Watch On “To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. He also added that the recruitment effort “taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller.” Still, gamers who want to work in ATC must work hard to join the FAA despite their talent and skills in games. “When you bring on someone who has gaming experience, particularly with air traffic control, they have an edge up,” Aerospace consultant Michael O’Donnell told the publication. “They’re coming in with a skill set. But it doesn’t replace aptitude, or discipline, or decision making under pressure.”
Air traffic control is one of the most stressful jobs in the aviation industry, with controllers at airports managing several aircraft that converge in a single area within a short time frame. Aside from safety and separation, their jobs are further compounded by flight schedules, weather, and natural disturbances, as well as airspace closures for VIP arrivals and departures. Although this job isn’t as glamorous or public-facing as pilots and cabin crew, ATC helps keep everyone in the air and on the ground safe, guiding hundreds of aircraft carrying thousands of passengers daily.
You may like Trucker shows off $6,000 PC driving sim rig in passenger seat Gamer builds ‘hardcore’ first-person shooter simulator that actually shoots back McDonald’s debuts one-finger gadget that lets you move your character to 'keep you in the game' while you chow down There have been major accidents in recent years involving ATC, including the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision between a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk and an American Airlines (operated by PSA Airlines) CRJ700, and the 2026 LaGuardia fire-truck collision with an Air Canada CRJ900. While air traffic control wasn’t solely blamed for these events, they still highlighted shortcomings within the FAA and the need for the agency to expand its workforce, especially as passenger numbers continue to grow.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/faa-courts-gamers-to-become-air-traffic-controllers-boasts-usd155k-average-annual-salary-after-three-years-as-the-agency-prepares-for-8-000-applicants#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- Framework founder says that ‘personal computing as we know it is dead’ — vows to keep building ‘computers that you can own at the deepest level’
- Benchmarking Nvidia's RTX Neural Texture Compression tech that can reduce VRAM usage by over 80%
- Efficiency at Scale: NVIDIA, Energy Leaders Accelerating Power‑Flexible AI Factories to Fortify the Grid
- Why we spent 50+ hours retesting Intel’s Core Ultra 270K Plus and 250K Plus
- Tech enthusiast gets Doom to run on a 40-year-old printer controller — ancient Agfa Compugraphic 9000PS came with a Motorola 68020 onboard for fast processing
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.