NY's Vaughn College offering advanced FAA training to help with air traffic controller shortage

Elvira Pereyaslov sat with her headset on at Vaughn College near LaGuardia Airport, relaying flight information Tuesday. With each simulated flight, she had to plan for incoming landings on the screen in front of her that resembled an airport runway.

Pereyaslov, 23, a junior who lives at the college in Flushing, said she has been fascinated since a child by airplanes and is enrolled in the basic air traffic training program to help fill the growing need for air traffic controllers at commercial airports.

Vaughn College is launching a new training program in September — as one of six colleges in the nation and the first in the Northeast — to train air traffic controllers to fill a nationwide shortage. The college is offering enhanced Federal Aviation Administration training for controllers who can be placed at smaller airports. Previously, they would have had to attend the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.

"Environments like this that are somewhat stressful that some people would shy away from, I feel like I thrive and do really well in," Pereyaslov said. "You really have to be able to multitask. There’s a lot of things going on in your head and really have to compartmentalize."

She added, "It’s really fun and almost feels like a video game, but obviously more serious, and to know the gravity of what you’re doing and ... why you have to choose so carefully."

For nearly 30 years, the college has offered basic training for air traffic controllers and pilots through simulations. The college's new program, which includes a $350,000 investment for its air traffic control simulator and hiring additional faculty, aims to help fill a need for students with enhanced FAA training who can be placed at airport control towers as they finish their certification.

"We're very fortunate in that all of our instructors are former air traffic controllers, mostly from Long Island, and so they give the students that real world experience that they're really looking for," Vaughn College President Sharon DeVivo said.

The FAA approved Vaughn and five other colleges for training to help backfill an increased demand for air traffic controllers. In 2023, the FAA only added six new hires to backfill retirements, and there is still a  shortage of about 3,000 controllers to fully staff the agency's need, DeVivo said.

Flight training company CAE estimates that airports will need to hire 71,000 new air traffic controllers by 2034.

"They really need, particularly individuals from communities that aren't aware of the opportunity," DeVivo said. "Whether it's managing traffic at an airport, airplane movements into the airport, or airplane movements across the country, these are all opportunities for folks to be involved in aviation and there are really great career paths that provide long-term transformation in terms of salaries and economic mobility."

According to the FAA, certified controllers generally earn a starting salary between $70,876 and $190,552, depending on traffic volume and location where they are assigned. The average salary as of June for air traffic controllers is $168,000, according to the FAA.

Air traffic controllers must pass an aptitude test and a medical and psychological exam to enter the enhanced training or to be selected for the FAA Academy. The enhanced training at Vaughn will include a semester of about four months of training. If approved, students can select jobs at airports where controllers are needed around the country.

The college has about 300 graduates per year and of those, up to 50 students generally pursue careers as controllers, DeVivo said. While it previously took about a year for vetting, the FAA has reduced the screening process to about five months, she said. The college offers two- and four-year degrees. 

The training includes a video simulation screen where students are taught to handle incoming flights using parallel runways and various challenges, including weather, said Steve Fanno, an adjunct professor and simulation instructor.

Students are taught to communicate with pilots and relay flight paths in real time to handle up to 50 simulated planes arriving per hour. By comparison, LaGuardia sees about 50-60 arrivals per hour while Kennedy Airport sees about 80 or 90 arrivals per hour, Fanno said.

"Timing is everything. You have to be able to think ahead in the future," Fanno said. "You're usually thinking 5-10 minutes ahead, as opposed to just the person who sits down and just makes the transmission at that moment. You have to have thoughts before you press the button."