Could You Pass an Air Traffic Controller Exam?

You must have extreme mental dexterity and a young person's endurance to apply to become an air traffic controller. You mustn't be more than 30 years old when you apply.

English is the universal language of the aviation world. Both pilots and traffic controllers must know basic English in order to do their jobs.

There are various types of controllers. The men and women who sit in glass towers are critical to the last part of the flight. They help pilots with their final approach and landing.

In some situations, controllers use "procedural control" to do their jobs. In these cases, they have no radar at their disposal. This is common in remote areas.

Air traffic controllers must be keenly aware of separation rules. These rules help them maintain safe distances between every aircraft in the local airspace… and doing so requires a lot of continuous recalculating.

Terminal radar approach control is also known as TRACON. In TRACON, controllers are responsible for aircraft that are very close to their airfield.

At any given moment, there are hundreds or thousands of planes in the skies above America. That's why there are about 14,000 air traffic controllers in the country.

Commuter air carriers operate only small planes. Per FAA standards, these planes tend to top out at 30 seats.

Air traffic controllers dole out thousands of directions per day. Pilots (and controllers, too) confirm that they understand a radio message by saying, "acknowledge."

In the early stages of testing the FAA really doesn't care about your knowledge of plane engines and such. Instead, they want to know if you have the agile cognitive capabilities that let you juggle multiple tasks along with critical decision-making skills.

Air traffic controllers like consistent, stable flight patterns. But once in a while, pilots veer into an acrobatic flight, which refers to fast (but intention) changes in flight direction… perhaps because a controller's attention wandered.

Separation rules provided by the controller help to keep planes away from each other, and thus, prevent a collision. When these rules are disregarded, there is a "conflict," one that is hopefully not followed by two large craters.

Airports feature an approach light system (ALS) that helps to align planes with the runways. The ALS is vital for safe landings.

Controllers and pilots measure distances in nautical miles. Nautical miles are a universal unit of measure, particularly in aviation or military applications.

Air traffic controllers know that active runways are potential points of conflict. If a runway is "in use," it already has another plane landing or taking off.

Controllers can't be responsible for everything a pilot does. Small, slow aircraft often adhere to Visual Flight Rules, in which pilots must ensure that they have enough separation between their plane and others around them.

Controllers have a lot of tricks for visualizing flight paths. The ground track is the plane's flight path if it were shown on a map of the Earth.

Plane engines provide thrust to push these machines through the air. As planes pass through the air, they create wake turbulence… and controllers must account for it, or potentially cause an accident.

Many flight paths are "overflights." That means the planes are just passing through on their way to other airports, and controllers must account for their presence throughout the day.

In aviation, nautical miles are the standard units for distance. A single nautical mile is equivalent to 1.15 "normal" (statue) miles.

It's all about the angles, angles, angles. Controllers must be able to quickly process the angles at which planes are approaching and departing, and juggle all of that with other aircraft, runways, and more.

Every runway has a threshold. It's the part part of the runway that can be used for landing.

Air traffic controllers must have high-level memorization skills, in which they can retain thousands of bits of important information. Because at any given moment, an obscure flight rule may save someone's life.

Controllers sometimes divert pilots to reliever airports. This may happen when there's just entirely too much congestion at the primary airport.

Controllers and pilots are always keeping an eye on the ceiling. It's the lowest level of clouds that might partially (or totally) obscure visibility, and thus, hinder flight paths.

In CNEL (community noise equivalent levels), controllers must be aware of how their flight patterns affect noise levels in the surrounding communities. In very busy airports, controllers must do their best to minimize noise levels. Otherwise, they may be reprimanded or penalized.

Controllers use all sorts of tips and tricks to orient their pilots. They may help them get a "fix" on their position by pointing out major geographical landmarks in the area.

If you think today's controller jobs are high stress, imagine years ago when flights were noted on paper flight progress strips on a large board. Thankfully, these analog processes have mostly been replaced by computers throughout the world.

If you really love your controller job, enjoy it while you can. The FAA forces controllers to retire at age 56, because after that, many peoples' minds aren't sharp enough for the job.

Air traffic controllers make very good money, and at average-sized airports, they can easily earn $125,000 per year. They'll need to save that high salary for their heart transplant surgeries that become necessary after numerous close calls.