Earlier this week, the FAA announced it has exceeded its hiring goal for air traffic controllers for Fiscal Year 2024 (ending September 30). A total of 1,811 new hires have signed on, eleven more than the target figure of 1,800. The agency said in a statement that the figure was the highest in nearly 10 years and represents “important progress” toward stemming a decades-long decline in ATC staffing numbers.
Here’s a wildass evaluation: The FAA is patting itself on the back for hiring 1,811 air traffic controllers in Fiscal Year 2024, but let’s be real—air traffic control is no walk in the park. After all the stress, simulations, and caffeine-fueled nights in Oklahoma City, we can expect only around 1,087 to 1,449 brave souls to cross the finish line and get certified in two to four years.
Now, to actually solve this ATC shortage (and avoid pilots getting lonely circling in holding patterns for years to come), the FAA’s going to need to keep this hiring spree going for at least another five to ten years. Think of it as the FAA’s decade-long subscription to the “Air Traffic Controller of the Month Club,” keeping the skies stocked with fresh talent until we hit the 2030s with enough controllers to finally take a breather.
How many more qualified controllers are there now compared to a year ago? How much of the ATC workforce is being assigned overtime such that working six days a week is their normal? How many controllers will be eligible to retire each of the next ten years?
This is akin to having your head in the sand and at the same time saying “no I don’t.” This is frightening, seriously frightening. Just because you say it’s fixed, or, on the way to being fixed doesn’t make it so.
If there is not already a research project working on an AI solution to this 4D space-time problem, there soon will be. I doubt any of these new hires will retire in their position.
Too little too late. 6 day work weeks haven been and will remain in place for quite some time. I’m bailing off this sinking ship the exact minute I’m eligible to retire…just about the same time that a HUGE number of eligible employees will be going. Not if…when. The real immediate need isnt for hiring a bunch of people that have to wait to go through the academy…its opening more training centers. 1800+ people in class sizes of 30 at best to filter through one singular point of training.
As a former 38 year ATC guy, veteran of mandatory 6 day work weeks, Raf has said it correctly. Unless this continues to be repeated many times a year, this means nothing. And these new hires provide nothing on the job for several years except at very low level facilities where they are not needed. Out of this group, how many can actually certify at one of the understaffed busy facilities? Probably not enough to keep up with attrition much less add warm bodies to the facility needs. I was an instructor at the Academy right after the strike. New students came pouring in, enough that we had to run classes both day and evening. FAA needs to hire to at least that level continuously for a long time to get staffing where it should be.
It is, indeed, great to recruit 1,800 people to qualify as controllers. However, how long will it take to train and prepare them from scratch to do this complex job? Also, even after basic training is completed will these “recruits” get a sufficient period of close supervision and performance review before they take responsibility for traffic decisions? Needless to say, if these people are rushed through the process in order to make the FAA look good, will there be tragic consequences? Maybe the carriers should be restricted in adding flights to make more money until fully trained and qualified people are in place to handle them and protect the flying public.
“Entry-level applicants must complete required training courses and spend several months at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. After graduating the academy, individuals are placed in locations across the country and must gain 1-3 years on-the-job experience before becoming a certified professional controller.”
So looks like several months between hire and trainee controller.
So confused about all the negativity from so many here. Is it just habitual nay-saying? I’m trying to understand the conditions under which hiring more controllers than targeted and continuing to recruit and hire is a bad thing.
Are you ATC? If not, what is it you know that people like me, 42 years total ATC time, don’t know?
At the “welcoming” assembly at the academy the audience was told to look at the person on the right, then the person o the left. And that at the end of their training cycle one of them would not pass. It was proven to be true over and over again. And then there was the washout rate in OJT at the facility they are assigned. May times teaching another 50%.
Instead of asking inane questions, do the math…and listen to the voices of the pros. You may learn something.
So … what, then? What’s the number that FAA needs to hire and train? What are the steps you and the others bagging on this announcement think need to be taken? I get that you think 1,800 new recruits isn’t enough - what number is?
And finally - what are YOU going to do about it? Complain to the dozen commenters here, or call your elected representatives and tell them what needs to be done?
There is no need to get knee-jerk nasty in order to defend your agency. It is true that not every recruit will qualify for the controller job, but with the growing controller shortage there is going to be a lot of pressure on the Agency to shortcut the training and qualification period and pass people who are not ready. Perhaps we should also be concerned about whether recruiting standards were compromised or ignored in order to get to the 1,800 number. You should know better than most of us that a controller is not some bureaucrat pounding a computer keyboard and that many people’s lives depend on these important people being fully competent and qualified. I have a right to ask these questions and I know that agencies nearly always look to every possible strategy to meet quotas and goals so that the managers can look good and be promoted. I absolutely hope that you are correct and this does not happen here.
The FAA can go out and say they hired 1811 controllers. Take 40% that will not make it through the medical or training process. The age 56 needs to be fixed, that is short term fix, but it will help!!
One last bite at this apple, then you all can fight amongst yourselves. The BLS (use your own source if you prefer) says that there were 24,000 employed in ATC in 2023 and that needs to grow by 700 by 2033 - so 70 net new controllers per year. If controllers work on average 20 years before cueing up their inner Merle Haggard, that suggests about 1,000 replacements are needed per year assuming a uniform distribution of tenure. 1,000 replacements plus 70 net new totals 1,070 new controllers per year. If a third of each class washes out (TeeCee’s ‘look to your right/left, etc.) then that means the FAA needs about 1,600 new recruits per year. Last year 1,500, this year 1,800, recruiting (actually, selecting from the 50k+ applications submitted) ongoing. Check.
Come up with your own number. Explain your reasoning and show your work. No credit for feelings, intuition or the way it was 20 years ago. Points off for name-calling.
If your number is larger than the FAA’s, call your congressman.