Great at gaming? US air traffic control wants you to apply

by 1659447091 on 4/11/2026, 5:04:17 AM

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce84rvx0e6do

Comments

by: phoe-krk

Please correct me I'm wrong:> The ad also highlights the salary on offer to controllers, saying it is $155,000 (£115,000) after three years of work.Unless the US government shuts down again, at which point you stop being paid, you are required to keep working, you have no right to strike[0], and the competences you've built across this job are largely hard to directly make use of elsewhere so the incentive to job-hop is low.[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Contr...</a>

4/11/2026, 7:03:50 AM

by: altairprime

What video game on Steam allows me to practice air traffic control? How can I determine if I have a skill at the logistics of managing planes on a radar screen? Where can I join a multiplayer lobby where at game start we're assigned to either give radio commands to planes, or interpret radio commands and respond on behalf of planes, with at least two players for each? How does anti-griefing work in that environment?If that game existed, I would try it.Does it?

4/11/2026, 7:14:38 AM

by: red_admiral

I know this is culture-war stuff, but on the balance I think it's true that the FAA deprioritised applicants from the AT/CTI programmes, that is training courses speficically to become ATCs.My main source is <a href="https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-faas-hiring" rel="nofollow">https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-fa...</a>, and I'm assuming in particular that the screenshot of the letter in footnote 1 is genuine. In the section ended by footnote 16, there is a claim than in 2014 the FAA sent out just short of 3k job offer letters whereas in 2019 that had dropped to below 1k.That sounds like cutting off your own recruitment pipeline.It's also evidence that the FAA did not drop the standards for qualification and certification, which is reassuring.

4/11/2026, 8:43:42 AM

by: flibbityflob

Have they tried paying them consistently?

4/11/2026, 6:46:24 AM

by: latexr

If you’re considering it, you should probably watch Last Week Tonight’s investigation first.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeABJbvcJ_k" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeABJbvcJ_k</a>

4/11/2026, 8:24:46 AM

by: HelloUsername

Source:<a href="https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-and-federal-aviation-administration-unveil" rel="nofollow">https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary...</a><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9MczWfLpBcw" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9MczWfLpBcw</a>

4/11/2026, 6:37:11 AM

by: giorgioz

After Theme Park <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Park_(video_game)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Park_(video_game)</a> and Theme Hospital <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Hospital" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Hospital</a> videogames now it's the turn of:THEME TRAFFIC CONTROLLER

4/11/2026, 7:52:11 AM

by:

4/11/2026, 7:51:29 AM

by: vinni2

Where is the mighty AI when you need one.

4/11/2026, 8:51:26 AM

by: charcircuit

AI should be able to handle the bulk of this work. "14,663 active controllers" is too much when you could have a single gamer + AI combo running it for multiple airports.

4/11/2026, 8:58:11 AM

by: altmanaltman

> The Xbox one logo appears at the start of the video before dissolving into a montage that cuts between images of men playing various online computer games and people, including women, in air traffic control towers looking at their own computers.> "You've been training for this," the ad says.Wow looks like Microsoft were not kidding with their 'this is also an xbox' ad campaign. Also really console gamers is who you target for this role? USG is becoming a joke

4/11/2026, 8:14:46 AM

by: cyanydeez

great at a skill but dont need money, ve disrespexted by politicians as pawns

4/11/2026, 8:11:24 AM

by: londons_explore

[flagged]

4/11/2026, 6:21:47 AM

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