The maiden flight of the first air-traffic control school in Illinois will take place in the fall at Lewis University in Romeoville, officials announced today.
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The school's participation is welcomed by the government because the demand for controllers is outpacing the FAA's ability to recruit and train applicants, officials said.
Twenty three college and universities are accredited to teach air-traffic control, which requires a minimum of two years of coursework and additional training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City before the students can be hired as controllers, where additional training is needed to become a full-performance controller.
Most of the approximately 15,000 controllers in the U.S. are expected to retire or quit the profession over the next decade.
The median annual salary for a controller hired in 2007 is almost $50,000 a year, increasing to about $94,000 by the end of the fifth year, according to the FAA.
But the stress that goes with that paycheck requires a special temperament, a mind that works in 3-D and reflexes that would make a video-game wizard envious.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ebnov28,0,3842848.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout
Jason!
I had a random thought that I might do good at being a controller because I do pretty well occasionally, when required multitasking on the job and handling impossible high-stress crisis situations. I wouldn't relish being in the boiler room every workday though. It's gotta shorten your lifespan.
Now that I think about it, it was every workday on my job for quite a while but I get a break for the holidays.
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