Stress Related to Air Traffic Controller Training

Air traffic controllers are required to regulate air traffic through FAA airspace, these are called sectors and they must regulate and control the arrivals and departures of aircraft. The job of an air traffic controller is a stressful one, they have control of all airplanes that fly in and out of airport airspace, they need to make fast and accurate decisions very quickly, and there is no margin for errors. Mostly they work from a control tower but sometimes they can work in a radar building. Excellent eyesight is required as visual observation training is extremely important. They need to know all the different aircraft and be able to recognize them when they are in the sky. A controller needs to know the difference between a Douglas MD-11 or a Boeing 747 and the many other different aircraft.  Should they come across a non-familiar aircraft they can access a database to quickly identify the aircraft. Stress tests are a necessary part of the job, and screening an applicant for a traffic controller’s position. Inexperienced applicants need to be under 30 years of age, have attended an FAA approved Air Traffic Controller Training School, and a four year degree from a recognized college.   Certain waivers maybe accepted, if for instance they have military training. Joint international conventions have divided airspace into sectors, certain sectors are controlled by the air traffic controller others by a radar controller. A traveling airplane as it near its half-way point will be according to the filed flight plan, will be handed off to what ever sector is necessary by the Traffic controller, probably to the next air space sector handled by the radar controller.  Depending on the amount of traffic, the traffic controller could arrange for one or several planes to change its flight plan, or its altitude because of congestion in traffic. If a plane is redirected to another sector, the radar controller will accept responsibility for that particular plane. The Radar controller is a specialized field and the job brings more stress than normal traffic controllers.  Radar controller work in semi-darkness, is has been studied that people who work in darkened spaces will find the job more stressful than a person working in daylight conditions or even lighted conditions. Air traffic controller work under some pretty stressful situations, as they have to handle several planes at a time, make quick split second decisions, with planes landing and taking off at the same time, and other planes waiting in the sky for instructions where to land, this is a lot of information to ingest and act upon, a wrong decision can create a disaster situation. The responsibility is enormous and therefore expected to be very stressful. The next three years it is expected that there will be an automated air traffic control system in place that will help air traffic controller to be able to cope with increased air traffic.  The future will be Global Positioning System (GPS) which will take control of the air traffic and make things easier for an air traffic controller. Using these GPS will allow more efficient handling of flight paths and reduce congestion. More traffic will be able to be handled and increase productivity as a result. The job of an air traffic controller offers good job security as air traffic controllers are very rarely laid off, as long as the air traffic controller meets the FAA medical requirements and testing procedures.