FAA Air Traffic Controller Recruitment

1 October 2026 · by Michal Zembol

Who can apply

The hiring page states three conditions: United States citizenship, age under 31 at application, and clear, fluent English. The qualifications page adds the experience rule. An applicant needs one year of progressively responsible work, or a bachelor's degree, or education and work that together total one year. A checklist for the same recruitment says a college degree is not required.

The qualifications page also says fewer than 10 percent of applicants meet these requirements and are accepted into training. Applicants do not choose the facility. The hiring page says placement is nationwide.

These rules are for people without prior air traffic control experience. The FAA's Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan 2026–2028 says a separate route exists for people with at least 52 contiguous weeks of certified controller experience in the past five years, and that they may apply when a vacancy is open. That announcement sets its own terms.

What you file

Applications go through USAJobs. The hiring page asks for a resume of no more than two pages, with dates and hours worked per week. Transcripts are required if the application rests on education. A Collegiate Training Initiative application also needs an endorsement letter from the school. Veterans' preference needs a DD Form 214.

A checklist for this recruitment says the announcement opens on 17 April at midnight Eastern Time and stays open until 8,000 applications have been received. The hiring page, last updated on 21 April 2026, said the announcement was closed.

The test, then the medical

The next step on the hiring page is the Air Traffic Skills Assessment, a computer-based test of about three and a half hours, taken in person at Pearson VUE. The page says a Well-Qualified score is required.

After that come fingerprinting, a federal background check, a drug test, a psychological evaluation, and a medical exam. The qualifications page says candidates must be fit to do the job without risk to themselves or others, and it sets standards for vision, hearing, the heart, the nervous system, and psychiatric health. Distant and near vision must be 20/20 or better in each eye separately, and color vision must be normal. The page points to FAA Order 3930.3C for the standard. Controllers then requalify at an annual medical.

Academy, then a facility

Entry-level training is at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. Both FAA pages call that stretch several months, and both say trainees are paid. The hiring page, last updated on 21 April 2026, says the on-the-job phase after the Academy takes 1 to 3 years to become a certified professional controller. The qualifications page, updated on 27 February 2025, says that further training at the facility is 2 to 3 years. On 15 May 2026 the FAA said full certification of a new hire can take more than two years, and that the time depends on the facility. Those figures are set beside the other employers in How Long Does It Take to Become an Air Traffic Controller?

The workforce plan says that by the end of the 2025 financial year the FAA had approved 11 Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative programmes at 10 schools. Graduates of those programmes still have to pass the aptitude test, be selected, and clear the medical and the security check. The plan says they can then start facility training without the Academy course.

Pay the hiring page states

The hiring page, last updated on 21 April 2026, gives two figures. Academy trainees start at $22.61 an hour, with health and housing benefits. It says average earnings for a certified controller exceed $155,000 a year within three years of leaving the Academy. That is the FAA's average, not a starting salary, and it is not the pay at another employer.

The same page says a controller can retire at 50 with 20 years of service. The checklist says to expect shift work in the first years.