FAA enhances air traffic control wages: What to know before applying

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its first tour of the 2025 air traffic controller on Thursday.
• The highly tension function with challenges such as fatigue, but the average annual salary is six numbers.
• Strict training, testing and retirement control units must be subject to 56.

The Trump administration has a plan to increase air traffic monitoring employees: employ faster and more money.

Transport Minister Sean Duffy said on Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration has accelerated employment to reduce more than four months of the schedule.

Candidates attending the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City will get 30 % more. The agency said that the average salary of observers is now $ 160,000.

The Federal Aviation Administration has reopened its employment window, with acceptance until March 17.

Being an air traffic monitor is a very high -pressure action. More than 14,000 country workers are responsible for moving tens of thousands of lives on the plane throughout the country every day.

The pressure on FAA to employ control units comes more quickly amid increasing interest in air safety after a series of accidents. The collision of deadly US aircraft in January highlighted potential lapses in US air traffic systems.

The agency was fighting a lack of control for years. CNN reported in May 2024 that FAA was about 3000 short control units, although it achieved the employment goal in 2024 of 1,800 and plans to employ 2000 others this year.

Business Insider spoke with Cedrick Earley Controller FAA to discuss what is like working in the job. Here are nine things you should know before progressing to become an airfoot monitor.

You do not need a university degree to work in ATC

ATC is a good option for people looking for a high -level job that does not require a university degree.

According to the publication of the job on Thursday, the qualified applicant must:

• Be an American citizen
• Speak English clear and fluent
• Be at the age of 31 before the request closed (more later)
• You have one year of full -time work experience, higher education, or a mixture
• Meet the specified physical and mental fitness standards

Successful applicants who advance through the Federal Aviation Administration must undergo more famous training and mandatory test tests, such as efficiency test, skills assessment, and physical and psychological examinations, before they are officially appointed.

Applicants will spend up to five months at the Academy, where training and testing will occur. However, some applicants come from other jobs, such as the army.

Erly said that he passed through the Air Force to become a console instead of passing through the Federal Aviation Administration.

“[Air Force] He said: “The quality of the training you receive from the Air Force is equivalent to what you will get if you go to the road with the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma.”

It should be less than 31

According to FAA, all ATC applicants must be 30 or less on the date of closing the demand period to qualify for this position.

This is because the agency has been identified through Wide -scale research The older person, the more difficult they must complete strict training.

However, according to the agency, those who already have experience in air traffic control can be set up to 35 years.

You have to go through a lot of tests and training

Whether you control FAA or the army, you will have to undergo training months, efficiency, physiological, physiological, and skills. These tests evaluate the health of applicants, and their ability to train and perform the job.

Initial tests are success/failure, according to the agency, and failure in some tests will lead to the elimination of applicants from the recruitment process.

Training requires about 50 % Who controls the ambitious air force who failed.

You will not necessarily work in a tower

Erly said that traffic monitors are not only limited to the airport tower, but they can also work in several hundreds of facilities around them and airports at the country level.

For example, one can work in the control facility in the terminal radar approach, or Tracon, in Memphis and is responsible for controlling the aircraft that leaves the airport for its next destination and directing flights to the airport for a rapid and safe landing.

Employees can also work in an air traffic control center, or ARTCCCS, throughout the United States, which direct The planes are on their way to their destinations.

The work can be highly tension and sometimes boring

You can be an exhausting air traffic controller due to the heavy work burden and a highly used environment. However, based on the extent to which the sky is busy, the task can be boring and boring.

Former air traffic controller Michel Robson books In 2020, the task can be calm at night, but the control units should always be on alert and ready to work at any hour when transformation.

While some controlled units find the task very stressful, Erly said that this is not the case for him because he enjoys “the challenge of coming every day to a new mystery.” However, he admitted that this work keeps him on his toes.

“Control units are always learning the job, such as updating and improving operations or learning new rules and procedures,” he explained. “It is a job where you always have to change and adapt.”

Safety is the maximum priority

Air traffic controllers control about 50,000 daily flights in the United States, so safety is the most important aspects of the job.

It strengthens an increasing number of aircraft that collide or collide more than training and system improvement in FAA via airports and ATC facilities.

According to Earley, there are many Tings control devices to ensure that nothing is missed.

“I am working in front of the radar, and it may be busy at times, so it is not supposed to work in a situation more than two hours every time, so we get a break to keep us trembling,” he said. “We also do not work more than 10 hours in one day, and there is a certain amount of hours that we should be outside before we can work again.”

The Federal Aviation Administration carried out new rules in 2024 to reduce fatigue from control by increasing the time of rest between at least nine hours to at least 10 hours. Control units also get 12 hours before and after midnight shifts.

Erly also explained that there is a repeat of the job to raise safety and that the control units and other supervisors help verify each other’s work.

“Everyone is already able to see what is going on with any specific person at that time, so it is one team, one battle,” he said. “If we notice that there is something of the species, we can draw the attention of the console, and they can fix it before it becomes a bigger problem.”

The salary is good, but the work schedule can be inconsistent

Erly explained the job salary, which increases with seniority, in addition to the benefits provide a good balance between work and life.

“It is a job that drives me well and allows me to support my family,” he said. “I am also able to spend free time for myself, like spending time with my daughter.”

However, he also said that his schedule is not 9-5.

“I have some transformations that I make from midnight to 8 in the morning, in addition to some scattered transformations 12-8, so it revolves,” he said. “I always know what my hours are every day, but it’s not always at the same time. It’s constantly inconsistent.”

You know your schedule for the entire year

According to Erly, air traffic controllers define their agenda a year ago.

“When we put our time tables, we offer to provide what we want for the next year, then we got our full schedule for this year,” he said. “It helps in terms of planning to leave.”

He also explained that the schedule is for only one year, and control devices can change it the following year.

You can retire at 56

All air traffic monitors should retire at 56 due to the possibility of high memory, hearing loss, violation, or visual decrease in older individuals.

However, Erly said that the 56 -year -old cuts applies only to actively traffic traffic, so units that have not yet been retired can get office or management job instead.