The FAA is encouraging gamers to get jobs in air traffic control
Sick! The Federal Aviation Administration is targeting gamers in its latest job posting for air traffic controllers. The administration’s annual hiring window opens at midnight ET on April 17, and given the current shortage of air traffic controllers, it calls it a period of “supercharged recruiting.” Rad! The FAA YouTube video draws parallels between gaming and air traffic management, and notes that the average salary for this role after three years is $155,000. Good morning !
The FAA is clearly looking for players who are at least old enough to remember the Xbox One and Bjergsen in the LCS, which puts potential candidates at least in their early 20s. It’s either that or the ad editors just randomly picked videos from the pile of marked stock footage player. But I’m not going to lie, it made me smile to see that Xbox One logo appear out of nowhere. Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.
“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we must adapt,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming speaks to a growing population of young adults who possess many of the technical skills needed to become a successful controller.”
Since the 2010s, the FAA has lost more air traffic controllers than it could hire and retain, and that trend only worsened during the pandemic in the 2020s, according to a report released in December by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The administration has increased its hiring every year since 2021, but at the end of 2025 it employed 13,164 air traffic controllers, 6% fewer than in 2015, according to the report. At the same time, the number of flights in the air traffic control system increased by around 10 percent, to 30.8 million.
Or, as the FAA says on the ATC recruiting page: “Join the BEST AND BRIGHTEST, the elite squad of 14,000 controllers protecting 2.9 million daily passengers.” » Applicants must be U.S. citizens, under the age of 31 (maybe those video editors know what they’re doing), and be able to speak English fluently. An aptitude test, medical examination and academic training follow, among other steps.
