this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2026
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So, be worried in about 6 months then?
about 6 months minimum before they're allowed to talk to real planes, a year and a half minimum after that before they are out on their own. the academy will get rid of a lot of people who truly are not cut out for this type of work, and facility training will get rid of more. tbh i'm not super worried because the job is do it by the book or find another job. if they don't do it right, they won't be talking to real traffic for very long if at all
What bogus hysteria. Do you have any idea how many people play video games? Would you expect them not to advertise a recruitment drive on television because we don’t want our air traffic controllers to just kick up their feet and watch the screens? Let’s not be idiots.
It’s far more interesting to ask why they need to advertise a recruitment drive. The profession has been losing skilled people because its high skill, high stress, high stakes, and their paycheck gets jerked around every time there’s a government shutdown. Let’s focus on that instead of clutching our pearls over them hiring people who have played video games before.
And... also... Have you seen gamers?
The comments here seem somewhat strange to me for what is likely to be a "gamer" heavy demographic. There's a lot of 'I should stop flying' or otherwise implying that people who, having games as their preferred hobby, will be bad at this. Instead, gamers tend to get really good at a few specific skills such as reaction times, pattern recognition, strategy and min/maxing, etc.
About the only thing I could think making this better would be to select for speedrunners.
That way we get livestreams for APLS - Awesome Planes Landed Safely - and also raise some money for a charity or two.
Absolutely perfect example of what I mean. You want to talk about gamers like they are this specific sub-niche of humans who are all the same.
Would you do this with movies? “People who watch movies are like XYZ and they only have a couple of skills.” What about music? “There’s a music listener in this thread and he said ABC.”
This is why I led with “do you know how many people play video games?” The gaming industry earns more annually than movies and music combined.
You have some stereotype of gamers in your brain, fine. That’s your deal. But “gamers” is just “people” these days. Including me. I’m a gamer. And I say: what bogus hysteria.
I guess I wasn't as clear as I could be. I was not implying all gamers had good reaction times, pattern recognition and such. What I meant was that people who play games and consider themselves gamers are generally speaking striving to play those games better, and will often build some skills to pretty significant levels. Some of those skills will be relevant to ATC work.
To your point, this is true of many hobbies or professions and any hysteria against "gamers" being targeted with an ATC ad campaign is dumb.
He said 3-4 months lol
For education, plus some more before real traffic
Sorry was making a joke, that under this admin, they'll push them through, kinda like they do with the rent a cops at ICE.