Climbing the Mountain

When asking air traffic controllers about their jobs, you might occasionally get the answer, Best job in the world. Its a demanding, technical career thats both very rewarding and-while not glamorous-carries a certain mystique with the general public.

mwatson

Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Many air traffic control facilities maintain a hostile training culture where veteran controllers and supervisors often impede trainee success through unfair practices, leading to high washout rates.
Trainees face significant systemic obstacles, including difficulty changing unsupportive instructors and arbitrary certification processes, making the path to becoming a certified controller highly stressful and often unfair.
Despite these challenges, controllers demonstrate strong peer support in personal crises, and there's a slow but growing movement towards a more supportive training culture, though the job remains inherently tough with strict safety standards.

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(Editor’s note: In 1981 the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, PATCO, illegally struck against the FAA. The controllers were fed up with what many viewed as horrible working conditions that primarily stemmed from an intense adversarial relationship with management. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to cite the reason for striking as “bad management,” so the strike unsuccessfully became mostly about money. Nonetheless, people noticed and many improvements were gradually made. Is it better today? Sometimes and in some places, but not universally. Here’s one veteran controller’s perspective and observations using training to illustrate.)

When asking air traffic controllers about their jobs, you might occasionally get the answer, “Best job in the world.” It’s a demanding, technical career that’s both very rewarding and—while not glamorous—carries a certain mystique with the general public.