The FAA adds a new college to its air traffic controller roster
The FAA has expanded its network of collegiate training sites with the addition of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University of Daytona Beach, Florida.
It’s no secret that the FAA has an ongoing need for more air traffic controllers. Air traffic control takes more training and skill than making whole milk cappuccinos, though. Now, the FAA has expanded its network of collegiate training sites with the addition of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University of Daytona Beach, Florida. Christopher Wilbanks, FAA’s deputy vice president of safety and technical training, joined The Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more details.
Interview transcript:
Tom Temin: All right. And to use these, I guess, there’s three colleges now, three university settings. Is that where all control or training takes place or do they augment what the FAA does?
Christopher Wilbanks: Great question. The augment. So we have not gotten away from our academy, which is in Oklahoma City. We still have our initial qualification academy there where we run our terminal and our enroute students through. We did a little over 1600 through the academy there last year and will continue to do more through the academy this year, as well as the colleges that we’re bringing on to this collegiate training initiative that we talked about.
Tom Temin: And this collegiate training initiative, is that open for undergraduates? Are they graduate students or could someone that lives nearby that’s in postgraduate decide they want to change careers and enroll there?
Christopher Wilbanks: So I think any level, honestly. If you decided you wanted to take that career choice, you could enroll. They have anywhere from a two- to a four-year degree depending on the college. Some of our more recent signings, TCC was actually our first community college that signed back about a month ago. They were our first school to come on board with this. And then Oklahoma University, which is a four-year college for the program. And then most recently, as you mentioned, Embry-Riddle. We’ve got probably about 35 colleges in the pipeline that are at various stages of signing on for the Enhanced CTI. And we go through kind of various progression with them. We turned over our curriculum from the academy. So these colleges are teaching the exact same curriculum that we teach at the academy. They teach at the college. Same script, same scenarios, everything we do with the simulation. And so once these colleges express interest in becoming one of these partners, we’ll send a team out doing on-site an assessment, make sure the college has what they say that they have. They have the capability, both whether it’s instructors and they have the capability of a simulation. We work through various stages of that and then we get to the signing and they become an actual sign to partner where they can now start enrolling students in that program.
Tom Temin: And once someone has come through a program that has a signed agreement and they’re kosher. What happens to that graduate? They’re not ready to enter a tower and control planes.
Christopher Wilbanks: Correct. Just like once you graduate the academy, we have a placement process. We’ve got 313 facilities across the country that we’re looking to staff with controllers at various levels. And depending on what option you went into, whether it’s through the academy or through the college, you’ll be assigned to an appropriate level facility for that. And then once you show up there, that’s when you begin the on-the-job training. So you’ll do your local classroom training there. Getting familiar with the environment, the airspace for that facility, and then you’ll progress to the on-the-job training where you’re actually plugged in, have an instructor, trained controller plugged in with you, giving you on-the-job training. And that can take anywhere from, depending on the complexity of the facility, anywhere from about a year or two to maybe a little over two years in training.
Tom Temin: And you mentioned getting to know that airspace so that someone who is trained in one particular airport would then have to go through some training if they transferred three states away to another airport?
Christopher Wilbanks: Yes, sir, we do. We have controllers that move around at various times in their career. They’ve spent time in a facility. They’re looking to move up to a larger facility. We have a transfer process. They actually transfer and we call those CPC-IT. So they’ve made the certified professional controller level at a facility, but now they’re back in training, which is where the IT piece comes in. So that’s in training. And they would go through training again at that new facility to learn the airspace and the local procedures for that facility.
Tom Temin: Right. So in other words, if there’s a mountain nearby that was not there at the other city and that mountains on the right, you can’t tell people to turn right. That type of thing?
Christopher Wilbanks: Exactly. Yes, sir. A lot a lot of nuances and different complexity based on where you go.
Tom Temin: And there have been famous incidents in air traffic control, such as the landing on the Hudson maybe, or in what happened when all the planes had to land all of a sudden in 9/11. Do those incidents and the recordings of them, is that part of the doctrinal training that goes on in the FAA?
Christopher Wilbanks: So very high level? Yes. I would say we learn from every situation that’s out there and we introduce that when appropriate into our training, whether it’s at the academy, whether it’s at the facility through the training. Something we also do is recurrent training. We train 365 days a year and offer up recurrent and refresher training. And so what we look for is those topics, as you mentioned. To introduce into that recurrent training, which is putting it in the forefront of everyone’s mind. And we can obviously learn from those lessons as well. So yeah, we take every opportunity we can to train relevant information and things that could potentially happen in the system.
Tom Temin: We’re speaking with Chris Wilbanks. He is deputy vice president of safety and technical training at the Federal Aviation Administration. And backing up for a minute, what is the type of training knowledges that are needed to become a controller? Aside from the technical aspects of what you say to this plane and that plane when there are blips. To put it in layman’s terms.
Christopher Wilbanks: So I think first and foremost, it can be a stressful job. It can be busy. It’s very fast-paced, having that ability to multitask, having that ability to think in the moment. (If) Plan A doesn’t work, you’ve got to have a Plan B and a Plan C, being able to project ahead and kind of plan what might or might not happen and being ready for whatever might come based on the situation. So there’s no day is the same in air traffic, although you show up to the same facility and work the same group of planes coming in and out, no day is the same. You’re always going to have something different. So it’s that ability to be able to adjust and shift on the fly in real time as the situation depends and or dictates.
Tom Temin: So does part of the recruitment and training have a psychological component to it?
Christopher Wilbanks: So we do a psychological assessment for the hiring, if that’s what you’re referring to. We absolutely do. But yeah, I think there is a psychological and a mental aspect to the job for sure.
Tom Temin: Right. Because I guess aversion to panic. And as you say, the ability to think fast is not something that is universal.
Christopher Wilbanks: And that ability to remain calm in those situations. Right. I mean, we do have emergencies. I think that’s something that happens on a pretty regular basis. Some of them are less emergency, so to speak, as others. But being able to remain calm and continue your thought process and your working through that situation is paramount for sure.
Tom Temin: And what is the opening? What is the job situation for the FAA? For the controller ranks right now? You hear news stories when Thanksgiving travel stories come on TV and this kind of thing. How short are you and what’s the pipeline looking like?
Christopher Wilbanks: The pipelines looking pretty healthy. We had a bid close about three weeks ago where we had a public bid that was out there. I think on that, we had roughly around 10,000 applicants for that. We’ll go through various stages of vetting those applicants and then they go on to take an ATSA test, which is the aptitude test that assesses their ability to become an air traffic controller. Various folks will fall out during that and then also, keeping in mind that people have to pass medical and have to pass a security background check to then become a controller. Right now, we’re looking pretty healthy for our pipeline going into the academy. We’re looking to hire 2,000 controllers this year and we’re on pace to do that. Our goal was 1800 last year and we successfully hired a little over 1800 last year. And then we’ll continue doing that into the out years as well. So I think we’ve set ourself up for success in what we’re doing. And again, as we talked about with the Enhanced CTI schools, this is just adding to what we already had in the pipeline. And augmenting, as you said earlier in the in the call, that pipeline and keep it healthy.
Tom Temin: And what would you say is the selling proposition for why someone would want to do this? Because it’s very exacting work. And as you say, it’s stressful at times.
Christopher Wilbanks: It is. Look, I was a controller. My wife is currently a controller. I spent years in the field actually controlling traffic. I enjoyed it. It’s a phenomenal job. I have three kids and if any of the three decided to be an air traffic controller, I would support all three of them doing the job. It is a 365, seven days a week, 24/7. We work weekends. We don’t close on Saturday and Sunday. We don’t close at night. We don’t close on Christmas, Thanksgiving. So stepping into the job and realizing that those are pieces that you’re going to have to give up in your life. It is shift work. You’re not always going to be off on Saturday, Sunday. You might be off on Tuesday and Wednesday. So those are decisions you have to make going into it. But I would say it’s an absolute, rewarding job. I don’t know that I’ve talked to anyone that says I hate being an air traffic controller.
Tom Temin: And by the way, when you do finally make it to someone that the FAA will use. Is there a hierarchy in terms of airports? That is to say, nobody starts out at Newark or Hartsfield, but you might start at, I don’t know, a smaller airport, Rochester, say, for example, New York, and then work your way up to the super busy hubs.
Christopher Wilbanks: But we do have a placement process out of the academy and that same placement process will happen from the colleges as well too. We typically do not place anyone out of the academy higher than a Level 7. We ventured out to Level 8 lately. And so we go all the way from a Level 4 up to a Level 12. Level 12 being your highest volume traffic facility. Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, those places are your Level 12. So we won’t send someone right out of the academy to those. But as we talked about earlier and that process of people moving around, we do have an established process. People come in, they go to the lower-level facility. They get that experience and they’re looking to move up. There is a process that is allowed for them to move up.
Tom Temin: Well, as someone who’s flown 2 million miles, I personally appreciate the work that you do.
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Tom Temin
Tom Temin is host of the Federal Drive and has been providing insight on federal technology and management issues for more than 30 years.
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