The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported a strong early response to its latest air traffic controller hiring campaign, receiving 6,000 applications within the first 12 hours after the application window opened overnight, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The current hiring window is part of a broader federal push to rebuild the controller pipeline. Earlier FAA updates said the agency had nearly 11,000 certified controllers on duty with more than 4,000 trainees in various stages of training, while still working to meet staffing targets.
This year’s recruiting effort has drawn attention for its marketing strategy aimed at younger applicants, including outreach to the gaming community. Officials say skills such as multitasking, situational awareness and rapid decision-making can translate well to radar room and tower environments.
For pilots, controller staffing remains a significant operational issue. Shortages have been linked to traffic flow restrictions, delays and workload pressures at busy facilities, including Chicago O’ Hare International Airport.
On Friday, the FAA and Duffy announced the facility will operate under federally imposed flight limits this summer. Daily operations will be capped at 2,708 from mid-May through late October 2026, a move expected to trim airline schedules by roughly 300 flights on peak travel days.
“Our number one priority is the safety of the flying public, and that means ensuring airline schedules reflect what the system can safely handle,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “We appreciate the airlines working together with us to reach a responsible level of operations that strengthens safety and delivers a more reliable travel experience for the American public.”
So has FAA improved screening before hiring students?
I read that washout rate is very high.
Keeping track of aircraft and your instructions to them mentally is an essential skill.
Initial applications are screened against the qualification standards - US citizenship, not older than age 30 (at the time of application), 1 year of work experience OR 4-year degree OR combination (and registered with selective service if male). If basically qualified, referred for aptitude testing (currently, Air Traffic Skills Assessment, ATSA). Based on score, placed into a score band (best qualified, well qualified, qualified, not qualified). Tentative offers start with the Best Qualified score band (usually). It all hinges on the validity of the ATSA in predicting success in Academy, facility training, and on-the-job performance. Unfortunately, we have no direct way of knowing how valid ATSA is, as FAA has never released a formal validation study for ATSA (unlike with AT-SAT for which several studies were published publicly). The recent DOT OIG report, using their data, suggests ATSA score is very modestly correlated with initial training outcomes (but better than nothing). The “wash out” rate at the Academy and in the field is not all that exceptional or unusual when viewed historically. Only about 4% of post-strike applicants made it to FPL 1982-1995. And keep in mind NO test is perfectly reliable and valid; there will always be those that are hired and fail (and there will be folks not hired who could have succeeded). Can the testing be improved? Yes. There is a contract with the Personnel Decisions Research Institute (PDRI, Minneapolis) to develop and validate a new controller aptitude test battery. Will it be better? We won’t know unless the FAA releases the validation study.
Unfortunately the hiring process is still badly flawed. These candidates are not subject to interviews with a panel of experts (controllers) who can correctly assess the qualities of the candidate for comparability in the job. Yes there are REAL traits to easily see if someone can do the job and sadly it has nothing to do with intelligence. The ability to speak English is a major one.
Interviews, properly conducted, can be useful in ATCO hiring. But, on one hand, the broad personnel selection research literature does not support the validity of unstructured interviews by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) (e.g., incumbent controllers) as a hiring tool. On the other hand, the literature does support the use of structured interviews with defined evaluation criteria and procedures as hiring tools. The key is to keep conscious and unconscious biases out of the interview process and decision-making. And as far as spoken English … with advances in voice recognition and AI, it should be possible now to assess that objectively.