its’ first class of controller graduates in 1992 as part of FAA’s Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI).

As for the enhanced initiative, FAA has accepted UND Aerospace’s application. A virtual interview will be held followed by an on-site visit by FAA to check out the school’s capabilities and obtain answers to last-minute questions. Hopefully, by November 2024, UND Aerospace will be accepted into the enhanced CTI program.

Will the existing and enhanced CTI programs, and what the FAA Academy contributes, provide enough controllers to manage air traffic over the US?

“That is the goal, but it won’t happen over night,” said Craig Carlson, associate professor and assistant chair for Air Traffic Management at UND Aerospace. It is not a quick fix.”

Asked about using Extended Reality/Virtual Reality for controller instruction, Carlson, a former USAF controller, who worked at FAA’s Chicago center said: ‘“VR is a few years off for air traffic [management] training. We asked FAA about it and they said, ‘we tried it out and people (students) got sick. So, we’re not really interested.’”

include the Tower 3 instruction because the school doesn’t yet have the enroute software to run the Radar 3 class. Once the software is available, the enroute instruction will be a six-credit class.

The ATM degree also includes a data-entry class, which allows students to input flight plans. Enroute non-radar and enroute radar classes, where students practice arrivals, departures and overflights, also are part of the curriculum, as is instruction on high altitude and low center altitude sectors.

NATCA Perspectives

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the primary union representing US-based air traffic controllers, said the number of fully qualified controllers should exceed 14,600 to adequately staff centers and towers. In the future, the number should be greater than 15,000, as outlined by the Controller Resource Workforce Group (CRWG). FAA states that it would take eight years to get up to full capacity, according to NATCA.

As for improved training, “we are in lockstep with [FAA] the agency on air traffic controller training,” said James Halton, NATCA national training representative. “We are strong proponents of the [standard] CTI and enhanced programs.”

Halton offered one cautionary note: “Hiring 2,000 air traffic controllers does not [necessarily] net you 2,000 controllers. The attrition rate at the Academy is almost 41% for enroute controllers, and 30-35% for terminal controllers. So, we are losing controllers at each sector.”

The success rate is much higher when controllers start at a lower-level facility, he added.

Halton addressed one area of training that needs more attention: more instructors with the time to train prospective controllers to build their skills.

“Because we don’t have the proper staffing, it forces us to train at an accelerated manner, which contributes to the attrition rate,” said Halton.

NATCA also would like to see seasoned controllers accompany trainees during simulator training. “But in most instances, we have to rely on contractors because we don’t have enough controllers to release some from the control room to participate in simulation training,” said Halton. Having controllers work six-days a week, ten hours a day, doesn’t help.

NATCA’s current contract was signed in July 2016, extended by mutual agreement in 2022 and expires in July 2026.

The Enhanced AT-CTI program will not only help supply controllers, but bolsters FAA’s commitment to air safety.

Summed Whitaker: “We’re excited to have these schools become pioneers in this initiative and look forward to seeing more applications from schools as we build out these partnerships.”

For further insights into FAA’s evolving training strategies, see Robert Moorman's latest article on next-generation technology in controller training.