In an unexpected move, the FAA announced today that it is looking to gamers to help fill vacant air traffic controller positions. This is in response to the dwindling number of people applying to said positions over the last few decades, and even though the FAA said in 2025 that it would consider 14,663 active controllers as being “fully staffed”, it was still lacking 3,000 hirees, and even more dire the prediction they made that twice that number of air traffic controllers are likely to leave their jobs by 2028. This is noted as being due to the Covid-19 pandemic, market trends, and numerous government shutdowns. Agency officials also claim it’s due to immense burnout, time spent training, and a rather high washout rate with the number of air traffic controllers having gone down by 6% over the past decade.

 In order to fill these positions, they’ve tried to switch up their recruiting strategies and focus less on college fairs and more on people with a deep interest and extensive history of gaming. Officials noted that only 25% of air traffic controllers have a college degree, while 65% of Americans and an overwhelming majority of air traffic controllers invest in time spent playing video games.

According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, “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.”

Those supporting this recruitment drive have noted that gamers are better at concentration, as well as handling complex tasks and thinking/reacting quickly. What’s being offered is a rather attractive deal as well- after working as an air traffic controller for three years, you will receive a $155,000 salary. 

However, not everyone is convinced; Michael O’Donnell, a former senior FAA official now aerospace consultant, says that “When you bring on someone who has gaming experience, particularly with air traffic control, they have an edge up (…) They’re coming in with a skill set. But it doesn’t replace aptitude, or discipline, or decision making under pressure.”

It should also be noted that under the Trump administration, training time for air traffic controllers has gone from thirteen months to six and a half months, largely to fix the washout rate the FAA has been struggling with for some time now. In the wake of two accidents that occurred across the last two years, with the Ronald Reagan Airport incident in which a helicopter and passenger jet collided and took the lives of 67 people, as well as the La Guardia Airport incident this year that saw an Air Canada flight crash into a firetruck, killing both pilots, some may find these changes alarming. 

This recruitment shift did not begin under Trump, but actually under the Biden administration in 2021 with the name “Level Up”; however, in response to pressures to fill vacant positions, the Trump administration attempted to “supercharge” its hiring rate, and such cuts to training were made as a response. Even then only 11,000 were recruited back in 2024, which did not meet the goal of 14,663 hires. And while 2,400 people were recruited as of March 2025, this is still thousands below what is needed according to existing data. 

Ultimately time will tell as to whether this recruitment drive will be successful, and if such changes to training will still offer the same level of qualification and safety that pilots in the past have had.