Air Traffic Controller Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport, and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers, according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.
Air Traffic Controller is Also Know as
In different settings, Air Traffic Controller is titled as
- Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS)
- Air Traffic Controller (ATC)
- Center Air Traffic Controller (Center ATC)
- Certified Professional Controller (CPC)
- Control Tower Operator
- Enroute Air Traffic Controller (Enroute ATC)
- Radar Air Traffic Controller
- Terminal Air Traffic Control Specialist (Terminal ATC Specialist)
- Tower Air Traffic Controller (Tower ATC)
Education and Training of Air Traffic Controller
Air Traffic Controller is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Air Traffic Controller
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Air Traffic Controller
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Air Traffic Controller
- Bachelor in Air Traffic Controller
- Associate Degree Courses in Air Traffic Controller
- Masters Degree Courses in Air Traffic Controller
Training Required for Air Traffic Controller
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Air Traffic Controller in different industries are
- Airfield Operations Specialists
- Commercial Pilots
- Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
- Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters
- Traffic Technicians
- Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors
- Locomotive Engineers
- Aviation Inspectors
- Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
- Public Safety Telecommunicators
- Aircraft Service Attendants
- Subway and Streetcar Operators
- Flight Attendants
- Power Distributors and Dispatchers
- Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers
- Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity
- First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators
- First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants
- Avionics Technicians
- Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers
What Do Air Traffic Controller do?
- Issue landing and take-off authorizations or instructions.
- Monitor or direct the movement of aircraft within an assigned air space or on the ground at airports to minimize delays and maximize safety.
- Monitor aircraft within a specific airspace, using radar, computer equipment, or visual references.
- Inform pilots about nearby planes or potentially hazardous conditions, such as weather, speed and direction of wind, or visibility problems.
- Provide flight path changes or directions to emergency landing fields for pilots traveling in bad weather or in emergency situations.
- Alert airport emergency services in cases of emergency or when aircraft are experiencing difficulties.
- Direct pilots to runways when space is available or direct them to maintain a traffic pattern until there is space for them to land.
- Transfer control of departing flights to traffic control centers and accept control of arriving flights.
- Direct ground traffic, including taxiing aircraft, maintenance or baggage vehicles, or airport workers.
- Determine the timing or procedures for flight vector changes.
- Maintain radio or telephone contact with adjacent control towers, terminal control units, or other area control centers to coordinate aircraft movement.
- Contact pilots by radio to provide meteorological, navigational, or other information.
- Initiate or coordinate searches for missing aircraft.
- Check conditions and traffic at different altitudes in response to pilots' requests for altitude changes.
- Relay air traffic information, such as courses, altitudes, or expected arrival times, to control centers.
- Compile information about flights from flight plans, pilot reports, radar, or observations.
- Inspect, adjust, or control radio equipment or airport lights.
- Conduct pre-flight briefings on weather conditions, suggested routes, altitudes, indications of turbulence, or other flight safety information.
- Analyze factors such as weather reports, fuel requirements, or maps to determine air routes.
- Organize flight plans or traffic management plans to prepare for planes about to enter assigned airspace.
- Review records or reports for clarity and completeness and maintain records or reports, as required under federal law.
- Complete daily activity reports and keep records of messages from aircraft.
- Provide on-the-job training to new air traffic controllers.
Qualities of Good Air Traffic Controller
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Tools Used by Air Traffic Controller
- Air route surveillance radar ARSR systems
- Airport surface detection equipment ASDE systems
- Airport surveillance radar ASR systems
- Area navigation RNAV systems
- Automatic direction finder ADF radio systems
- Binoculars
- Controller pilot datalink communication CPDC systems
- Desktop computers
- Differential global positioning system DGPS surveillance systems
- Digital airport surveillance radar DASR systems
- Distance measuring equipment DME
- Flight simulators
- Frequency modulation FM two way radios
- Global positioning system GPS surveillance systems
- High frequency HF radio communications systems
- Local area augmentation systems LAAS
- Long range navigation systems LRNS
- Mainframe computers
- Microwave landing systems MLS
- Mode S radar systems
- Nondirectional radio beacon markers
- Personal computers
- Precision runway monitor PRM
- Standard terminal automation replacement systems STARS
- Transponder landing systems TLS
- Ultra high frequency UHF radio communication systems
- Very high frequency VHF radio communication systems
- Wide area augmentation systems WAAS
Technology Skills required for Air Traffic Controller
- Adobe Acrobat
- Advanced technologies and oceanic procedures ATOP
- Automated radar terminal systems ARTS
- Center TRACON automation systems CTAS
- Direct-to-tool software
- En route descent advisor EDA
- Enterprise resource planning ERP software
- Expedite departure path EDP software
- Final approach spacing tool FAST
- Flight simulation software
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Multi-center traffic management advisor McTMA
- Really Simple Syndication RSS
- SAP software
- Traffic management advisor TMA software