Occupational Profile

Occupational Profile: Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.

Duties and Responsibilities

Air traffic controller is one of the most important jobs in the aviation industry to ensure efficient, safe, and practical global air travel from day to day. Air traffic controllers in as simple terms as possible are the eye and ears for pilots to navigate through the skies. They guide pilots in and out of the airports, and through the open airspace to ensure that there are

no collisions from aircraft to aircraft. This is a position in the aviation industry where the employees with this title must constantly be on alert from ever second to second. Mistakes in this field can cost many people’s lives, lawsuits, lots of money, and make the headline news. It has been ranked many times as one of the most stressful and mentally challenging jobs there are in the world.
Air traffic controllers in the industry are also referred to as air traffic control specialist, controllers, air traffic officers, or flight controllers.

Some of the most important areas that these air traffic controllers have to mange include ground control, air control, flight information, clearance deliver, approaching terminal, flight traffic mapping, radar coverage, traffic, weather, and radar coverage. Each and every one of these steps are crucial every flight that leaves the airport. Many different air traffic controllers have to work together to achieve one common goal of getting passengers and cargo from place to place safely and it really does take a team effort. At some smaller airports, there may be fewer air traffic controllers to manage multiple jobs, however, at many bigger airports you have multiple controllers to manage the planes getting read to take off and making sure they are aligned orderly and on the right runways. Then you have to have a controller to help them navigate through the sky and at some point in time, trade off the planes to other traffic controllers when entering into another

zone.
To be an air traffic controller the FAA requires many tests, which are mainly psychological as opposed to being about the job duties. To be an air traffic controller, one must have the characteristics of being a confident person. Doubting yourself and not being sure what to do in panic situation are traits that would cause the FAA to disqualify you for the position. Even with all the persistent planning and scheduling, one will never know when a pilot makes a mistake, terrorist activity, or if there are mechanical issues with the aircraft. At any given moment, these things or something worse could occur and an air traffic controller is who everyone turns to for guidance and answers. Someone that is unsure of themselves or breaks down in stressful situations would not be qualified. Decision-making is another big part of the job. Air traffic controllers also are required to have good short term memory to quickly and accurately assist multiple pilots with instructions, even when they may call back in 2 minutes later to ask what they are suppose to do again. This is where patience is crucial as well. English is another requirement for air traffic controllers since it is the international language. Medical and mental exams are also executed upon air traffic controllers to ensure they do not have things such as ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, utilize any type of drug, cardiovascular disease, epilepsy, or even something as controllable as diabetes.
Air traffic controllers are the unspoken heros because they are considered the real pilots of the air. Thousands and thousands of plane around the world are controlled by these guys. To do this efficiently they must be three and four and fives steps ahead of what is actually going on.

Hiring Outlook

To become an air traffic controller there are a few different avenues that the FAA utilizes for people to make this a career.

You do not even have to go to an accredited school as long as you have job experience and you pass the FAA exam. You can go to Oklahoma to the FAA training center for air traffic controllers to get government training. One hiring avenue is VRA, which is basically the veterans, act that hires a lot of controllers that come out of service or armed service. Someone that doesn’t go through the military can figuratively speaking is hired off the street without any military or prior aviation experience. If an individual passes all of the required test and the FAA hires you, you are then sent to the academy or air traffic controlling school where training will qualify you at the end for your Air Traffic Controllers license. From this license you are able to get sub qualifications for different specialties to make you a better candidate for higher paying jobs. Some of these specialties include procedural control, radar, approaching, tower, non-radar, en route control, and a few others. Other restrictions to be considered for this job entail being younger than thirty years old when you first start training and most controllers must retire by the time they are fifty-six years old. If you are applying here in the United States, you must be a United States citizen. For prior military applicants you can start no later than your thirty-first birthday. Applicant

must a medical examination and extremely detailed security investigation. One must have at least three years of work experience, or a bachelor’s degree, or a combination of both equaling to three total years. Then, you have to pass the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic pre-employment tests. This tests an applicant’s ability increase speed, efficiency and decision-making. It is composed of an eight-hour computer program known as Air Traffic Selection and Training (AT-SAT) and the bio-data assessment, which goes hand and hand with the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). Within the next decade the Federal Aviation Administration has been estimating that due to all the forced retirements because of age, they will need to hire more than ten thousand air traffic control center specialist. Once hired the pay levels vary tremendously depending on airport and traffic that airport receives. The pay levels range from traffic levels. Since it is a government job, the government will transfer you to where they need you, however you can always bid or swap with another employee on the same level if you prefer a different location. There is a lot of movement in the air traffic control field, such as instructor, supervisor, working the planes, or ground control. In the field many air traffic controllers say that a lot of stress does not even come from the job itself. Many times it can comes from labor management problems. Since ATC are union, many management teams try to treat them like blue-collar workers and over work them, which causes fatigue and stress. Shift work can be crazy working nights, weekends, days, holidays, blizzards, and anything else that may come, because the planes still need guidance regardless. However many report that there is a lot of satisfaction in knowing that you are saving lives many times without passengers or pilots even really knowing that they are or could potentially be in some immediate danger. With patience, determination, clarity of mind, air traffic controlling can be a challenging, but very rewarding career that pays well in the aviation industry.