Hoeven says UND poised to lead the way in filling air traffic control shortage
UND received a visit from North Dakota’s senior senator on Friday, who touted the benefits of a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) program for students and the flying public alike.
Speaking at Ryan Hall’s Air Traffic Control Radar Lab, U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, UND Provost Eric Link, and Craig Carlson, assistant chair of UND’s air traffic management program, outlined how the FAA’s Enhanced Air Traffic College Training Initiative could give UND students a fast track to airport control towers.
Under current regulations, all prospective air traffic controllers are required to attend the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, regardless of educational background or work experience. Hoeven called this requirement a “bottleneck,” that is impeding further growth in air travel at a time of high demand.
“Anyone watching the news knows we’re short of air traffic controllers, and that creates potential safety issues,” he said. “This is vitally important to the traveling public for the United States of America. This school is going to lead the way forward to solve that problem.”
“This will give students such as these a chance to get directly out there, helping our pilots navigate the skies, land safely and keep safe all of the folks, freight and everyone who needs passage through our crowded airways,” Link added. “Because of the training they get right here at the University of North Dakota.”
Hoeven’s comments appear to be backed by data. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation – the agency overseeing the FAA – 20 out of the nation’s 26 critical air traffic control centers are staffed below the FAA’s threshold of 85%.
Carlson added that due to staffing shortages, multiple control centers across the nation have been forced to limit the traffic that can pass through their airspace, citing the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) and Jacksonville Center as locations that are especially understaffed.
UND, along with 31 other schools, is already a member of the FAA’s Air Traffic College Training Initiative, or AT-CTI. Membership in this program confers a number of benefits – among them the ability for graduates to shorten their length of training at the FAA Academy by five weeks.
However, if UND is admitted into the Enhanced AT-CTI, its air traffic management graduates would be able to bypass the academy altogether and begin on the job training at an air traffic control facility, pending successful completion of the Air Traffic Skills Assessment Exam and medical assessments.
