May 11--Anyone wanting to become an air traffic controller first must pass grueling training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.
Most go through at least three months of training that begins with students pretending wooden blocks are airplanes, then progress to sophisticated radar work.
In the early stages of training, students have their own abacuses. Green slips of paper tacked to the blocks that slide on a wooden board tell the plane's hypothetical destination, speed and elevation.
Bleary-eyed students assess the scenarios, doing math problems in their heads to make sure the planes don't collide and produce what controllers call an "aluminum shower."
"This is where they learn to think like air traffic controllers," said Henry Mogilka, staff manager of the air traffic training division at the FAA Academy. "Radar provides a tool, but they have to be able to see the separations in their heads."
Working with the wooden board allows students to do the math that a radar normally would do.
The training center in Oklahoma City churns out about 1,200 graduates a year who go on to work in airport towers, radar centers or enroute air traffic control centers across the country.
Once at a facility, a new controller will undergo on-the-job training for another two to three years before becoming a certified professional controller.
At the academy, trainees take a break before starting each problem. They smoke cigarettes or gulp down Mountain Dew and munch on snack crackers. As break time dwindles, students don headsets and prepare for their next scenario of the day.
They started at 7 a.m. and will wrap up class by 3 p.m.
Students show intense concentration while they work. One student was observed twirling his pen as he wrote on the slips of paper that represented airplanes.
Another student mumbled to herself as she reasoned how the scenario should go.
Students have about 15 minutes to prepare for each problem, which lasts 30 minutes.
Instructors, most of them retired air traffic controllers, sat between pairs of students and advised them on how to avoid costly mistakes.
"This is pass-fail," Mogilka said. "If they don't pass this training they lose their jobs."
The pressure of the academy matches the stress of the air traffic controllers' job in the real world. Often trainees have completed a costly two- or four-year training program to get to the academy.
Some have military experience and are hoping to cash in as a civilian.
The FAA won't interrupt training long enough to let students out of class to talk about their experiences. It's that intense.
"There's an incredible amount of pressure to jam all the information into your head," said Ruth Marlin, executive vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and a graduate of the training program in Oklahoma City.
"It's a boot camp atmosphere," she said. "It's nonstop. If you're not in class, you're studying all night. Now they have the added uncertainty of what they're going to get paid."
The FAA has said its labor costs are its highest expense. If the system is to be upgraded and improved, it has to cut costs on staffing. A plan presented by the FAA to Congress and rejected by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association would have saved more than $2.1 billion over the next five years.
"We will continue to compensate at a generous level," said Geoff Bayse, FAA spokesman. "But we have a responsibility to taxpayers and the traveling public to maintain the system and move it into the 21st century."
High-stress working conditions at facilities that must be staffed 24 hours make offering good salaries a necessity, Marlin said.
The new generation of air traffic controllers are a select group who are tested for their performance under stress and cognitive abilities. Each student must possess a special skill set to do the job well.
"It's not for everybody. Some people can't handle the stress," Mogilka said. "If they are so stressed out at this point, they should see that as a warning sign."
