Latest news with #ChrisWilbanks
CBS News
6 days ago
- General
- CBS News
FAA faces critical shortage of air traffic controllers. Here's a look into methods to retain and train them.
The United States is facing a shortage of approximately 3,000 air traffic controllers as many trainees quit before completing their certification, contributing to travel delays at airports across the country this summer. The Federal Aviation Administration's training facility in Oklahoma City serves as the sole location where the agency trains new controllers, but the program faces significant challenges with about 35% of students failing to complete the intensive three-month course. If someone fails, they are not eligible to try again, according to Chris Wilbanks, who oversees training and the FAA's efforts to address the controller shortage. "It's one and done," Wilbanks said. The FAA is working to reduce its training washout rate by adding a mentoring program to help students during their roughly three months at the FAA training center. The agency has also streamlined the application process, and expects more than 2,000 students this year — the most ever. However, a CBS News data review found that more than 90% of air traffic control towers in the U.S. are understaffed. The training program includes traditional methods such as tabletop exercises where students use handheld model planes to simulate air traffic scenarios — a technique that may appear outdated but remains effective, according to Wilbanks. "It slows things down for them. It gives them an opportunity to learn the airspace," Wilbanks said. The FAA is modernizing its approach with immersive tower simulators installed at 95 facilities nationwide, reducing controller certification time by 27%. These simulators allow for real-time training scenarios that can be implemented within a week of actual events occurring. Training exercises demonstrate the complexity of air traffic control, with controllers managing multiple aircraft simultaneously, some circling, others taxiing for takeoff, and others approaching to land. Precision in communication is crucial, since a single missing word in radio transmissions can create significant safety concerns. "That is an absolute crucial part to the training. It slows things down for 'em. It gives 'em an opportunity to learn the airspace," said Wilbanks. The FAA is also expanding a program to eight colleges, allowing students to complete basic air traffic control training at their schools rather than traveling to Oklahoma City. Even after completing initial training, new controllers face an additional two years or more of on-the-job training before achieving full certification, highlighting the lengthy process required to address the current shortage.
CBS News
6 days ago
- General
- CBS News
FAA faces critical shortage of air traffic controllers. Here's a look into methods to retain and train them
The United States is facing a shortage of approximately 3,000 air traffic controllers as many trainees quit before completing their certification, contributing to travel delays at airports across the country this summer. The Federal Aviation Administration's training facility in Oklahoma City serves as the sole location where the agency trains new controllers, but the program faces significant challenges with about 35% of students failing to complete the intensive three-month course. If someone fails, they are not eligible to try again, according to Chris Wilbanks, who oversees training and the FAA's efforts to address the controller shortage. "It's one and done," Wilbanks said. The FAA is working to reduce its training washout rate by adding a mentoring program to help students during their roughly three months at the FAA training center. The agency has also streamlined the application process, and expects more than 2,000 students this year — the most ever. However, a CBS News data review found that more than 90% of air traffic control towers in the U.S. are understaffed. The training program includes traditional methods such as tabletop exercises where students use handheld model planes to simulate air traffic scenarios — a technique that may appear outdated but remains effective, according to Wilbanks. "It slows things down for them. It gives them an opportunity to learn the airspace," Wilbanks said. The FAA is modernizing its approach with immersive tower simulators installed at 95 facilities nationwide, reducing controller certification time by 27%. These simulators allow for real-time training scenarios that can be implemented within a week of actual events occurring. Training exercises demonstrate the complexity of air traffic control, with controllers managing multiple aircraft simultaneously, some circling, others taxiing for takeoff, and others approaching to land. Precision in communication is crucial, since a single missing word in radio transmissions can create significant safety concerns. "That is an absolute crucial part to the training. It slows things down for 'em. It gives 'em an opportunity to learn the airspace," said Wilbanks. The FAA is also expanding a program to eight colleges, allowing students to complete basic air traffic control training at their schools rather than traveling to Oklahoma City. Even after completing initial training, new controllers face an additional two years or more of on-the-job training before achieving full certification, highlighting the lengthy process required to address the current shortage.
Fox News
14-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Inside the FAA's race to train air traffic controllers: 'It's going to take time'
The Trump administration is speeding up its efforts to address a nationwide shortage of Air Traffic Controllers. Earlier this year, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a push to hire 2,000 new controllers by the end of the year. Inside the Federal Aviation Administration's Oklahoma City training site, there is cutting-edge simulation technology that gives trainees a real feel for working in the tower. According to the FAA, that technology cuts weeks off the time required for certification. Now, federal aviation officials say they're on track to reach the goal of 2,000 new controllers by mid-September. "Keying up, telling an aircraft to do something is not something that just comes natural to people…It's learning that phraseology," explained Chris Wilbanks, the FAA's Vice President of Mission Support. "It's making sure that the pilot completely understands the instruction that you just gave him." Each trainee starts with a 30-day basics course, followed by six to eight weeks of specialized training in both tower and radar operations. "You impact people's lives," said Wilbanks. "They get on an airplane; they make it to their destination safely. They don't know who got them there, but it's you." The push for more air traffic controllers comes as staffing shortages caused delays earlier this year at busy airports such as Newark, New Jersey. "We just put a brand-new simulation in Newark … We do have our problem spots out there. We keep our eyes on it every day," Wilbanks said. To help meet the demand, Transportation Secretary Duffy launched the Supercharge Initiative earlier this year. Part of that $12.5 billion boost to FAA infrastructure includes $100 million for training. July alone has seen the highest number of academy students in training in FAA's history, with 550 students expected by the end of the month. The FAA reports it has shaved more than five months off the administrative process. Students who scored in the top percentile are now being placed into the academy more quickly. "It's going to take time to address the nationwide controller shortage, but I'm pleased to see our supercharge initiative is taking off. With our new streamlined hiring process, the best and the brightest candidates are starting their careers in air traffic control faster," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy in a newsletter sent to FOX early Friday. "We'll continue to leverage opportunities big and small to keep chipping away at the shortage to keep our skies safe."
CNN
11-07-2025
- General
- CNN
CNN goes inside the academy preparing air traffic controllers to manage the high-stress and high-stakes skies
On a sprawling campus in the middle of the nation, thousands of students learn how to take command of the nation's skies. The Federal Aviation Administration Academy, near the Oklahoma City airport, has been a fixture since late 1946, six years before the first commercial passenger jet flight. In it, rooms filled with monitors show simulated airplanes taxiing on runways and taking off – all under the watchful eyes of students learning to keep the flying public safe. In another room, tiny airplanes sitting on tabletop boards painted with runways are testaments to how quickly one false move can make everything go wrong. Today, they are just models. Soon they will be real planes filled with passengers. It's here, at the 1,100-acre campus of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, that the agency trains students to fill the over 3,000 air traffic controller jobs needed to end a decades-long shortage. This year, the FAA has expanded its onsite training by nearly 30%, with July seeing the highest number of students in training – 550 by the end of the month. The pressure and expectations are high. The center's graduates together work nearly every flight in the country - over 85,000 a day - carrying 2.5 million passengers to 20,000 different airports, according to Oklahoma City estimates. The academy 'is the introduction into air traffic,' said Chris Wilbanks, FAA vice president for mission support. 'This really is giving the students the base of what air traffic really is, introducing them slowly into kind of a walk-run phase, get into the simulation, then off to the field they go.' Following January's midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter near Washington in which 67 people were killed, the Department of Transportation announced plans to 'supercharge' the air traffic control workforce. Salaries for trainees at the academy increased by 30%, and the agency shaved four months off the old hiring timeline. The Academy is now the 'busiest' it has ever been, Wilbanks said, with roughly 800 to 1,000 more trainees in the pipeline than a year ago. The FAA pays training at the academy and students receive an hourly salary while they are enrolled. If students choose to go through a different program, like an FAA-supported college program, that may require them to pay tuition. Before a potential controller can even step foot in the academy, there's a rigorous application and qualification process. Under a five-step plan, they must pass an aptitude test; clear medical and background checks, then receive an offer to start training. A hiring push earlier this year referred 8,320 candidates for the required exam, though typically 90% of candidates don't make it in, and 35% of the others wash out. New controllers must also be younger than 31, and many on this campus are 19 or 20, which gives the facility the feel of a small college. After admission to the academy, students start their training with tabletop exercises. The small model planes and painted runways look like game boards, but they are designed to teach phraseology – the language of air traffic control - and maps to new trainees. 'Academy Ground, Barron 4LY request taxi to main ramp,' a student says during a recent exercise. 'Taxi to main ramp, via Delta,' the trainee controller responds as the model plane is moved along the board. 'If you don't know where the aircraft is when he calls you, you're already behind the game,' Wilbanks said. 'Getting that understanding of what the airport layout is when they call you at a visual point, or they call you coming into a certain runway, you've got that reference to be able to look out there right then and there.' Once a student moves out of tabletop training, they go on to tower simulations in wide rooms filled with video screens covering the walls - replicating the view at a real airport. 'We absolutely don't cut corners,' Wilbanks said. 'This is the basics of air traffic.' Outside the virtual tower windows is 'Academy Airport,' a fictious airfield with two parallel runways and a third cutting across them at an angle. There are real-looking airplanes on runways with proper lighting and even cracks visible in the virtual pavement. With a headset on and the push of a talk button, a trainee can take on the role of an air traffic controller. 'FedEx 2285 heavy, academy Tower, hold short runway 28, right.' It's a routine command - asking the simulated pilots to prepare for takeoff but not start rolling until given more instructions. '(If) we've got somebody on the runway in position. We want to make sure we never forget them,' said Eric Wedel, the FAA's course coordinator for tower training. He has been an instructor at the Academy since 2017 and was a controller for 28 years before that. Every new controller at the academy is different, he said; some pick it up quickly, while others require a lot of training. There's paper and pens – should a controller want to write down a call sign or something to jog their memory in the heat of the moment and runway-use memory aids. Just like you'd find in a real tower. Instructors also stress that trainees learning to work in towers should look out the virtual windows to observe aircraft rather than just relying on radar. That's where they find important pieces of information that may have been overlooked or forgotten. 'Radar is an extension of the eyeballs,' Wedel said. While the simulator can create rain, snow and wind conditions, there are some things that can't be duplicated outside of a real tower. 'It's a lot like the real thing, but in some ways it's not,' Wedel said. 'It's hard to duplicate a certain accent from a pilot or certain situation. There's unique aspects to air traffic control that it's hard to capture in a simulation. It's very close.' Downstairs in a darkened room, a line of students sit looking at radar scopes and computer monitors. It's here they train to operate in radar control centers, often far away from the planes they are directing. 'N800BA, declaring an emergency. They lost hydraulic pressure, requesting firetruck to standby,' a trainee calmly says responding to a virtual emergency as his instructor watches over his shoulder. 'Follow through on that one,' another instructor says pointing out an errant plane to another student. At the same time, the students have to keep track of turbulence and other factors that might disrupt planes trying to navigate the airspace. While these days a voice recognition computer often listens to the trainees' commands and reacts to them in real time, the FAA also hires people to operate as pilots on the other end of the radio to better emulate real-life situations. 'It is a tremendous amount of pressure,' Wilbanks said. 'Multiply that by 10 and put that in the real world. Giving people the opportunity to experience that feeling here before they step out and experience in real life is absolutely critical, but it is absolutely a rewarding job.' Graduates of the academy are placed in towers and radar centers across the country, where training continues for one to three years before they become certified professional controllers. Graduates of the Academy earn an average of $160,000 per year after three years in the field, according to the FAA. Controllers have a mandatory retirement age of 56 but can retire at age 50 with 20 years of service. The DOT has been pushing for controllers in their 50s to stay on to help alleviate the staffing shortage. It may take years of hard work to recruit and train students to close the staffing gap, but for the would-be controllers at the FAA academy there is nothing like the job. 'There's an old saying, 'Air traffic control is 90% slow and boring and 9% exciting and 1% Oh my gosh,'' Wedel said. 'Every day is different.' CNN's Devon M. Sayers contributed to this report.
CNN
11-07-2025
- General
- CNN
CNN goes inside the academy preparing air traffic controllers to manage the high-stress and high-stakes skies
On a sprawling campus in the middle of the nation, thousands of students learn how to take command of the nation's skies. The Federal Aviation Administration Academy, near the Oklahoma City airport, has been a fixture since late 1946, six years before the first commercial passenger jet flight. In it, rooms filled with monitors show simulated airplanes taxiing on runways and taking off – all under the watchful eyes of students learning to keep the flying public safe. In another room, tiny airplanes sitting on tabletop boards painted with runways are testaments to how quickly one false move can make everything go wrong. Today, they are just models. Soon they will be real planes filled with passengers. It's here, at the 1,100-acre campus of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, that the agency trains students to fill the over 3,000 air traffic controller jobs needed to end a decades-long shortage. This year, the FAA has expanded its onsite training by nearly 30%, with July seeing the highest number of students in training – 550 by the end of the month. The pressure and expectations are high. The center's graduates together work nearly every flight in the country - over 85,000 a day - carrying 2.5 million passengers to 20,000 different airports, according to Oklahoma City estimates. The academy 'is the introduction into air traffic,' said Chris Wilbanks, FAA vice president for mission support. 'This really is giving the students the base of what air traffic really is, introducing them slowly into kind of a walk-run phase, get into the simulation, then off to the field they go.' Following January's midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter near Washington in which 67 people were killed, the Department of Transportation announced plans to 'supercharge' the air traffic control workforce. Salaries for trainees at the academy increased by 30%, and the agency shaved four months off the old hiring timeline. The Academy is now the 'busiest' it has ever been, Wilbanks said, with roughly 800 to 1,000 more trainees in the pipeline than a year ago. The FAA pays training at the academy and students receive an hourly salary while they are enrolled. If students choose to go through a different program, like an FAA-supported college program, that may require them to pay tuition. Before a potential controller can even step foot in the academy, there's a rigorous application and qualification process. Under a five-step plan, they must pass an aptitude test; clear medical and background checks, then receive an offer to start training. A hiring push earlier this year referred 8,320 candidates for the required exam, though typically 90% of candidates don't make it in, and 35% of the others wash out. New controllers must also be younger than 31, and many on this campus are 19 or 20, which gives the facility the feel of a small college. After admission to the academy, students start their training with tabletop exercises. The small model planes and painted runways look like game boards, but they are designed to teach phraseology – the language of air traffic control - and maps to new trainees. 'Academy Ground, Barron 4LY request taxi to main ramp,' a student says during a recent exercise. 'Taxi to main ramp, via Delta,' the trainee controller responds as the model plane is moved along the board. 'If you don't know where the aircraft is when he calls you, you're already behind the game,' Wilbanks said. 'Getting that understanding of what the airport layout is when they call you at a visual point, or they call you coming into a certain runway, you've got that reference to be able to look out there right then and there.' Once a student moves out of tabletop training, they go on to tower simulations in wide rooms filled with video screens covering the walls - replicating the view at a real airport. 'We absolutely don't cut corners,' Wilbanks said. 'This is the basics of air traffic.' Outside the virtual tower windows is 'Academy Airport,' a fictious airfield with two parallel runways and a third cutting across them at an angle. There are real-looking airplanes on runways with proper lighting and even cracks visible in the virtual pavement. With a headset on and the push of a talk button, a trainee can take on the role of an air traffic controller. 'FedEx 2285 heavy, academy Tower, hold short runway 28, right.' It's a routine command - asking the simulated pilots to prepare for takeoff but not start rolling until given more instructions. '(If) we've got somebody on the runway in position. We want to make sure we never forget them,' said Eric Wedel, the FAA's course coordinator for tower training. He has been an instructor at the Academy since 2017 and was a controller for 28 years before that. Every new controller at the academy is different, he said; some pick it up quickly, while others require a lot of training. There's paper and pens – should a controller want to write down a call sign or something to jog their memory in the heat of the moment and runway-use memory aids. Just like you'd find in a real tower. Instructors also stress that trainees learning to work in towers should look out the virtual windows to observe aircraft rather than just relying on radar. That's where they find important pieces of information that may have been overlooked or forgotten. 'Radar is an extension of the eyeballs,' Wedel said. While the simulator can create rain, snow and wind conditions, there are some things that can't be duplicated outside of a real tower. 'It's a lot like the real thing, but in some ways it's not,' Wedel said. 'It's hard to duplicate a certain accent from a pilot or certain situation. There's unique aspects to air traffic control that it's hard to capture in a simulation. It's very close.' Downstairs in a darkened room, a line of students sit looking at radar scopes and computer monitors. It's here they train to operate in radar control centers, often far away from the planes they are directing. 'N800BA, declaring an emergency. They lost hydraulic pressure, requesting firetruck to standby,' a trainee calmly says responding to a virtual emergency as his instructor watches over his shoulder. 'Follow through on that one,' another instructor says pointing out an errant plane to another student. At the same time, the students have to keep track of turbulence and other factors that might disrupt planes trying to navigate the airspace. While these days a voice recognition computer often listens to the trainees' commands and reacts to them in real time, the FAA also hires people to operate as pilots on the other end of the radio to better emulate real-life situations. 'It is a tremendous amount of pressure,' Wilbanks said. 'Multiply that by 10 and put that in the real world. Giving people the opportunity to experience that feeling here before they step out and experience in real life is absolutely critical, but it is absolutely a rewarding job.' Graduates of the academy are placed in towers and radar centers across the country, where training continues for one to three years before they become certified professional controllers. Graduates of the Academy earn an average of $160,000 per year after three years in the field, according to the FAA. Controllers have a mandatory retirement age of 56 but can retire at age 50 with 20 years of service. The DOT has been pushing for controllers in their 50s to stay on to help alleviate the staffing shortage. It may take years of hard work to recruit and train students to close the staffing gap, but for the would-be controllers at the FAA academy there is nothing like the job. 'There's an old saying, 'Air traffic control is 90% slow and boring and 9% exciting and 1% Oh my gosh,'' Wedel said. 'Every day is different.' CNN's Devon M. Sayers contributed to this report.
