As of August 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently accepted over 29,000 applications from entry-level candidates for air traffic controller (ATC) positions. The FAA Academy’s Air Traffic Division, (AMA-500) is preparing its instructional staff, training equipment, laboratories and classrooms for the arrival of new students.
Applicants accepted into the training program are being assigned to either the En Route or Terminal Air Traffic training programs. Initially, they will attend the Air Traffic Basics Course. The course covers basic aviation and ATC subjects that are essential for the follow-on En Route or Terminal Initial Training Programs. Upon successful completion of the Air Traffic Basics Course, the students will then enter their pre-determined initial training program.
The Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) airspace is the area located immediately around an airport which includes runways, taxiways, terminal buildings, and hangars. Controllers assigned to towers manage the movement of aircraft on the movement area, including taxiways and runways, and are responsible for providing the actual take-off and landing instructions through the issuance of clearances.
This low-fidelity lab is where students learn the rudiments of the control positions when working in a tower cab. Basic skills include: flight data/clearance delivery, ground control, and local control. The flight data/clearance delivery position issues the initial clearance to aircraft that will depart the airport. The ground controller provides aircraft movement instructions from where they are parked to the active runway. The local controller controls the active runway and issues takeoff and landing clearances. In addition to the table-top lab, students are provided training on medium and high fidelity simulators that provide them with realistic real-time training on the application of the job of ATCT controller.
The Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC’s), comprising 21 different facilities in our National Airspace System (NAS) are the most common option for students to be assigned. Each Center has large segments of airspace allocated. For instance, the Washington Control Center located in Leesburg, VA has an area of responsibility that extends from the ground to 60,000 ft. in an area located south of Harrisburg, PA to east of Baltimore, south to Richmond, VA and Wilmington, NC then north, just east of Charleston, WV. Within this large piece of airspace lay many ATCTs, and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities. Normally ARTCCs provide services associated with a major airport hub such as Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW/ZFW), Chicago (C90/ZOB), and Atlanta (A90/ZTL) to name a few.
The skills necessary to run Non-Radar controlled scenarios involve, but are not inclusive to: intimate knowledge of airspace, control instructions, arrival and departure clearances, aircraft characteristics, and communication procedures. All of these skills are taught during the proceeding academic portion of the course. Mastery of Non-Radar skills is commonly considered essential for an individual’s success in the En Route training program.
The Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Facilities are facilities whose airspace is around an airport or airports that range from 15 to more than 50 miles in diameter where controllers are responsible for handling departing aircraft and sequencing arriving aircraft using radar air traffic procedures. Very few students are assigned to this initial training course due to the high demand in other facilities. All of the training courses are extremely rigorous and challenging since safety is an absolute requirement in the Air Traffic Control profession. The FAA currently employs over 14,000 controllers and plans to fill approximately 1,400 positions from the recent August announcement.
