“It’s not a game. It’s a career.”
That’s how the FAA—in a flashy new video posted Friday—is pitching to gamers to put their twitchy fingers to use in the control tower in its latest air traffic control (ATC) hiring push, as it looks to address a chronic shortage of thousands of personnel.
“To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement Friday. “This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller.”
The FAA previously recruited gamers to address the ATC shortage in 2021. Five years later, it persists despite the agency taking numerous steps to fill its ranks.
The FAA hit its hiring target of 2,000 controllers in 2025 by streamlining the hiring process, awarding cash bonuses and adding new schools to air traffic collegiate training initiative (AT-CTI) and Enhanced AT-CTI programs. On Friday, it said there are almost 11,000 controllers in service and another 4,000 in the training pipeline.
But according to Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), that is still more than 3,500 short of the approximately 14,600 controllers called for in the FAA’s staffing plans.
“Our union welcomes innovative approaches to expanding the candidate pool—including outreach to individuals with high-level aptitude skills such as gamers—so long as all pathways maintain the rigorous standards required of this safety-critical profession,” Daniels said in a statement shared with FLYING. “NATCA stands ready to continue working with DOT and FAA leadership to accelerate hiring, enhance training success, and ensure the next generation of controllers is prepared to meet the demands of an evolving aviation system.”
Per a staffing blueprint the FAA published in August, there were 11,686 certified professional controllers (CPCs), who have moved from training to the field, and CPCs in training (CPC-ITs)—CPCs learning the ropes at a new facility after working professionally elsewhere—in fiscal year 2024 (FY24).
Per that guidance, the FAA aims to onboard 2,200 ATCs in FY26. On Friday, it said it is nearly halfway to that goal. The White House’s FY27 budget request calls for a $481 million increase to the FAA’s operations account, including $95.4 million to hire 2,300 trainees—also in line with the August blueprint.
By the end of fiscal year 2028, the FAA aims to recruit 8,900 new ATCs. But it also expects to lose about 6,800, meaning it will net closer to 2,000 during that period. Of those, only about half would be CPCs and CPC-ITs, meaning the rest would be trainees at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City or graduates assigned to train at a facility.
How Gamers Can Become ATCs
The FAA on Friday estimated that 200 million Americans—or about 65 percent of the population—regularly play video games.
It said that controllers in exit interviews have cited video games as beneficial to their cognitive functioning, multitasking ability, and capacity to stay focused, think quickly, and solve problems on the fly. According to the agency, only 25 percent of ATCs hold traditional college degrees.
FAA officials, who spoke to The New York Times under condition of anonymity, said that out of 250 FAA Academy graduates surveyed by President Donald Trump’s incoming administration in 2024, only two were not gamers. Experts interviewed by the Times were divided on whether the atypical recruitment strategy will pay dividends.
The application window for gamers and anyone else who meets the qualifications to be a controller—which include being under the age of 31 and proficient in English—is scheduled to open at midnight on April 17. It will close when the FAA receives 8,000 applicants, or on April 27 if that threshold is not met.
In-person and virtual help sessions with FAA experts will guide applicants through the process.
Selected applicants would be hired as entry level FG-3 personnel and head to the FAA Academy for training, making $22.61 an hour to start. Based on historical precedent, about 30 percent are likely to fail or burn out.
Graduates would select from a list of facilities with the greatest staffing needs and could make anywhere from $47,026 to $177,543 in their first year of on-site training. Some will be eligible for one-time, $10,000 graduation incentives.
Pay will increase with each phase of facility training, which typically takes 2-3 years. Per the FAA’s job posting, CPCs made $158,000 on average in 2025.
Gamers’ dexterity and spatial awareness could be helpful in the control tower. But those skills alone won’t prepare them for one of the most stressful jobs on the planet.
According to Daniels, the NATCA president, due to shortages, controllers often work 10 hours a day, six days a week. Often, they are required to handle multiple positions due to absences. Controllers worked weeks without pay during the government shutdown in late 2025. Many called out sick or took on second jobs, such as driving for Uber or DoorDash, as they struggled to afford food, gas, day care, and even lifesaving medicine.
ATCs also rely on antiquated technology that has caused communications and radar blackouts. The FAA in addition to its hiring surge is undertaking a three-year, $30 billion-plus effort to upgrade thousands of ATC radios, radars, voice switches, and other systems. So far, it has only received $12.5 billion from Congress, though the White House’s FY27 budget request includes $4 billion earmarked for ATC “facilities and equipment” upgrades.
