6,000 Apply as Air Traffic Controllers After DOT Secretary Duffy Proposes Recruiting Gamers

[TBoneTX 49,623]

Not sure that this is a totally new idea, but it's ingenious, just so long as DEI hiring has been abandoned.  Even if 98% of applicants wash out, the net result is a gain.

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6,000 Apply as Air Traffic Controllers After DOT Secretary Duffy Proposes Recruiting Gamers

 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declared the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) campaign to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers "wildly successful," after nearly 6,000 applicants submitted forms within the first twelve hours of the program's launch.

The FAA is reporting thousands of applicants applied after its unconventional new recruitment initiative launched on April 17, with the application portal reaching its cap at 8,000 candidates.

The Trump administration is currently looking to address a persistent nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers, as many of the most experienced have retired in recent years.

"To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt," Duffy said in a statement.

"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 recruitment drive features a high-energy promotional video and messaging that frames job requirements as "mission objectives," which is designed to appeal to Gen Z applicants.  [...]

 

https://pjmedia.com/bryan-s-jung/2026/04/18/6000-apply-as-air-traffic-controllers-after-dot-secretary-duffy-proposes-recruiting-gamers-n4951917

[Dashinka 26,680]

I wonder how many current controllers are also gamers?  Overall, this seems like a good idea.

[TBoneTX 49,623]

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

I wonder how many current controllers are also gamers?

Anecdotally, this is apparently not the first time that gamers have been recruited for ATC, but I don't remember hearing about previous specific efforts.

 

Your question can be interpreted as "how many gamers have become controllers" and as "do any current controllers game as recreation."  Really good questions.  I'd think that their day jobs would prove to be quite enough activity (with far higher stakes) to quell their itch for gaming, but who knows?

[Ban Hammer 15,167]

only drawback that i see is there is no loading previous save if you screw up........

[TBoneTX 49,623]

Another pretty good article on this topic.

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Gamers Hit Record 12K New ATC Job Apps:  FAA Just Won the Boss Fight

 

[...] Not long ago, the Trump administration's Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, announced an initiative to hire new air traffic controllers to make up for what was becoming a serious shortage.  The kicker?  They were going to recruit gamers, people who already had skill in managing the movement of big, complex things on computer screens.

 

On Sunday, Secretary Duffy, appearing on Fox News' Sunday Briefing, announced that it worked — bigly.  [...]

 

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/04/20/gamers-hit-record-12k-new-atc-job-apps-faa-just-won-the-boss-fight-n2201478

[W199 572]

Good luck they didn't simply decide to fire them all and use AI agents instead 🥲

 

Edited 5 hours ago by W199