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why is air traffic control school so stressful, what other career training would you compare it to?

Public Comments

1. It never use to be that way. The government changed it.
2. inner city HS teacher police officer miner stockbroker waiter customer service/complaint worker
3. i would compare it to medical school. if your screw up on the job because you didn't learn something properly, people could die! mia
4. The reason ATC training is stressful is because ATC itself is stressful. If you get a few words wrong, or hesitate too long, planes can crash into terrain, buildings, or other planes, and hundreds of people die. In that sense, ATC training is probably similar to med school (surgery) training, because a small mistake in surgery can kill the patient as well. Or maybe army/SWAT team training--another setting in which lives are at stake.
5. I am an ATC employee and do not compare it to swat. Unlike the "dangerous" jobs like swat where the swat member is in danger Air traffic controllers sit in an Air conditioned room. The reason it is stressful at times is because there is a lot more air travel theses days and a lot of airports have "flow" times and departure delays which make controllers having to move a much larger amount of traffic in a smaller time. Also any person with $3,000 (US) can get a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) pilot licence and go flying with actually very little experience and knowledge of the airspace. Another stress factor is the US is the leading trainer or overseas pilots. This is a major languist problem due to the limited english these pilots speak. And last, air traffic controller were used to a high level of manning and now the ATC world is facing reduced manning and any time you have change it brings a certain level of stress.