What an air traffic controller really does
You keep aircraft safely apart and moving, making dozens of exact decisions an hour while pilots wait on your every word.
FieldTransportation and hospitality
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Medium preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for air traffic controllers, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Take a position briefing from the controller you relieve: traffic, weather, equipment and anything unusual.
- Watch radar and the runways, and sequence aircraft so they stay safely apart with minimal delay.
- Issue clearances, headings, altitudes and takeoff and landing instructions by radio, and check every readback.
- Tell pilots about nearby traffic, wind shifts, storms and visibility problems.
- Coordinate by phone and line with neighboring towers and centers to hand off and accept aircraft.
- Handle the unusual: emergencies, weather deviations and pilots who are lost or unhappy with delays.
- Train newer controllers on position and keep logs of what happened on shift.
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- You make decisions constantly, not occasionally. That is the job. Frequency of decision making: 96% every day (O*NET Work Context)
- Friction is daily. Pilots, other facilities and your own team will disagree with you on a normal shift. Conflict situations: 65% every day (O*NET Work Context)
- Exact words and numbers matter more than in almost any job. A wrong digit can cause a conflict. Importance of being exact or accurate: 88% extremely important; Consequence of error: 76% extremely serious (O*NET Work Context)
- It is a team sport. You depend on the controllers beside you and the facilities next to you. Work with or contribute to a team: 83% extremely important; Contact with others: 87% constant contact (O*NET Work Context)
- You are seated at a scope or in a tower cab for long stretches, and much of the work is the same routine done perfectly. Spend time sitting: 60% continually or almost continually; Importance of repeating same tasks: 77% extremely important (O*NET Work Context)
How people get into it
O*NET Job Zone 3 (medium preparation). Workers report a range of education, from a high school diploma (36% of workers surveyed) to a post-secondary certificate (21%) or bachelor's degree (20%). In the US, controllers are mostly hired and trained by the FAA: applicants must be US citizens, generally under 31 when hired, pass aptitude and medical screening, complete several months at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, and then spend 2 to 3 more years certifying on each position at their facility under the watch of a certified controller.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: This trial cannot reproduce the continuous, real time feel of working a live radar scope or tower cab for an hour or more, the speed of real radio traffic, the mental fatigue of a long session, or the medical and aptitude screening the job requires. Traffic here is simplified and moves in decision steps. It covers the core judgment: sequencing, separation decisions, clearance accuracy, readback checking, coordination and handling emergencies and upset pilots.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
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Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 53-2021.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.