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Jordan A. Higham

Ms. Amanda Tibbitts

Language Arts 12

8 March 2019

Careers: Air Traffic Controller

At some point in one’s life, one has to decide for themselves what kind of job or career

they want to get into later in their life so then they can live a relatively happy life. Some people

choose to go into creating art for entertainment companies like Disney, Pixar, Warner Brothers,

or a company that creates games, whether that be animating, drawing, painting. Others might

become writers of books or book series. Some might go into the food industry to work in fast

food, sit down restaurants, bakeries, or food processing. Another might go into construction for

physical work or to help plan out an entire operation. But there are some people who decide they

want to get into the aviation industry. There are plenty of jobs within the aviation industry that

pay well, whether its a flight attendant, the refuelers, the mechanics, a pilot, or an Air Traffic

Controller.

Probably being one of the most important jobs at an airport it shouldn’t be a surprise that

it has some requirements. The income is nice and the hours are long and plenty. The workplace

is nice. There are many duties to attend to while employed at an airport as an ATC, but first, we

need to understand why we need ATCs in the first place and how they come into fruition. Simply

put, there would be no ​Air ​Traffic Control without ​Aircraft.​

The only reason we have jobs like Air Traffic Control or many other jobs in aviation

today is because of the invention of aircraft in the first place. In the article (1) it goes over the

well known story of the Wright brothers and their first successful flight on Dec. 17, 1903, in a

heavier-than-air craft under power and control of their own design. Over the next 13 years after,

people all over the world were trying their hand at improving and revolutionizing the airplane.

Better engines increased speed, improving the plane for transportation purposes. But things

didn’t improve as greatly as it did in World War I and the interwar period where aircraft design

and the engines that carried them would improve again.. “During World War I both airplanes and

lighter-than-air craft were used by the belligerents. The urgent necessities of war provided the

impetus for designers to construct special planes for military purposes. Because of the pressure

of war, more pilots were trained and more planes built during the 4 years of conflict than in the

13 years since the first flight... Between 1930 and 1940, commercial air transportation was

greatly expanded, and frequent long-distance and transoceanic flights were undertaken.” (1).

Airplanes after WWI were used for public transportation for the first time ever.

Monoplanes would be a new and improved predominate design introduced after the war,

helping it reach speeds higher than before. Planes became much larger and were made of metal.

But World War II would drastically improve it for transporting almost anything imaginable, and

fit into any role the military needed. World War II would see the introduction of jet powered

aircraft, specifically the Me 262 fighter jet of Germany in April 1944, thrusting aeroplanes into

the age of jet aircraft. Aircraft were faster than they ever had been, before or since, and a

dramatic increase of airliners for the use of transporting people came in the years after. Because

of this, there was a need for directing and keeping track of where and when aircraft were at most
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all times. This is when the need for Air Traffic Controllers was needed. And through the years

we’ve more or less figured out what is needed to become an ATC.

There are some major requirements for becoming an ATC for any airport, and in the

article (4) it tells us that people who are looking to become an ATC must be proficient in

Computer science, English, Mathematics, Science and to take a college-prep curriculum..

“​Trainees are selected from applicants who receive high scores on the federal civil service exam.

That exam tests abstract reasoning and three-dimensional spatial visualization, among other

aptitudes. Applicants are then subjected to an intensive one-week screening at the Federal

Aviation Administration (FAA) Academy in Oklahoma City to determine if they have the

required alertness, decisiveness, motivation, poise, and ability to work under extreme pressure.”

“​Once trained, controllers are assigned to their facilities, or airports, for on-the-job training. It

can take from one to three years of classroom instruction and work experience to become fully

certified. Controllers must be certified at each progressive level of air traffic control within a

specific time limit. Failure to be certified within the time limit is grounds for dismissal.

Controllers are also required to pass annual physical exams, bi-annual performance reviews, and

drug screening.” There are also physical requirements to becoming an ATC as stated in (3),

“Terminal and en route controller applicants must be age 30 or younger. Flight service stations

will accept applicants over age 31. All applicants must pass rigid medical exams for: vision,

hearing, substance abuse, color vision, and diabetes. Applicants must also meet standards in the

following areas: cardiovascular, neurological, psychiatric, psychological” (4) .

Given this information, one can take that becoming an ATC will take many years of

college and training combined, with the high chance of being disqualified for the job if one fails

to complete any of the on-the-job training you are given. Qualities they will be looking for is the

ability to be “articulate, responsible, organized, have a very good memory, have good self

control, and the ability to be able to work as a team, able to operate calmly during difficult

situations involving a great deal of stress, able to make good, sound, and quickly derived

decisions, able to concentrate for long periods of time, able to read, write, and understand the

English language and speak it rapidly without accent or impediment of speech and finally able to

pass a rigid security/background investigation…” These requirements are what qualify a good

ATC, because as mentioned in the requirements and according to all articles I read (see Works

Cited) the job is extremely stressful and any lapse or trip in their work could lead to major

disasters. ATCs need to always be on top of their jobs when at their job during the long hours

that they work. But because of the difficult requirements, ATCs are paid well for their jobs.

The shortest section of this essay, the average yearly income of an ATC is about on

average a respectable $145,006 or $69.71 an hour (based off of the averages from ““Aviation

Careers.” FAA Seal”, ““Air Traffic Controller.” Rehabilitation Counselor Career Profile”, ““Air

Traffic Control Specialist.” USAJOBS”). Almost every job at a busy airport in the Air Traffic

Control building is a full time job, working 40 hours a week, with ​rotating shifts between day,

evening, and night, because major control centers operate continuously. Controllers also work

weekend and holiday shifts. Less busy airports may have towers that only operate part time.

Controllers at these airports have more normal work schedules. The FAA regulates the hours that
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an air traffic controller may work. Controllers may not work more than 10 straight hours during a

shift and must have 9 hours’ rest before their next shift. If long hours are not for you, this is not

the job for you. And we haven’t gotten into the workplace or the duties of an ATC.

Terminal (Tower) Controllers are responsible for air traffic at airports and all other

aircraft within about a 50-mile radius of their airport. Using radar and electronic flight data, they

give pilots taxiing and takeoff instructions, coordinate planes altitudes, track weather conditions,

and maintain constant communication with the pilots. When an aircraft experiences an

emergency, the terminal controller clears a path through air traffic, alerts rescue teams, and

guides the pilot to a safe landing. As a plane departs a terminal controller's airspace, he or she

hands off responsibility to an en route controller who monitors the next patch of sky. En Route

Controllers coordinate the movements of aircraft between airports but out of range of terminal

controllers. They work at one of 24 regional centers in the U.S. and are responsible for many

thousands of square miles of airspace. En route controllers generally work in teams of two or

three and are assigned a particular section of the center's airspace. They give pilots instructions,

air traffic clearances, and advice regarding flight conditions while en route between airports.

Flight Service Controllers provide advisory services and weather information as well as

emergency assistance. They are not involved in actively managing flight traffic, however.

Having gone through and finding out all one needs to know about a job in Air Traffic

Control, you the reader and I, the author have reached the end of this informative essay. In this

essay we have both learned why and how air traffic control came to be, and that ATCs work long
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hours multiple times a week, have high requirements, a nice workplace, and many duties to

attend to.

Works cited

(1) “Aviation.” Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Jan. 2018, p. 1; EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=av181400&site=ehost-live

(2) “Aviation Careers.” FAA Seal, 3 Dec. 2018,

www.faa.gov/jobs/career_fields/aviation_careers/

“Air Traffic Control Specialist.” USAJOBS, 2018,

www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/512089000

(3) “Air Traffic Controller.” Rehabilitation Counselor Career Profile | Job Description, Salary,

and Growth | Truity, 19 June 2018, ​www.truity.com/career-profile/air-traffic-controller

(4) “Air Traffic Controller.” Tech Directions, vol. 63, no. 5, Dec. 2003, pp. 30–31. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=voh&AN=11616208&site=ehost-live

(5) “Summary.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Apr. 2018,

www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/air-traffic-controllers.htm

(6) “Tupolev ANT-20.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Dec. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_ANT-20