President Trump has made it clear that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to bring its Air Traffic Control (ATC) system into the 21st century. The Director — Sean Duffy — has a huge job in front of him. The system is a mishmash of late 20th-century technology with some recent AI, as well as computer software and hardware patches cobbled on. But perhaps the greatest challenge will be the human side. Older controllers are retiring, and recruiting is a mess. Retention of new controllers is at a crisis level due to a toxic training atmosphere among trainees in their “on-the-job training assignments.” If the ATC culture cannot be changed, we may reach an untenable tipping point. (RELATED: The Collision of Ideals After the DC Plane Crash: Why DEI Policies Threaten Our Safety)
The job of an Air Traffic Controller is as high-stress as that of a combat soldier or a cop on the beat. The difference is that the lives of the controllers are not at stake. Rather, it is the lives of aircrews and passengers that hang in the balance — all day, every day.
There is a significant difference between the current ATC training regime for high-stress environments and that of the military and law enforcement agencies. Those entities that are authorized to use firearms have a basic three-phase approach. The details differ, but the philosophy is the same.
Phase one is basic training. Whether called boot camp, police academies, or the FBI Academy. There are two objectives. The first is to weed out trainees who lack the aptitude or ability to function in the organization. The second is to teach the basic skills necessary to function in the job. This is necessarily high stress except for one area, and that is weapons skills. When on the basic firing range, military recruits and police trainees are subject to less stress. The object is to make the individual completely comfortable with the weapon that he or she can aim, fire, load, and reload without thinking. It needs to become inst...